Editing Participatory design (section)

===History in Scandinavia===

Participatory design was actually born in Scandinavia and called ''cooperative design''. However, when the methods were presented to the US community 'cooperation' was a word that didn't resonate with the strong separation between workers and managers - they weren't supposed to discuss ways of working face-to-face. Hence, 'participatory' was instead used as the initial Participatory Design sessions weren't a direct cooperation between workers and managers, sitting in the same room discussing how to improve their work environment and tools, but there were separate sessions for workers and managers. Each group was participating in the process, not directly cooperating. (in historical review of Cooperative Design, at a Scandinavian conference).

In Scandinavia, research projects on user participation in [[systems development]] date back to the 1970s.<ref name="BodkerS1996">{{Cite journal |last1=Bødker |first1=S |author-link= Susanne Bødker |year=1996 |title= Creating conditions for participation: Conflicts and resources in systems design |journal=Human Computer Interaction |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=215–236 |doi= 10.1207/s15327051hci1103_2|s2cid=17925434 }}</ref> The so-called "collective resource approach" developed strategies and techniques for workers to influence the design and use of [[computer applications]] at the workplace: The [[Norwegian Iron and Metal Workers Union]] (NJMF) project took a first move from traditional research to working with people, directly changing the role of the union clubs in the project.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ehn|first=P|title=Computers and Democracy – A Scandinavian Challenge|date=1987|location=Aldershot, UK: Avebury|pages=17–58|author2=Kyng, M|chapter=The Collective Resource Approach to Systems Design}}</ref>

The Scandinavian projects developed an [[action research]] approach, emphasizing active co-operation between researchers and workers of the organization to help improve the latter's work situation.  While researchers got their results, the people whom they worked with were equally entitled to get something out of the project. The approach built on people's own experiences, providing for them resources to be able to act in their current situation. The view of organizations as fundamentally harmonious—according to which conflicts in an organization are regarded as pseudo-conflicts or "problems" dissolved by good analysis and increased communication—was rejected in favor of a view of organizations recognizing fundamental "un-dissolvable" conflicts in organizations (Ehn & Sandberg, 1979).

In the [[Utopia project]] (Bødker et al., 1987, Ehn, 1988), the major achievements were the experience-based design methods, developed through the focus on hands-on experiences, emphasizing the need for technical and organizational alternatives (Bødker et al., 1987).

The parallel [[Florence project]] (Gro Bjerkness & Tone Bratteteig) started a long line of Scandinavian research projects in the health sector. In particular, it worked with nurses and developed approaches for nurses to get a voice in the development of work and IT in hospitals. The Florence project put gender on the agenda with its starting point in a highly gendered work environment.

The 1990s led to a number of projects including the [[AT project]] (Bødker et al., 1993) and the [[EureCoop]]/[[EuroCode]] projects (Grønbæk, Kyng & Mogensen, 1995).

In recent years, it has been a major challenge to participatory design to embrace the fact that much technology development no longer happens as design of isolated systems in well-defined communities of work (Beck, 2002). At the dawn of the 21st century, we use technology at work, at home, in school, and while on the move.