ABSTRACT
Socially useful production was a grassroots innovation movement. This chapter explains the economic, political and social background from which the movement emerged. It analyses the movement's framings of technology and development, and describes movement spaces and strategies for socially useful production. Activities in socially useful production were informed through a variety of intersecting framings. The framing includes arms conversion, alternative technologies and community activism; human-centred technology and the labour process; industrial democracy and participatory design; and alternative economic strategy and social audit. Spaces for socially useful production were created within grassroots trade unionism, research institutes and radical local authorities. Aspects of the methodologies pioneered through movement initiatives have become standard features in user-centred design approaches and, hence, the marketability of technologies. The chapter discusses critical features in pathways towards socially useful production. It concludes by reflecting on some lessons for grassroots pathways.
