USER PARTICIPATION AND PARTICIPATORY DESIGN - TOPICS IN COMPUTING EDUCATION

Authors
Citation
K. Kautz, USER PARTICIPATION AND PARTICIPATORY DESIGN - TOPICS IN COMPUTING EDUCATION, Human-computer interaction, 11(3), 1996, pp. 267-284
Citations number
53
Categorie Soggetti
Computer Science Cybernetics
Journal title
ISSN journal
07370024
Volume
11
Issue
3
Year of publication
1996
Pages
267 - 284
Database
ISI
SICI code
0737-0024(1996)11:3<267:UPAPD->2.0.ZU;2-H
Abstract
User participation and participatory design (PD) have not yet been top ics of central interest in the context of formal education for computi ng professionals. This article addresses this subject. It takes its st arting point in the ongoing curriculum debate and discusses how mathem atical- and engineering-based approaches and traditional system-develo pment training contribute to education in computer science and informa tics. All these approaches have shortcomings as they each relate mainl y to a technical-oriented paradigm, which pays little attention to oth er vital aspects of computing, namely organizational, social, and poli tical ones. Therefore, the curriculum debate is widened and it is argu ed why user participation and PD (as approaches that deal with these i ssues) should be part of a comprehensive computing education. An examp le of an actual course program and the description of one particular c ourse demonstrate how these subjects can be integrated in computer sci ence and system development education.