In this session we will present the work that has been conducted within the design group of the DLK-project. The group comprised of local representatives from different unions in Linköping, members of the DLK-project management group and the VuxCen group of Linköping University together with researchers from People, Computers and Work at Linköping University. The researchers led the work, which was based on a set of participatory methods and tools in the Action-Design method developed within the research group. The aim was to present a prospective design of an information system that would fulfil the needs of local union representatives/shop stewards.
Studies within the frame of the DLK project showed that shop stewards had needs of support, education, information, union-related material, knowledge sharing and communication. In the design of the system, considerations were made about the context of use and prerequisites of the target group. The conclusion was that local shop stewards greatly would benefit from a web-based system that supported creations of networks, learning, and information acquisition together with specific tools and material for their everyday trade union work.
A prototype was developed in order to communicate the model in a concrete manner, thus giving persons not familiar with abstract representations of design concepts the possibility to partake in the design process and take part of the resulting information system.
Some design decisions were that access to the system should be possible on three levels; to the general public, for members and for shop stewards. The system provides tools and information depending on level of authorisation. It is also profiled on the basis of users’ trade union memberships, geographical location and shop stewards union commissions.
The individual unions will handle all authentication and authorisation. To reduce costs of keeping information up to date, the system will wherever possible, mirror existing sources of information. Another characteristic of the proposed system design is that different sources of information will be integrated and related to each other. Hence, flexibility and learning are built-in qualities in the system.
We will present and motivate the design of the system and describe the most important usage scenarios. It is our belief that a system similar to the proposed design could add strength to shop stewards in all trade union affiliates, improve democracy and help local shop stewards extend the value and services given to members.