Participatory Design and Critical Media Studies: a Convivial Conversation

Roberto Cibin, Tiziano Bonini, Maurizio Teli
pp.  156 – 173, download
(https://doi.org/10.55612/s-5002-056-008)

Abstract

In the age of platform society, Critical Media Studies are faced with the challenge of developing not only theoretical proposals capable of critically addressing the power exerted on society by GAFAM-owned digital platforms, but also of envisioning a praxis capable of changing the political economy of this corporate-driven digital media ecosystem. To do this, we believe that Participatory Design and Critical Media Studies should dialogue when it comes to theoretical frameworks and intervention practices. In this paper we propose to start this dialogue building upon the work of Ivan Illich, especially his book Tools for Conviviality. We find that in order to imagine a possible digital media design process able to avoid the creation of radical monopolies, it is necessary to adopt a Convivial Participatory Design approach where issues related to scale, people needs and power inequalities are considered by designers in collaboration with the users.

Keywords: Conviviality, Participatory Design, Media Studies, Platform, Commons

References

1. Srnicek N.: Platform capitalism, John Wiley & Sons, (2017)
2. Dijck J. van, Poell T., De Waal M.: The platform society: Public values in a connective world, Oxford University Press, (2018)
3. Nieborg D.B., Poell T.: The platformization of cultural production: Theorizing the contingent cultural commodity, New Media & Society, 20, pp. 4275–4292 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818769694
4. Simonsen J., Robertson T.: Routledge international handbook of participatory design, Routledge, (2012)
5. Teli M., Tonolli L., Fiore A.D., D’Andrea V.: Computing and the common: Learning from Participatory Design in the age of platform capitalism, Università degli Studi di Trento, (2019) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3228359
6. Illich I.: Tools for conviviality, Fontana/Collins, (1973)
7. Pauly J.J.: Ivan Illich and mass communication studies, Communication Research, 10, pp. 259–280 (1983) https://doi.org/10.1177/009365083010002007
8. Clarke A.E., Friese C., Washburn R.: Situational Analysis in Practice: Mapping Research with Grounded Theory, Left Coast Press, (2015) https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315420134
9. Mitcham C.: In memoriam Ivan Illich: critic of professionalized design, Design Issues, 19, pp. 26–30 (2003) https://doi.org/10.1162/074793603322545037
10. Lukens J.: DIY infrastructure and the scope of design practice, Design Issues, 29, pp. 14–27 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00218
11. Deriu M.: Autonomy, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F., and Kallis, G. (eds.) Degrowth: a vocabulary for a new era. Routledge (2014)
12. Illich I.: Deschooling Society, Harper & Row, New York, (1971)
13. Gauntlett D.: Making Is Connecting: The Social Meaning of Creativity, from Diy and Knitting to Youtube and Web 2.0, Polity Pr, Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA, (2011)
14. Illich I.: Silence is a Commons, CoEvolution Quarterly, 40, pp. 5–9 (1983)
15. Turner F.: From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (2006) https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226817439.001.0001
16. Levy S.: Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution, Anchor Press/Doubleday Garden City, NY, (1984)
17. Crosby K.: The Analytical Engine: Newsletter of the Computer History Association of California, http://opencollector.org/history/homebrew/engv3n1.html, (1995)
18. Nowicka M., Vertovec S.: Comparing convivialities: Dreams and realities of living-with-difference, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 17, pp. 341–356 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549413510414
19. Mattelart A.: The Information Society: An Introduction, London: Sage, (2003)
20. Burgess J.: Vernacular creativity and new media (Doctoral dissertation), https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16378/1/Jean_Burgess_Thesis.pdf, (2007)
21. Leadbeater C.: We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production, New York: Profile Books, (2009)
22. Gauntlett D.: Media Studies 2.0: a response Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 1, pp. 147–157 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1386/iscc.1.1.147_1
