**I am forwarding this as it may be of interest to the list. Apologies for
cross-posting**
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, Dec 2001 ISSN 1473-3862
Digital Newsletter of the Design Research Society www.drs.org.uk
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CONTENTS
o Editorial
o Common Ground: DRS international conference 2002
o Designing Design (Research) conference
o Design Studies special edition
o Design Issues contents
o DIS 2002 conference
o Calls for Papers
o Announcements
o Reviews
o Cyber News
o The Design Research Society: information
o Electronic Services of the DRS
o Contributing to Design Research News
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AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE
At design research conferences over the past six years, speakers
have addressed important issues on building the field of design
research.
To build an emerging field, we must develop a rich network of
social institutions. These include a research literature in
books and journals, professional conferences, research seminars,
research centers, professional associations, and a broad
institutional infrastructure that encourages the flow of
information among our many colleagues around the world.
This half-decade has been a period of dramatic growth and
visible development. We had only a few journals six years ago.
Now we have several: some established, some new, and more in
development. Six years ago, we managed an occasional conference
from time to time. Now, we have several international
conferences on a regular schedule and many regional and nation
conferences. Next year, we will hold our first global design
research conference. Where we had a handful of research books
and no textbooks, we now have a small shelf of solid monographs,
a few textbooks, and more of each under way. Where we had two or
three online discussions groups, we now have over a dozen. The
most active of these have between six and seven hundred
subscribers each. Research centers and professional associations
of many kinds meet different needs, and research education is
blossoming along with doctoral education.
Our field is growing. We need three vital factors to develop
further.
The first is a richer flow of knowledge across the many
disciplines of our interdisciplinary field. This requires a
common body of knowledge, a rich shared vocabulary, and ability
for scholars and professionals in design research to speak with
each other from plural perspectives and backgrounds.
The second is critical mass. New fields grow slowly at first.
They take on momentum and grow dramatically when they reach
critical mass. In a field, as in a physical reaction, critical
mass brings with it a state change. Design research is poised on
the edge of a state change, but we have not yet attained it.
Part of the problem is a simple lack of communication: we may
actually have enough people at work in our field to generate
critical mass, but critical mass requires connecting local hubs
and networks to the larger environment.
The third necessity is a progressive research program. This
requires a network of institutions that cumulatively document
and share research results. From these shared results, new
programs emerge, and the field as a whole makes progress. A
progressive research program does not require consensus on any
issue or agreement on any specific idea or platform. It requires
documenting and sharing information. Until now, most design
research involves specific projects. Research results are
accessible only on a local level and often lost when projects
are finished. To grow as a worldwide field, we require a
progressive research program that allows all members of the
field to share results for comparison, cooperation, new inquiry,
and future contribution.
Today, we can purposely move toward the richer flow of knowledge
and the possibility of critical mass. We have an important
resource to make this possible. It is already in use, and you
can help to make it more useful still. The tool is Design
Research News.
DRN began six years ago. Today, it reaches 4,700 subscribers
around the world. Every month, editor David Durling works with
an international team of colleagues to gather information on
conferences, projects, grant funding, publications, journal
issues, lectures and seminars, calls for papers, cyber news and
current books. They go out each month to DRN subscribers.
Over the past year, DRN has tripled in circulation from around
1,500 to 4,700. That makes DRN the largest design research
publication in the world today - and one of the most successful
electronic newsletters in any field. Despite the success of DRN,
circulation is well below critical mass for our field. Given the
number of scholars, teachers, and research students active in
design research around the world, we must grow several times
over to approach critical mass.
I ask for your help in growing DRN to grow our field.
What I ask you to do is simple. Introduce two people to Design
Research News, one academic or professional colleague, and one
student or junior designer. Tell them about the newsletter, and
encourage them to sign up for a free subscription at the DRN web
site. If I were to have my holiday wish fulfilled, you might
even mention this at your next staff meeting and ask all your
doctoral candidates to subscribe.
This is important to me for a simple reason. To develop a
progressive research program, we must grow our field past
critical mass. This is a step in that direction.
It is my intuition that design research today is where physics
was in 1895. I would like to see us move up to 1905, the year
that Annalen der Physik published Einstein's five great papers.
For that to happen, for us to find our Einstein, our Curie, our
Poincare, we must grow the field, attract outstanding
researchers, build a progressive research program, and share the
knowledge we generate.
Will you help?
