Designing for participation in public knowledge institutions

Paper in proceeding, 2008

We address the challenges facing designers of interactive technologies for public knowledge institutions such as museums, libraries and science centres. We argue that visitor participation is a key concern for these institutions and present a theoretical framework for understanding participation grounded in pragmatist philosophy. We then present design work carried out in three different settings, namely a museum, a combined aquarium and science centre, and a municipal library. Based on a discussion of these design cases, we offer six design considerations for designing for participation in public knowledge institutions.