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Hi Pedro, I missed to mention the use of participation and participatory approaches in community development. There are several strands in that field. Some are academic and closer to citizen participation in urban planning. Some hinge on urban planning or urban problems initiatives. Others are genuinely activist and political. They are good illustrations of social design, although they are formatted as political actions. There is literature on these as well. One reason that I didn't mention them the first time is that they are more like political actions and it is self-understanding that they can take place only in democratic societies. The political component in them can be so strong that they are allowed to take place only in societies based on freedom of political organization. There are a lot of such projects in the inner cities in the U.S.A. Most often, they are organized by left wing groups (but not political parties) and have very strong emphasis on empowerment and social justice. It is also interesting to browse the literature on Participatory Action Research (PAR) for this issue. (not for the research methods that it presents). There are participatory projects in education and a considerable amount of literature. The governance of small American town is a good field to look at. In democratic countries, in small settings, people experience a need to participate in order to defend their interests. However, I mean only the situations that are by the books. Otherwise, very often the participation is highjacked by invisible interest groups or simply transforms into real political action within the limits of existing political system, laws, and traditions. In principle, democracy is participatory. In some way, you have the answer of your research problem on a plate. However, you have a legitimate research problem because beyond the principle, there are many peculiarities and fuzzy situations. Plus, in many societies, people don't have this mindset and this experience. So for them, your study will be mind-opening. Best wishes, Lubomir -----Original Message----- From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pedro Oliveira Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 12:16 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: User Experience Research and Democracy Dear Terry, Nice story. I take the irony on board:). Yet how lucky of you to have user-friendly tax forms! We don't even have that and we pay more taxes by the year. I say congrats to the people on the list who have worked on that issue. Wouldn't you? Dear Maria, Thank you for the links. It will be interesting to know how the discussion is unfolding in Latin America as there are some cultural similarities with Portugal...and some significant differences as well. I would be interested to know if the discussion is taking place predominantly in Latin-American academia and also in the corporate context, or just the former. It does seem to me that these are two very different things. Dear Lubomir, Thank you so very much. Your reply is as clear as water and for the time being it clears out most of my questions regarding this subject. I will look closer into the information provided. For the time being, however, it does help me understand why is it that here in Portugal, we organise a few UX international meetings every year only to spend the rest of the time talking about how a UX frame doesn't really "gell" with your culture, or our everyday practices (at least in the corporate context). As an anthropologist of the periphery, I have grown used to the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon model in anthropology. I guess I should learn to do the same with design. Cheers to all, Pedro PhD Anthropologist/Independent Ethnographic Consultant/Global Partner at Practica LLC On Tuesday, June 17, 2014 4:43 PM, María de Mater O'Neill <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Hi to all. Pedro...you might find this interesting. In Puerto Rico they are working on the link between Democracy and participation. Arq, Omayra Rivera-Crespo Doctoral research (Spanish) about participatory design in architecture. PROCESOS DE PARTICIPACIÓN: PROYECTAR, CONSTRUIR Y HABITAR LA VIVIENDA CONTEMPORÁNEA, ESCOLA D’ ARQUITECTURA LA SALLE, UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL http://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/22702 Designer Arthur Asseo Tedx Youth talk (English) about 21 century skill, participatory design with kids about science project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJlvM038sAM Also there are other related initiatives from the academic realm in Latin America, like Acunar (http://programaacunar.com/web/), a transdiciplinary and participatory design / research project for small businesses, from the Industrial Design Department, National University of Colombia. Acunar focuses on product development with local artisans with the Gobernación de Cundinamarca. Another initiative, in Argentina, is the participatory design services to strengthen PYMES by Prof. Beatriz Galán, from the Faculty of Urbanism, Design and Architecture, University of Buenos Aires. --------- http://catedrammo.wordpress.com/ http://marimateroneill.com http://rubberbandpr.com On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 11:27 AM, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Pedro and Lubomir, > There is a nice story around the Australian GST forms that others on > this list will know more about than I do. > In their initial form(no pun intended) the forms of the Australia GST > were socio-politically problematic. > Some members of this list worked on the revisions that have led to one > of the easiest to use tax reporting regimes, an important aspect of > any modern democracy. > Best wishes, > Terry > > -- > Dr Terence Love > PhD (UWA), B.A. (Hons) Engin, PGCE. FDRS, AMIMechE, MISI Director, > Love Services Pty Ltd PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks Western Australia 6030 > Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848 > Fax:+61 (0)8 9305 7629 > [log in to unmask] > -- > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] [mailto: > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lubomir Savov Popov > Sent: Tuesday, 17 June 2014 4:43 PM > To: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and > related research in Design > Subject: RE: User Experience Research and Democracy > > Dear Pedro, > > I think you have gotten pretty well this relationship. In the last > paragraph you mention the main areas for searching. > > However, the advent of user-centered and experience design in the U.S.A. > is corporate sponsored despite of its packaging as a grass root > development. You can discuss the movement in the U.S.A. and find out > to what degree it is initiated by corporations and to what degree it > is spurred by the opportunities that a democracy presents to people. > And you might find very surprising things. In the software and the > telecommunication industries, there is a very strong corporate initiative. > It is the market that drives corporations to search for user expertise. > (This is not classic participation; rather, it is a form of using > users as experts regarding their needs.) > > On the other hand, the Scandinavian participatory moment comes from > "below," from the masses. I think that your best option is to search > for the relationship between democracy and participation using the > Scandinavian tradition. Actually, participation started in the 1950's > over there as participatory management. After that it spreads to urban > planning and architecture. The current buzz in software engineering > and HCI is a late offspring. However, because of the money in these > industries and the better realization of the importance of users, the > participatory field there currently is more advanced. > > Also, it is important in which fields you search for case study materials. > In architecture, participation is clearly a product of a democratic > society, both in Scandinavia and in the U.S.A. See the work of Henry > Sanoff, who initiated and advanced this academic area in architecture. > He works very consistently in this area since the late 1950's. His > academic work is based on his architectural projects that typically > follow the process of participatory design. > > Best wishes, > > Lubomir > > Lubomir Popov, PhD > School of Family and Consumer Sciences American Culture Studies > Affiliated Faculty Bowling Green State University > 309 Johnston Hall, > Bowling Green, Ohio 43403-0059 > [log in to unmask] > 419.372.7835 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and > related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf Of Pedro Oliveira > Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 10:00 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: User Experience Research and Democracy > > Dear List Members, > Is anyone on this list working on the relation between user experience > research and democracy? Alternatively, can anyone please point me to > resources in this area? > To provide some quick context: I’m a corporate ethnographer working in > Portugal. Portugal is many things, amongst them, a country with only > forty years of democracy and some of the highest levels of corruptions > in Europe, both corporate and political (as per Transparency > International 2013 annual report). In fieldwork assignments around > retail and work software I have been noticing people finding > incredibly deep, time-consuming, complex and detailed strategies of > human cooperation across individuals and across groups, in order to > cope with the many difficulties posed by the software; this often > comes with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness around feeling > that their voice on this software, whatever that voice is, will be > able to produce any kind of change. Overall there is the feeling that > it is people that must adapt to the difficulties posed by software or technology in general, rather than the other way round. > This is no different from the way people seem to talk about government > and political representation, as expressed by a nearly seventy per > cent abstention in the recent European elections. Towards government, > or even towards the idea of political representation in general, there > is an overall feeling that critical participation and/or voicing of > one's views on the matter, can hardly lead to any form of significant > change. It has recently dawn on me that the similarities between the > discourse towards technology and the discourse towards political > representation found in this country (passive acceptance of the > “authority” contained in the technology or in the government) are > traits of a country with a very short history of democracy. I wonder > if other people here also see a relation between historical duration > of democracy and a concern with the end user. In other > words: is the concern with the end user a characteristic of > countries/cultures with a longer history of democracy? The fact that > plenty of work on user experience research and human centered design > has originated in the American context, and the fact that fields such > as participatory design have really gained a significant expression in > Scandinavia (with its well-built historical tradition of social > democracy) may help to consubstantiate this point of view. I would > really love to hear about this by people in the list. Thanking you in > advance. Yours, Pedro > > PhD Anthropologist/Independent Ethnographic Consultant/Global Partner > at Practica LLC > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD > studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD > studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD > studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at > https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------