The promise and perils of a participatory approach to developing an open source community learning network

Authors:
Robert Luke;Andrew Clement;Randall Terada;Dominic Bortolussi;Cameron Booth;Derek Brooks;Darcy Christ
Affiliations:
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;Toronto, Ontario, Canada;The Working Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;The Working Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;The Working Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;The Working Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Venue:
PDC 04 Proceedings of the eighth conference on Participatory design: Artful integration: interweaving media, materials and practices - Volume 1
Year:
2004

Citing 15
Cited 5

Generating visions: future workshops and metaphorical design

Design at work
Setting the stage for design as action

Design at work
Introduction: situated design

Design at work
Cardboard computers: mocking-it-up or hands-on the future

Design at work
A retrospective look at PD projects

Communications of the ACM - Special issue Participatory Design
Making work visible

Communications of the ACM
Cyberspace divide: equality, agency and policy in the information society

Cyberspace divide
Community Informatics: Enabling Communities with Information and Communications Technologies

Community Informatics: Enabling Communities with Information and Communications Technologies
Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age

Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age
When Survival is an Issue: PD in Support of Landscape Architecture

Computer Supported Cooperative Work
CAVEAT Exemplar: Participatory Design in aNon-Profit Volunteer Organisation

Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Network Community Design: A Social-Technical DesignCircle

Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Participatory Design: Issues and Concerns

Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Located accountabilities in technology production

Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems - Special issue on Ethnography and intervention
Reflections on a work-oriented design project

Human-Computer Interaction

The Neighborhood Networks project: a case study of critical engagement and creative expression through participatory design

Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design 2008
Participatory IT design and participatory development: a comparative review

Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design 2008
Participatory tensions in developing a community learning network

Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design 2008
Infrastructures from the bottom-up and the top-down: can they meet in the middle?

Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design 2008
The unit of analysis in understanding the politics of participatory practice

Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

This paper describes and analyses the early developmental stages of a community learning network based in an urban community and social service agency. With government funding, the community organization contracted with a small software firm to design and implement participatively a web-based ‘community portal’ using open source software and techniques. While adopting these progressive development ideals has brought notable benefits, they have also posed significant challenges for the parties involved. In particular, mis-matched expectations, budget squeezes, and slipped schedules have been attributed to the approach being too participatory and too open. We examine these claims and offer insights into community-oriented, participatory, open source development projects.