  As open source software (OSS) becomes increasingly mature and popular, there
are significant challenges with properly accounting for usability concerns for
the diverse end users. Participatory design, where multiple stakeholders
collaborate on iterating the design, can be an efficient way to address the
usability concerns for OSS projects. However, barriers such as a code-centric
mindset and insufficient tool support often prevent OSS teams from effectively
including end users in participatory design methods. This paper proposes
preliminary contributions to this problem through the user-centered exploration
of (1) a set of design guidelines that capture the needs of OSS participatory
design tools, (2) two personas that represent the characteristics of OSS
designers and end users, and (3) a low-fidelity prototype tool for end user
involvement in OSS projects. This work paves the road for future studies about
tool design that would eventually help improve OSS usability.
