Agonistic participatory design: working with marginalised social movements

Abstract

Participatory design (PD) has become increasingly engaged in public spheres and everyday life and is no longer solely concerned with the workplace. This is not only a shift from work-oriented productive activities to leisure and pleasurable engagements, but also a new milieu for production and 'innovation'. What 'democratic innovation' entails is often currently defined by management and innovation research, which claims that innovation has been democratised through easy access to production tools and lead-users as the new experts driving innovation. We sketch an alternative 'innovation' practice more in line with the original visions of PD based on our experience of running Malmo¨Living Labsan open innovation milieu where new constellations, issues and ideas evolve from bottom-up long-term collaborations among diverse stakeholders. Three cases and controversial matters of concern are discussed. The fruitfulness of the concepts 'agonistic public spaces' (as opposed to consensual decision-making), 'thinging' and 'infrastructuring' (as opposed to projects) are explored in relation to democracy, innovation and other future-making practices.

Participatory design in an era of participation

“…As participatory design continues to engage not only with the public sphere but also with everyday life, and as researchers engage stakeholders in experimental practices of innovation through a long-term engagement in technology design, social innovation and future-making (Binder et al 2011;Björgvinsson, Ehn, and Hillgren 2012;Ehn, Nilsson, and Topgaard 2014), the core values and ideals of participatory design are taking on new meanings and forms. These experimental practices rely on open-ended processes of design and on value-based strategies of engagement which will allow meaning-and decision-making to emerge in often contentious private and public contexts (Iversen, Halskov, and Leong 2012;Andersen et al 2015).…”

The Computer is a Medium, Not a Tool: Collaborative Media Challenging Interaction Design

“…This resonates remarkably well with our experience and our view. On the role of the designer in such processes, Björgvinsson et al [18] summarize as follows.…”

Public relations theory: An agonistic critique of the turns to dialogue and symmetry

“…So, there are no assumptions that fully rational or non-hegemonic consensuses can be established. Instead democracy thrives when the hegemony of groups and institutions can be challenged through vigorous but tolerant disputes among passionately engaged citizens (Björgvinsson et al, 2012).…”