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All welcome
May 9th
Prof Leela Damodaran and Dr Wendy Olphert
Loughborough University

Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement

This talk will be based on the book - the authors argue that 'technologies
succeed or fail according to their relevance and value to people, who need
to be actively engaged in order to create shared visions and influence
their implementation'.
In the present digital revolution we often seem trapped in a Kafkaesque
world of technological advances, some desired, some disliked or even
feared, which we cannot influence but must accept. This book discusses the
urgent need to redress this situation. The authors argue that technologies
succeed or fail according to their relevance and value to people, who need
to be actively engaged in order to create shared visions and influence
their implementation. Strategies for citizen engagement and empowerment
will enable citizens to influence and shape desirable digital futures. The
book reviews the currently accepted ways of thinking about the design of
systems and the reasons why these methods are no longer adequate. From an
academically rigorous analysis of case histories across a wide variety of
sectors, knowledge and best practice are captured in a rich, descriptive
model of the contributions of citizen engagement to the design process.
Finally, it provides specific practical guidance, based on sound academic
research, for policy makers, administrators and ICT professionals on the
strategies, methodologies, tools and techniques needed to change design
practice.
Leela is Professor of Participative Design and Change Management and
leader of the Information, Technology and Society Research Group at
Loughborough which focuses on human and social aspects of informatics, and
the impact of technology upon individuals, organisations and society. The
planned research programme addresses the themes of: knowledge management
(transition strategies and cultural change); public access to information
; e-society and the 'Digital Divide' ; and stakeholder participation and
change management
Leela is actively engaged in a range of research and consultancy
activities with a variety of sponsors including Government departments, UK
and European research funding bodies, and blue chip organisations. Her
expertise informs policy and the formulation of strategies to promote
inclusive design and to manage large scale change.
Wendy Olphert is a Senior Research Fellow at Loughborough and her research
interests are: The human, organisational and social impacts of information
and communication technologies, and in particular the way in which such
technologies can be designed and shaped to meet human, organisational and
social requirements.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Westminster Business School, Marylebone Road,
(Opp. Baker Street Station, and Mme Tussauds)

Time: 6pm - 8.00pm. Cost: Free. All welcome! Especially PG students.
Room: CPLW Centre M515. Tea/Coffee/Biscuits available.
Directions from Security - Registration preferred -
please email Elayne on coakese@wmin.ac.uk - places limited.
Past lectures on http://users.wmin.ac.uk/~coakese