Hi Tim, Håkan, Bryn, Chris, Terrence, and Dick
Thank you very much for your comments and questions; without them my growth
will be slower. Having said that, I feel that there are some misunderstandings about
what I wrote due to my inadequacy in articulat ing my thoughts, I am sure.
I read about what I wrote a few times to see how it could have caused these
misunderstandings. I realize that I need to make it clear that when I wrote "another
way of obtaining knowledge", I didn't mean it exclusively but rather alternatively.
I don't think the 'what if ' question is unique to design and I don't think I have said
that either. When I said 'what if' is the favorite question for designers, I didn't mean
that is the only question that can only be asked by de signers.
I apologize for the sloppy reference that I made to Bruce Archer's idea of design with
the big D as a generic and domain independent way of knowing. (see Design Studies
1979 Vol 1 (1): 17-20) By citing him, I thought I covered the ground without needing
to go further to explain that this way of knowing exists in scientific inquiry,
management, arts, etc, etc. My fault. But as I said, I was not sure the 'no name'
knowledge is this either.
When I wrote that "I have this strange notion th at this 'no name' knowledge is not
to be known but to be designed. I know that it sounds crazy for 'know'ledge is to be
known, but ... has it to be?", I was not advocating that design can't be understood by
other ways of knowing, I was just thinking if there is an alternative way to seeing
knowledge.
The what, how and why of design can be known of course and take the form of philosophy of
design, history of design, sociology of design, pyschology of design, design studies,
design science, design technology, ther e is no doubt that they all can add to our
understanding of design. But what about Design of Design?
A little context may help to further expalin myself (or may not): I have an interest in
social problems and I always want to find out what I as a designer can make a
contribution to reduce some of these problems. I have a particular one now that I am
dealing with which is about condom use promotion among adolescents.
Since I was involved in this problem, I have been constantly asking myself how I can
make sure my inquiry into the problem is distinct from how social scientists are
investigating it and how design research can complement social scientific research to
reduce a social problem. And how in the end, I can make an original contribution to
knowledge.
So I have been searching for deficiencies in the social research done in this area, from
philosophical underpinnings, research methods, to actual intervention and
evaluation. I have been critical, as needed for research; but I think this style got
carried over and muddled the tone of my last posting and made it come across as
being full of design or myself.
In the process of analyzing my research problem, I had this diagram depicting two
parallel channels of inquiry to address the problem of condom use, one is the
scientific one and the other is the design way. And of course, I have not
conceptualized fully what this design way is or can be. The pairs were Sciences-Design,
Scientific research-Design research, and Scientific knowledge - Design knowledge.
I was trying to identify how design knowledge can be distinctive from scientific
knowledge and I realized by making that distinction, I was already limiting myself to
what this knowledge may be.
I was staring at the diagram when a bunch of questions came to my mind:
1 What exactly is design knowledge?
2 If the nature of design is change, then how can design knowledge be grasped?
3 Does design knowledge exist in design-in-action?
4 Does design knowledge have a form? Can it?
5 Can we really know design if design is in the space of 'can be'?
6 How can we define the nature of design knowledge if 'it' doesn't exist yet?
7 By defining what design knowledge is, do we limit what it can be?
8 What kind of design knowledge will we ha ve if we follow the traditional path of
research?
I have exhausted myself and I am not sure if I am making better sense, maybe it is
nonsense after all. But they are real and sincere thoughts, your time and patience are
greatly appreciated.
Best Regards
Rosan
Rosan Chow
Graduate Student
College of Design
North Carolina State University
– -aa
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