Just ask two people to visit URL:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/design-research.html
Thank you.
Ken Friedman
---
SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION BONUS !!!
If this were a paper magazine, I would probably offer you a free
solar powered wrist radio or a new Dyson vacuum clear for
helping us to get new subscribers. Since this is a free
electronic newsletter, I am going to do the next best thing and
offer you an electronic gift.
From time to time, the readers of our book review section ask if
I am the same Ken Friedman who was active in Fluxus, the
international colloquium of experimental artists, architects,
and designers. I am.
This year, Show and Tell editions of Edinburgh are producing an
edition of 52 of my Fluxus event scores as a calendar diary for
2002. Show and Tell has also made a complete electronic edition
available in .pdf format for free download. It can be printed
out on ordinary paper for a complete facsimile of the signed,
numbered edition.
It is available at URL:
http://www.heartfineart.com/Images/Friedman.html
Just go to site and follow the instructions for your free
download.
If you find the calendar strange and inexplicable, I will simply
repeat those immortal words, "I didn't inhale."
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EDITOR'S SPACE
Unusually, I have given over the editorial slot this month to a
welcome guest and an important message.
May I add my very best wishes for the new year
David Durling
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NEARLY THE LAST CALL...
COMMON GROUND - THE DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY CONFERENCE 2002
An international conference organised by the Design Research
Society
The DEADLINE for the submission of abstracts is 21 JANUARY 2002.
Conference website:
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/des/drs/
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DESIGNING DESIGN (RESEARCH) 3: THE INTER-DISCIPLINARY QUANDARY.
13th February 2002.
A day-event on the DRS programme hosted by De Monfort
University. Provisional details at
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/ln/4dd/DDR3.html
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DESIGN STUDIES: SPECIAL ISSUE ON DESIGN REPRESENTATION
Guest Editors: Chuck Eastman, Michael McCracken, Wendy
Newstetter
The theme of this planned special issue of Design Studies is the
role that representations, external and internal, play in
design. Of particular interest is the role of representations
in design education, and their centrality or peripheralness in
learning. A variety of formal external representations are
conventionally used in design, such as spatial representations
used by architects and product designers, mathematical
representations used by engineers, molecular diagrams used by
biologists and organic chemists. For several fields, external
representations are an intrinsic part of their knowledge domain.
Just as important, however, are external representations that
may be characterized as informal and intuitive. These are used
in conversations to convey concepts outside of the formal
representations of the field. Such representations are used to
depict internal concepts and to communicate with other people
those concepts. They are also used to carry out internal design
dialogues with oneself, generate a representation of some
concept, then test it or refine it in some way, or use the
external representation as a cue to recall additional issues.
As educators we teach external representations as a part of a
design curriculum. From a cognitive science standpoint we don't
know how those educational practices support or don't support a
student's ability to internalize the information carried in
these representations. Another concern is when and how
students learn to chain or link different representations in
tackling design problems. Such linkage suggests planning at a
meta-cognitive level. We are also interested in how to help
students associate performance constraints and other
non-diagrammatic information with spatial information.
While most design and engineering curricula make various
assumptions about the issues above, very little seems to be
actually known about the questions raised. We are interested in
studies, more detailed hypotheses, and surveys of other fields
that can cast insight into the issues we have outlined.
People interested in contributing to this special issue are free
to contact the editors, at:
Chuck Eastman <[log in to unmask]>
Mike McCracken <[log in to unmask]>
Wendy Newstetter <[log in to unmask]>.
The due date for paper submissions is June 15, 2001. Submissions
should be electronic, to any of the above email addresses.
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DESIGN ISSUES 14:4 AUTUMN 2001
1 Introduction
Richard Buchanan
3 Design Research and the New Learning
Raimonda Riccini
24 Innovation as a Field of Historical Knowledge for
Industrial Design
Tomas Maldonado
32 Taking Eyeglasses Seriously
Nigel Cross
44 Can a Machine Design?
Wendy Siuyi Wong
51 Detachment and Unification: A Chinese Graphic Design History
in Greater China Since 1979
Carma R. Gorman
72 Reshaping and Rethinking: Recent Feminist Scholaship on
Design and Designers
89 Books Received
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FINAL CALL FOR PARTICIPATION.
