Designing for participation in public knowledge institutions

Paper i 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.