Toward Participatory Ecological Design of Technological Systems.

This article identifies aspects of the three frameworks that are in line with the sensibilities and emphases of participatory design and aspects that are not, and to suggest opportunities for promoting strategies within these paradigms that are more effectively participatory. Participatory design encompasses a variety of strategies to give the people who will use a particular technology or technological system a direct role in decision making about its development. The principal objective of participatory design is empowerment of lay people to participate deeply, and with some measure of authority, in the evolution of technological systems. The other two participatory design emphases, the importance of the local and the importance of organizational context, are best understood as serving this central objective, providing insights into what participatory design proponents believe it means for laypeople to be empowered, and how they believe this empowerment can be brought about. It seems there are significant opportunities for integrating participatory design emphases and participatory design-style lay engagement into industrial ecology, strong precaution and community-based social marketing.