Understanding the Impact of Boundary Conditions on Participatory Activities.

This paper addresses how conditions external to participatory activities in large-scale information technology (IT) projects may affect participation and potentially reduce user impact. We propose boundary conditions to denote such conditions. We explore this issue through interviews with eight participants in a large ongoing health IT project. The aim of the project is to implement a shared electronic health record system for health care services in a region of Norway. Four phenomena are discussed—group discontinuity, informal follow-up meetings, contractual discussions in the participatory activity, and the “parking” of design decisions. For each phenomenon, we reflect on the associated boundary conditions and their effects on participation and user impact. Based on the findings, the following recommendations are made to help participatory design scale with the complexities of large-scale projects: (1) make the boundary conditions explicit; (2) plan for reflections on the process; and (3) plan for peer interaction between users.