23. Lankshear C., Knobel M.: DIY Media: A contextual background and some contemporary themes, in Knobel, M. and Lankshear, C. (eds.) DIY media: Creating, sharing and learning with new technologies. pp. 1–21. NY: Peter Lang (2010)
24. Sterne J.: The mp3 as cultural artifact, New Media & Society, 8, pp. 825–842 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444806067737
25. Sterne J.: MP3: The meaning of a format, Duke: Duke University Press, (2012) https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395522
26. Ippolita: Nell’acquario di Facebook, Milan: Ledizioni, (2012)
27. Deuze M.: Living as a Zombie in Media is the Only Way to Survive, MATRIZes, 7, pp. 113–129 (2013) https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-8160.v7i2p113-129
28. Deuze M.: Media life, Inaugural speech at RIPE@2016, University of Antwerp, Belgium, September 22., (2016)
29. Söderberg J.: Hacking Capitalism: The Free and Open Source Software Movement, London: Routledge, (2015) https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203937853
30. Bonini T., Monclús B., Scifo S.: Radio as a social media, Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 18, pp. 5–12 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao_00012_2
31. Bonini T., Maria Mazzoli E.: A convivial-agonistic framework to theorise public service media platforms and their governing systems, New Media & Society, 24, pp. 922–941 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221079036
32. Thackara J.: In the bubble: Designing in a complex world, MIT press, (2006) https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3702.001.0001
33. Norman D.: The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition, MA: MIT Press, (2013)
34. Dijck J. van: The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Oxford University Press, (2013)
35. Fuchs C.: Dallas Smythe Today – The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory. Prolegomena to a Digital Labour Theory of Value. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society, 10, pp. 692–740 (2012) https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v10i2.443
36. Ameripour A., Nicholson B., Newman M.: Conviviality of Internet Social Networks: An Exploratory Study of Internet Campaigns in Iran, Journal of Information Technology, 25, pp. 244–257 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2010.14
37. Ehn P.: Work-Oriented Design of Computer Artifacts, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc, Stockholm, (1988)
38. Delfanti A., Frey B.: Humanly Extended Automation or the Future of Work Seen through Amazon Patents, Science, Technology, & Human Values, pp. 0162243920943665 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243920943665
39. Sanders E.B.-N., Stappers P.J.: Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design, BIS, (2012)
40. Maye L., Robinson S., Pantidi N., Ganea L., Ganea O., Linehan C., McCarthy J.: Considerations for Implementing Technology to Support Community Radio in Rural Communities, Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp. 1–13. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA (2020) https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376580
41. Cibin R., Robinson S., Scott K.M., Sousa D., Žišt P., Maye L., Sciannamblo M., Ashby S., Csíkszentmihályi C., Pantidi N., Teli M.: Co-designing convivial tools to support participation in community radio, Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 18, pp. 43–61 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao_00015_1
42. Cibin R., Robinson S., Teli M., Linehan C., Csíkszentmihályi C.: Shaping Social Innovation in Local Communities. The Contribution of Intermediaries, Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society (NordiCHI ’20), October 25–29, 2020, Tallinn, Estonia. p. 12 pages. ACM, New York, NY, USA, (2020) https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420178
43. Robinson S., Bidwell N.J., Maye L., Pantidi N., Linehan C.: Participation through substituting and refusing, Proceedings of the 16th Participatory Design Conference PDC2020 (Manizales, Colombia) Vol. 2, Manizales, Colombia (2020) https://doi.org/10.1145/3384772.3385148
44. Avram G., Choi J.H., Paoli S.D., Light A., Lyle P., Teli M.: Repositioning CoDesign in the age of platform capitalism: from sharing to caring, CoDesign, 15, pp. 185–191 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2019.1638063
45. Bassetti C., Sciannamblo M., Lyle P., Teli M., Paoli S.D., Angeli A.D.: Co-designing for common values: creating hybrid spaces to nurture autonomous cooperation, CoDesign, 15, pp. 256–271 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2019.1637897
