"And this is where we fu***d up!" Lessons learned from Participatory Design in Digital Civic Initiatives

Participatory design in digital civics aims to foster mutual learning and co-creation between public services and citizens. However, rarely do we collectively explore the challenges and failures we experience within PD and digital civics, to enable us to grow as a community. This workshop explores real-world experiences that had to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Through case presentations and thematic group discussions, participants will reflect on how failure is defined and for whom, the challenges faced, causes that led to these challenges, and work collaboratively to develop effective solutions. Furthermore, we aim to discuss the well-being impact on researchers and communities when faced with these obstacles, the strategies participants use to overcome them, and how these insights can be fed back into the digital civics community. By fostering reflection amid diverse perspectives, with an emphasis on how the HCI community might learn from varying definitions of failure, the workshop seeks to promote dialogue and collective learning. This approach is intended to offer participants valuable insights for navigating complexities more effectively and fostering resilient design practices in digital civics.