Situated Automation: Algorithmic Creatures in Participatory Design

This paper introduces the notion of situated automation to explore how emerging technologies of automation (such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and algorithms) might be considered as actors in Participatory Design (PD). The growing significance of these algorithmic systems in the shaping of public and private lives of the citizens make them a timely and important site of research and advocacy. This paper presents examples of practices and projects that work with the paradoxes of automation and participation as a site where the different actors collide and form what we describe as algorithmic creatures. We map the different modes of reflection about/through/with technologies of automation to argue for a PD with algorithmic creatures focused on pluralism, justice, equity, and care.