Sharing is caring. Sharing and documenting complex participatory projects to enable generative participation

Abstract

This article describes how sharing documentation of complex participatory projects can contribute to end-user development. With complex participatory projects we refer to projects combining the development of software and hardware in a cultural, social or health context with groups of participants. In this paper we specifically analysed projects that share documentation with an eye on end-user development, which we will refer to as generativity. Inspired by these projects, we developed our own vision on documentation and – based on this vision - a documentation tool that 1. values documentation of both functions and meanings of a project; 2. is accessible for various participants; 3. enables reproduction and elaboration on (aspects of) the project; 4. and stimulates makers and participants to invest time in documentation. We evaluated our tool on these criteria and propose future challenges.