Participatory design to address common challenges in digital democracy in a remote and asynchronous setting: a case study of a citizen participation platform for the Seoul Metropolitan Library

The rise of digital democracy calls for innovative approaches to bridging participation gaps and addressing power dynamics. This study explores Participatory Design (PD) as a tool for enhancing democratic processes and discusses the utility of Remote Data Collection Methods (RDCM) in co-designing a digital democracy platform for, and with, the Seoul Metropolitan Library. It focuses on three PD solutions: ‘design before design’ to address participation gaps and motivation, ‘open-ended participatory design’ to adapt to user feedback and group dynamics in real-time, and ‘agonistic participatory design’ to mitigate power dynamics and foster inclusivity. The findings suggest that ‘design before design’ effectively addresses language barriers and motivation gaps but requires multi-faceted support tailored to participants’ capabilities and needs. ‘Open-ended participatory design’ enhances responsiveness to user feedback and facilitates real-time adaptations, while ‘agonistic participatory design’ promotes an inclusive environment by ensuring equal participation opportunities. This study advances knowledge on RDCM in the context of co-designing for digital democracy by examining the challenges associated with using RDCM with existing online collaboration tools. It also discusses the relevance of these methods in the current context where digital media have increasing influence over democratic communication.