Participatory Design can be broadly defined as a movement to improve the relationship between technology and people. Participatory Design was created by the Scandinavian Collective Resources group, which created a process for inserting workers into processes for the design and management of their own workplaces.
Forlizzi, Jody. “The Product Ecology:
Understanding Social Product Use and Supporting Design Culture” International Journal of Design. 2008. http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/view/220/143