Participatory design - in need of angels

There is a sentence by Bob Dylan – the times they are a-changin’. This is true also for participatory design (PD) – today design projects are distributed between sites and people, and extended in time. PD is now diverse and multi-directional and in need of re-thinking designer responsibility. How to change our methods in line with concerned personnel’s abilities and ways of expressing themselves? Yet, still it is needed someone that overlooks and ensure the PD process. This is especially important when a PD project results in new experiences for people. We suggest that systems designers’ shoulder the responsibility as an angel, which we use as a metaphor for a person with the overall responsibility for the PD process. As part of this we suggest that systems designers would gain by adapting the PD process in line with the PAR methodology and by the use of Soft Systems Methodology’s Rich Picture building.