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Introduction: Reimagining Participatory Design - Emerging Voices

In this Introduction to the Special Issue on Re-Imagining Participatory Design, we wish to provide a context for the following papers by elucidating some of the themes that have helped shape the field of participatory design as well as touch on some emerging issues. We do not attempt a formal historical review of the participatory design field, nor examine the ongoing debates about the concept of “participation,” as these have been discussed elsewhere [21, 22]. Rather, we explore some important topics that have helped shape the field, and highlight some emergent concerns. When the topic “participatory design of information technology in the workplace” emerged in the 1970s it sought to rebalance power and agency among managers and workers. This was a time when, in many Western countries, social democratic parties held sway, a majority of workers belonged to trade unions, collective bargaining agreements were common, and social welfare provisions were sacrosanct. Hence, workers and their organizations were seeking to establish fora and methods to influence the development of information technology both locally, nationally, and internationally. Today, in the second decade of the 21st century, the political, social, economic and technical environment within which discussions about participatory design take place has shifted significantly from that earlier time. The Neo-Liberal agenda has massively re-structured the powers of individual States vs. global business, capital and labor work on a global level, regulatory regimes governing various economic sectors have shrunk, the power and influence of trade unions has declined precipitously, and technological innovations have been harnessed to amplify many of these trends—crowdsourcing, outsourcing, and so on [14].