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which promote a participatory process to both engage and empower key
stakeholders. A further useful contribution comes from the inclusive de-
sign movement. This takes as its starting point the recognition of the diver-
sity of the human population as users and consumers of products, systems
and services. Inclusive design emphasises the need to identify and cater for
this diversity. Not only is this with a view to creating designs which are
well matched to the needs of their intended users, but also to ensure that
designs do not exclude particular types of potential users, such as those
with disabilities. An inclusive design approach enables the risk of exclu-
sion to be minimized or eliminated by ensuring that unnecessary barriers to
access are not built into technology and its provision at the design stage.
Furthermore, designing for 'extra-ordinary users' may lead to positive en-
hancements to design by developing features which facilitate effective use
for many, if not all, potential users.
As we note in Chapter 3, there are now significant legislative and
business drivers for an inclusive design approach. As a result, consider-
able information, in the form of guidance, tools and techniques, has been
generated to promote and to support inclusive design. These are intended
to help designers to meet the diverse needs of citizens. The tools seek to
provide information to designers about the physical parameters of specific
groups within the population such as older people and disabled people
('extra-ordinary users' - Newell and Gregor 1999) who may have special
needs compared to the 'ordinary' population. An inclusive design approach
has been used effectively to identify the design constraints associated with
specific types of user impairment (e.g. Eisma et al. 2003). However the de-
sign outcomes have generally been limited, e.g. to the design of products
and aspects of ICT systems such as web pages.
There are mutual benefits to be gained by incorporating inclusive design
principles and methods within a sociotechnical and participative approach.
Inclusive design offers detailed practical methods and guidance to ensure
that design solutions meet the needs of the broadest range of citizens.
Equally, inclusive design is likely to have greater impact as a result of a
shift in focus from detailed aspects of product design towards sociotechni-
cal systems design.
7.3 Facilitating the Transition: A Change Management
Approach
The many benefits of citizen engagement have been revealed in earlier
chapters. What then is required to achieve a shift in the focus of ICT design
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