Post Modern Times: Participation Beyound the Workplace

Abstract

This paper argues that the conditions of post-industrial capitalism are markedly different from those of the industrial period and thus result in the design and use of different systems. Notably one of the major consequences of these differences is the use of distributed information technology and management strategies like work flow analysis to spread work beyond the workplace. Thus participatory design techniques based on workplace participation need to be expanded to go beyond individual workplaces and the workers who remain there.