46. Huybrechts L., Teli M., Zuljevic M., Bettega M.: Visions that change. Articulating the politics of participatory design, CoDesign, 16, pp. 3–16 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2020.1728907
47. Hardt M., Negri A.: Commonwealth, 1st edition, Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press., (2009) https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjsf48h
48. Teli M., Di Fiore A., D’Andrea V.: Computing and the Common: An Empirical Case of Participatory Design Today, Proceedings of the 14th Participatory Design Conference: Full Papers – Volume 1. pp. 1–10. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2016) https://doi.org/10.1145/2940299.2940312
49. Björgvinsson E., Ehn P., Hillgren P.-A.: Participatory design and “democratizing innovation”, Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference. pp. 41–50. Association for Computing Machinery, Sydney, Australia (2010) https://doi.org/10.1145/1900441.1900448
50. Le Dantec C.A., DiSalvo C.: Infrastructuring and the formation of publics in participatory design, Social Studies of Science, 43, pp. 241–264 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312712471581
51. Fuchs C.: Social media: A critical introduction, Sage, (2017)
52. Teli M., Lyle P., Sciannamblo M.: Institutioning the Common: The Case of Commonfare, Proceedings of the 15th Participatory Design Conference: Full Papers – Volume 1. p. 6:1-6:11. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2018) https://doi.org/10.1145/3210586.3210590
53. Light A., Miskelly C.: Platform of Platforms: Meshing Networks, Scales and Values for a Local Sustainable Sharing Economy (2019) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-019-09352-1
54. Schneider H., Eiband M., Ullrich D., Butz A.: Empowerment in HCI – A Survey and Framework, Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp. 1–14. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA (2018) https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173818
55. Sanders E.B.N.: Design Research in 2006, Design Research Quarterly, 1, pp. 1–9 (2006) https://humanfactors.typepad.com/idsa/files/design_research_quarterly_1.1%20.pdf
56. Rubio F.D., Fogué U.: Unfolding the political capacities of design, in Yaneva, A. and Zaera Polo, A. (eds.) What Is Cosmopolitical Design? Design, Nature and the Built Environment. pp. 143–160. Ashgate: London (2017)
57. Pinch T.J.: Opening Black Boxes: Science, Technology and Society: Social Studies of Science, (2016)
58. Latour B.: Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, Harvard University Press, (1999)
59. De Paoli S., D’Andrea V., Teli M.: Why free software is not the antonym of commercial software: two case studies from corporate to volunteer based projects Journal of Peer Production, (2012) http://peerproduction.net/editsuite/issues/issue-1/peer-reviewed-papers/why-free-software-isnot-the-antonym-of-commercial-software/
60. Söderberg J., Delfanti A.: Hacking Hacked! The Life Cycles of Digital Innovation, Science, Technology, & Human Values, 40, pp. 793–798 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243915595091
61. Preece J., Sharp H., Rogers Y.: Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, John Wiley & Sons, (2015)
62. Lyle P., Sciannamblo M., Teli M.: Fostering Commonfare. Infrastructuring Autonomous Social Collaboration, Presented at the Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 21 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174026
63. Kensing F., Blomberg J.: Participatory Design: Issues and Concerns, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 7, pp. 167–185 (1998) https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008689307411
64. Udoewa V.: An introduction to radical participatory design: decolonising participatory design processes, Design Science, 8, pp. e31 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2022.24
65. Chock S.C.: Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the World We Need, The MIT Press, (2020)
66. Andersen L.B., Danholt P., Halskov K., Hansen N.B., Lauritsen P.: Participation as a matter of concern in participatory design, CoDesign, 11, pp. 250–261 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2015.1081246
67. Huybrechts L., Teli M.: The Politics of Co-Design, CoDesign, 16, pp. 1–2 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2020.1728150
68. Couldry N.: Theorising media as practice Social Semiotics, 14, pp. 115–132 (2004) https://doi.org/10.1080/1035033042000238295

back to Table of Contents