CALL FOR PARTICIPATION



Join us for the 14th biennial Participatory Design Conference (PDC)

Aarhus, Denmark, 15 – 19 August 2016



http://pdc2016.org/



The Participatory Design Conference (PDC) is a premier venue for presenting research on the direct involvement of people in the design, development, implementation and appropriation of information and communication technology. PDC brings together a multidisciplinary and international group of researchers and practitioners from multiple fields encompassing a wide range of issues that emerge around cooperative design.



The theme for PDC 2016 is Participatory Design in an Era of Participation. Over 25 years after the first PDC in 1990, participation and co-creation have become essential features of design and research into technology. Living in an era of participation prompts critical questions around the goals and practices of involving people in diverse aspects of developing, redesigning and using IT. The distribution and promise of information technologies cut across emerging societal challenges at various levels. Sharing economy, crowdfunding and participatory cultures create new forms of engagement that challenge traditional ideas of participation. Public engagement in radical social innovation is used to address shrinking finances to public services, resulting in citizen-involving projects and labs in various domains. Maker technologies, notions of hacking and shared data, are promoting civic engagement with technology innovation that changes the material and socio-economic contexts of production. At the same time, centralization of the Internet, big data and large-scale infrastructuring challenge the core democratic ideals of PD.



These issues call for new perspectives on the values, characteristics, politics and future forms of PD. We encourage critical and constructive reflections about Participatory Design as a past, present and future endeavor in an era of participation!



Deadlines



  *   Full papers and short papers: February 5th 2016, 23:59 CET.

  *   Workshops, tutorials, doctoral colloquium and interactive exhibitions: March 1st 2016, 23:59 CET.



We look forward to you joining us in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2016 for the 14th Participatory Design Conference!



Rachel Charlotte Smith, Anne Marie Kanstrup & Claus Bossen

PDC 2016 chairs



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CONTRIBUTIONS



PDC 2016 invites contributions from a, but not limited to, Human-Computer Interaction, CSCW (computer supported cooperative work), Co-Design, Design Research, CSCL (computer supported collaborative learning), ICT4D (information and communication technology for development), Anthropology, Psychology, Industry and the Arts. The conference offers multiple venues for contributions, including Papers, Workshops, Tutorials, Doctoral Colloquium, Interactive Exhibition, Industry cases, and Art and Design installations. PDC 2016 seeks novel research results or new ways of thinking about, studying, or supporting shared activities in these and related areas:



PD in the era of Participation: Critical and theoretical reflections of the role of participatory design in a participatory era. What defining values, utopias and characteristics does it hold, and what are the stakes and challenges for the future?



Analysis of sociotechnical relations: Critical nalysis of social and technical relations, e.g. how social and technical relations shape and can be shaped towards cooperative design of IT; politics and technology design; critical analysis of gender, power, culture and sociomaterial dimensions in the development, implementation and appropriation of technology.



Domain-specific applications of PD: Experiences and analysis of applications of PD within specific domains, including: museums, heritage, tourism, industry, healthcare, transportation, education, navigation, public administration, crisis management, social computing, and other domains and communities.



Empirical investigations: Findings, insights and guidelines from empirical participatory design studies, in depth and/or long-term social research, experiments and collaborative interventions of design and user research.



Infrastructures and complex challenges: Empirical and theoretical studies and perspectives addressing complex challenges such as the infrastructuring of multiple and widely distributed stakeholders in IT design.



Theory: Development of new theoretical concepts, introduction of theoretical perspectives, or critical analysis with clear relevance to participatory design and collaboration around technology design and use.



Tools, methods and techniques: The description and evaluation of new tools, methods and techniques developed to facilitate co-operation on IT-based systems, artefacts, experiences or organizational forms of technology design, including the extension of existing ones.





SUBMISSION FORMATS



All submissions should be made via the PDC 2016 Precision Conference System (see www.pdc2016.org<http://www.pdc2016.org>).



PDC 2016 invites submissions in the following categories:



Full Papers: (maximum 10 pages). Full papers should report on original research that advances Participatory Design (PD). As a single-track conference, and the only research conference exclusively dedicated to PD, PDC full research papers have a broad impact on the development of PD theory, approaches and practices. Full papers will be published in the ACM International Conference series. Each submitted paper will be double-blind reviewed by at least 3 reviewers. Please make sure your submission is correctly anonymized. Accepted papers should be revised according to the review reports and the language should be checked by a native English speaker.



Short Papers: (maximum 4 pages). Short papers should present original, unpublished ideas and research that advances the field of Participatory Design (PD) or reflect on its potential future developments. As these will be presented and discussed in parallel, thematic sessions, short papers can benefit from a clear scope. Compared to full papers, short papers may offer a more limited discussion of related work, or they may provide a novel design, method or theoretical concept, without a full evaluation or with less detailed explanation. Short papers are reviewed to the same standard as full papers. Each submitted short paper will be double-blind reviewed by at least 3 reviewers. Short papers will also be published in the ACM International Conference series. Please make sure your submission is correctly anonymized. Accepted papers should be revised according to the review reports and the language should be checked by a native English speaker.



