Dear Chris,
Please send me your Milan Paper. Also, thank you Ken for your WP file - a
generous knowledge management gesture.
The statement from the Design Plus Research Conference implied the need for
a strong 'inclusive' design research community and culture. There is an area
of the UK at the moment where some 'fuzzy logic' in the 'decommissioning
cum beyond use' issue is helping to build a better future for a community.
I wonder...
Also, I have just received notification of a call for Jury Service in my
local Law Courts. I have to report for this compulsory citizens duty on the
7th July 2000. I would prefer to be at Herts and La Clusaz Conferences,
doing the same, as a citizen of the design community!
Regards,
Alec
___________________________________________________
Alec Robertson
Faculty of Art & Design
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK.
Tel; +44(0)116 257 7544 Fax: +44(0)116 257 7574
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 31 May 2000 00:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New Foundations for Design Research
In respect of Lubomir Popov's ideas about placing design and research and
Terence Love's response, I would like to offer two observations. (I feel
that
Terry has represented the big picture very clearly)
Firstly, in reading Lubomir's suggestion, I was aware of the dangers of
binary
thinking, especially binary thinking which seeks to place research and
design
on two sides of a very specific see-saw called "product development". As
an
aside, one of the things I have learned from both investigating and engaging
professionally in product development, is the way that good teamwork blurs
the
distinctions between disciplines - designers/researchers,
aesthetes/technologists all seem to agree that they become increasing
familiar
with each other's territories over time, overcoming the binary thinking
which
used to dog people on each side of the old walls between processes.
Secondly It is important to note that this whole debate has arisen because
some
of us believe that we can see opportunities to engage in new forms of
activity
which will contribute to knowledge and understanding. This is a long term
project and, while I respect Terry's call for urgent action I also believe
that
there are no easy or immediate answers which can be set in stone.
I have found the recent debate enormously helpful in strengthening my own
understanding of research and the questions one could ask of any work
claiming
to be research, however I have also been saddened by thinking which does not
allow any fluidity in the situation. In some cases it amounts to saying that
designing cannot be researching because it is designing. Lubomir has added
the
proposition that designers cannot be researchers because they are not
researchers.
best wishes from Sheffield
Chris Rust
Art and Design Reearch Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
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