Information Technology Reference
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engagement and to the selection of a representative sample of participants
from relevant diverse sectors of society.
Stakeholders can be categorized or segmented in many different ways
for different purposes. For example, market and social research organisa-
tions have developed classifications by profession and income level. For
ICT developments, distinctions are typically drawn between primary
stakeholders (e.g. those who might be 'users' of a product, system or ser-
vice) and secondary stakeholders (those who may not use it directly but
have some other relationship e.g. customers, agents, maintainers, etc.). Be-
cause each group is likely to have different kinds of requirements. Charac-
teristics of stakeholders that may be relevant to design decisions include:
•
age and gender;
•
education and levels of literacy (including ICT literacy);
socio-economic profiles (income, employment, housing etc.);
•
•
language;
•
ethnic groups, faith and cultural differences.
Chapter 5 has already highlighted the value and benefits of engaging
with 'hard to hear' stakeholders. Often such stakeholder groups have spe-
cific needs and requirements which are not likely to be identified and met
if they are not explicitly sought. Special efforts should therefore be made
to identify and engage with such categories of citizens e.g. young people,
ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities and the elderly (Demos
2004).
In the case of design for people with 'extraordinary' characteristics
there are many tools available which can be used to identify some of their
distinguishing characteristics and limitations which can influence their re-
quirements for design - e.g. Older Adultdata (Smith et al. 2000) There are
also analytical techniques that can be applied to design concepts to identify
those whose physical and/or cognitive characteristics would put them at
risk of exclusion by a particular design feature (e.g. Structured Assess-
ment, see Keates et al. 2000).
9.3.3 Stakeholder Readiness to Engage
The readiness of citizens and of other stakeholders to engage in planning
or design will be influenced by a raft of factors including their experience,
attitudes and skills in relation to engagement. Positive experiences of en-
gagement will reward and encourage citizens to continue to participate and
to seek opportunities for further engagement (e.g.
Reflect
ICTs project).
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