Introduction
We live in the Age of Information. Key words and phrases are
among the important tools we use to navigate the sea of research
and data that surrounds us and alternately carries us forward or
threatens to swamp us in a deluge of miscellaneous opinions
and incoherent sets of facts. For this special issue of the journal
devoted to Participatory Design, the list of appropriate key words
and phrases includes: co-design, col aboration, mutual learning,
situated design, opportunity-based change and infrastructuring
design. The list neatly suggests the nature of Participatory Design
as a form of design practice embedded in specific contexts and
working with particular constituencies to envision viable and desir-
able alternatives to the status quo. What no list of words and
phrases can do, no matter how evocative or novel, however, is to
facilitate a better understanding and a nuanced appreciation of
strengths and weaknesses of different design concepts and strate-
gies. The editors of DesignIssues believe in the value of col ecting
the experiences and commentary of designers and design research-
ers who actively engage in developing new forms of design efforts
like Participatory Design.
A special issue such as this brings before readers provoca-
tive ideas grounded in rigorous research, links research to practice
(and vice versa), and cal s to our attention best practices. Reading
and reflecting upon the insights and discoveries of scholars and
practitioners like those assembled for this issue by Toni Roberstson
and Jesper Simonsen provide the kind of foundation at which key-
words can only hint. In their introduction, they describe the origins
of these articles and provide a broad overview of the themes and
organization of this special issue. They introduce the concept of Par-
ticipatory Design as “the direct involvement of people in the co-
design of tools, products, environments, businesses, and social
institutions to ensure these work in ways that are more responsive
to human needs.” They alert the reader both to the relationship
with, and more significantly, the important distinctions between
Participatory Design and other forms of design practice such as
user-centered design and the design of Information Technologies.
We live in an age characterized by pressing economic, envi-
ronmental and social problems, and at the same time, an age
marked by great possibilities. Informed by the practices and the
© 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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values of Participatory Design designers can fulfill a crucial and
exciting role in col ecting the experience, harnessing the wisdom
and envisioning the hopes and dreams of communities everywhere.
What more noble form of professional service could we imagine
for designers?
Bruce Brown
Richard Buchanan
Dennis Doordan
Victor Margolin
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