Understanding and supporting intermediation work to address territorialized public policy issues: The case of a Territorial Food Project in France.

BACKGROUND: Few ergonomics studies have explored the work required to implement territorialized public policies. OBJECTIVE: To identify key challenges for ergonomists who analyse and support intermediation work taking place in the design and implementation of a Territorial Food Project or TFP (a public policy device). METHODS: We adapted a framework developed in the field of political sociology. The analysis focuses on two scales to identify key characteristics of intermediation work: the agri-urban area as delimited and targeted by the TFP; and the farm and its relationships to food systems. To capture how intermediation work articulates prescription and action, we studied first the work carried out by the actors to use a public policy device such as TFP, and second the evolving farming work systems' connections to food systems and how they are supported by various actors. RESULTS: Intermediation work is spread across a wide diversity of actors. Coordination at governance level aims to allocate resources among institutional actors and to check the progress of the elaborated action plan. Coordination at operational level, which is meant to support farming work system dynamics or to implement the action plan, focuses on fostering the emergence of initiatives but seems to lack a shared vision and time availability. CONCLUSION: We identify two main challenges: to further develop a framework for analysing the intermediation work occurring in a multi-scale and territorial perspective; and to develop new intervention methods so that ergonomists can take part in and support such intermediation work.

Designers' and users' roles in participatory design: What is actually co-designed by participants?

This research deals with an analysis of forms of participation in a participatory design (PD) process of a software that assesses the sustainability of agricultural cropping systems. We explore the actual forms of participation of designers and users by adapting an Actual Role Analysis in Design approach (Barcellini et al., 2013) to capture the levels of abstraction (conceptual, functional and operational) of participants' discussions. We show that: (1) the process does not only concern the design of the artifact itself, but also the design of the concept of sustainability; (2) all participants (users & designers) have a role in co-designing the concept (in our case, sustainability); (3) some roles and profiles are key to this co-design. We discuss our contributions to both the research and the practices of participatory design. These contributions deal with the production of a method and related knowledge about actual activities in participatory design situations. They may support the development of relevant training programs regarding participatory situations, or be reflexive activities that can help those who are involved in designing and leading in participatory situations, to make improvements.