Interactive Workshops: (maximum 2 pages). Workshop proposals should describe half-day or full-day sessions on topics that include methods, practices, and other areas of interest related to Participatory Design (PD). They should support an interactive format wherein active participation is possible and goes beyond a presentation format. These formats could include the mapping of a problem definition, small discussion groups, etc. The proposal must be written in a format that can be used for recruitment via the web. It should justify the need for the workshop and should contain the workshop’s title, its goals, the planned format, methods or techniques used to structure the workshop, its relevance to PD, and a schedule. The duration of the workshop (half day or full day), envisioned participants, maximum number of participants and how they will be recruited should also be described. In the recruitment procedure important dates should be clearly communicated to the participants (see important dates). Finally, the workshop proposal should include a clear statement about the expected outcomes of the workshop (e.g. journal publication, research proposal, exhibition, etc.).



Tutorials: (maximum 2 pages). Half day and full day sessions for teaching conceptual frameworks, methods/techniques, and novel approaches in Participatory Design (PD). The proposal should contain a title, goals, method or technique, its relevance to PD, intended participants and a schedule for the tutorial. We are looking particularly for tutorials with relevance to the conference theme, and the local/societal context of PDC 2016. Please describe in the proposal any handouts or materials that you intend to make available to participants.



Doctoral Colloquium: (maximum 4 page proposal). The doctoral colloquium is a full-day session intended for PhD students working within the field of Participatory Design (PD). It will provide students with an opportunity to discuss issues of concern to them in their studies and receive extensive feedback from the session co-chairs and other student participants. Enrollment is limited and selection will be based on the quality of application submissions, taking into account how the research is related to PD. The aim will be to include a spread of students with different disciplinary emphases, at different stages of study, and coming from different cultural backgrounds. The proposal should give an overview of the PhD project, including research motivations, questions,  methods, status of current work, major findings and plans for further research. Accepted applicants will be asked to provide a revised and elaborated research summary (4 pages), and to participate in some pre-conference online discussions.



Interactive Exhibitions: (maximum 2 page proposal). If you would like to share a concrete participatory design experience in an interactive format during the main conference program, then this is for you. The interactive exhibition format includes submissions of research cases, industry cases, art and design installations or projects. This format involves the multi-sensory presentation of material (visual, audio, physical, etc.) that will be on exhibition throughout the conference. And additionally, a set up for 30-minute hands-on mini sessions where an audience of approximately 15 conference participants will be invited into a concrete participatory design encounter. Submissions should include (1) A description of what will be displayed during the conference, and, (2) A description of how you will engage participants in interactions with your material during the 30-minute sessions. Each submitted project, case and art work will be peer reviewed for applicability to the PD community, and (once accepted) undergo a process of curation into the interactive exhibition format. In addition to research cases, the category of Interactive exhibitions include the following two subcategories:



  *   Industry Cases: (2 pages). Proposals should report on the use of participatory methods, tools, and/or practices within commercial, non-profit, institutional or governmental organizations. We are interested in a broad range of submissions that explore what a participatory approach means to different practitioners and audiences, which may include ideas, approaches, projects, experimentations or reflections on participation. We encourage submissions from practitioners who might not ordinarily attend the Participatory Design (PD) conference but who are grappling with the complexities of participation or who are experimenting with novel approaches. Cases should highlight the benefits, challenges, and outcomes from the application of participatory approaches and should provide concrete lessons or challenges for others who are interested in applying PD in their organizations.



  *   Art and Design installations: (2 pages). PDC incorporates participatory art and design installations to inspire and innovate, and we invite artists and designers working with any form of interactive participatory methods to submit their projects. The works can take inspiration from visual and digital media, performance arts, installations, communication technologies, touch, sound and any other genres that allow participants to take part or become part of the art piece. Those submissions that address or explore the theme ‘participation in an era of participation’ will be favored in the selection process. Proposals should include a description of the artwork (incl. sketch/design) and interactive exhibition format (above), its relation to PD, and specific requirements for display. Alternatively artists can submit audio or video files describing the project.



The Artful Integrators’ Award: We welcome nominations for the seventh Artful Integrators’ Award, to be presented at PDC 2016 in Aarhus. The Award is intended to recognize outstanding achievement in the area of participatory design of information and communications technologies. Where traditional design awards have gone to individual designers and/or singular objects, the Artful Integrator’s Award emphasizes the importance of collaborative participation in design, and a view of good design as the effective alignment of diverse collections of people, practices and artefacts.



Join us on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/PDC2016?fref=ts> and Twitter<https://twitter.com/PDCaarhus2016>





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