Designing for a dollar a day

Abstract

This paper is about the kind of tools and techniques that are accessible to resource weak groups for use in design and evaluation of computer support. “Resource weak” means in this connection, that the economic power and the ability to control the “local environment” of the group is limited. The human resources of such groups are often (potentially) strong, but restrained by the organization of work and society; and although the tools are cheap the activities are demanding in terms of human resources. This kind of work should be seen as a supplement to participation in design processes controlled by others. When end users participate in projects set up by management, these “lay” designers often lack familiarity with the tools and techniques, they lack the power and resources to influence the choice of questions to be considered, and they are not the ones deciding how to utilize the results of a design project when actually changing the workplace.