Creating Better Outcomes From Government Services Through Radical Participation

Most participatory design still reinforces a hierarchy between the professional, expert, or designer and the community member. The professional chooses who participates, when, where, how, and why they participate. The Radical Participatory Design (RPD) approach is radical because community members fully participate as full-time team members who lead the process. They outnumber the professionals, and they own the data, artifacts, outcomes, and narratives. The boldness of the approach lies in the government letting go. Come and learn how to let go for 90 minutes, as we engage in two small groups activities, lecture, Q&R, and reflection across the 90 minutes. 

The purpose of the workshop is to increase awareness, interest, and desire in a Radical Participatory Design (RPD) approach in civic work, thereby increasing the number of participatory projects and programs around the world creating more equity. The target audience includes civil service employees and government contractors as well as individual contributors, middle management, senior management, and senior executives in government. Radical Participatory Design can be used for the research, design, and development of policies, programs, projects, products, and services. Organizational barriers can be lowered when management and executives are supportive.