DIS 2002 ("DESIGNING INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS")
** Note revised submission deadline of DEC 14th 2001 **
DIS2002, LONDON - JUNE 25-28 2002
Venue: The British Museum, London
"A venue for serious reflection on the practice of designing
interactive systems, exploring the aesthetic, social and
cultural dimensions of new technologies."
Deadlines for submissions:
December 14th 2001: Papers, Exhibits, Design Cases
January 31st 2002: Tutorials, Master Classes, Workshops,
Post-Graduate Symposium
More information and submission details:
http://www.sigchi.org/DIS2002/
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CALLS FOR PAPERS
* AIEDAM: Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design,
Analysis and Manufacturing
Special issue on New AI Paradigms for Manufacturing
http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~aiedam/SpecialIssues/Gaines-Regli.html
Special issue on Configuration
http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~aiedam/SpecialIssues/Soininen-Stumptner.html
* IFIP WG 5.2 Workshop on Knolwedge Intensive CAD, Malta,
July 2002
The workshop on 'Knowledge Intensive CAD' being held in
Malta, July 2002, is still open. Details of the workshop
including author instructions are available at the updated
web page located at:
http://www.eng.um.edu.mt/~kic-5/index.html
Please send any queries you may have about the workshop to:
[log in to unmask]
* Special Issue of Concurrent Engineering: Research and
Application (CERA) Journal 'A Complex Systems Perspective on
Concurrent Engineering'
This special issue solicits papers that apply the complex
systems perspective to understanding and improving the
dynamics of the concurrent engineering process.
Details from: Dan Braha [log in to unmask], Mark Klein
[log in to unmask], Hiroki Sayama [log in to unmask]
* DTRS 5: DESIGNING IN CONTEXT
A symposium to be held at Delft University of Technology,
The Netherlands 18-20 December 2001
Call for Participation
Do designers actually make our lives better or are they just
playing self-indulgent games? Designing in Context is a
symposium critically discussing the role and value of
designing in today's society. In 26 presentations and
discussions the symposium will focus on:
- Issues concerning individual and collective designing
- The position of users in the design process
- How future designers should be educated
The symposium covers a wide range of designing and academic
disciplines. Discussion and debate is expected to be lively.
Key speakers include:
- Larry Bucciarelli author of Designing Engineers
- Graham Button author of Computers, Minds, and Conduct
- Richard Coyne author of Designing Information Technology
in the Post Modern Age
- Bryan Lawson author of How Designers Think
- C. Thomas Mitchell author of Redefining Designing: From
Form to Experience
A registration form and further information can be found at
the symposium website:
http://www.io.tudelft.nl/research/dic
* 14-16 October 2002: CREATIVITY & COGNITION 4, Processes
and Artefacts: Art, Technology and Science Loughborough
University UK
CALL FOR PAPERS: Deadline: 10 Jan 2002
http://creative.lboro.ac.uk/eae/CC02/CC4.html
* 1-3 September 2002, Brighton, UK The Learning and
Teaching Support Network Subject Centres for
Art, Design & Communication (ADC-LTSN) Built Environment
(CEBE) Performing Arts (PALATINE)
Announce a Conference and a Call for Papers Shared Visions
learning and teaching on the borders of architecture, art,
communication, dance, design, drama, landscape, media,
music, performance and theatre
An International Higher Education Conference
Investigating Interdisciplinarity
Enhancing Learning
Informing Practice
Incorporating Architectural Education Exchange 2002
Conference Themes
1 Interdisciplinarity creating interdisciplinarity;
practicing interdisciplinarity; interdisciplinarity and
critical discourses; interdisciplinarity and pedagogy
2 Research which enhances learning and teaching conceptions
of and approaches to learning and teaching in the creative
arts; enhancing learning & teaching in creative arts
practice; evaluating learning & teaching in creative arts
practice; learning in the "studio"
3 Innovation and informing practice innovation & the
curriculum in the creative arts; innovation & assessment in
the creative arts; the learning experience and professional
practice
Conference Rationale
The Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) has been
established to enhance and support learning and teaching in
higher education. In the creative and performing arts there
is an increasing demand for and interest in
interdisciplinary and collaborative work, and a consequent
need to create opportunities for dialogue and the exchange
of ideas across the borders of the various arts disciplines.
Through the sharing of experiences, practices and approaches
to learning and teaching, the aim of this collaboration
between the three arts-based LTSN Subject Centres is to
enhance the knowledge and practice of learning and teaching
in the creative arts discipline. There will be a small
number of keynote speakers who will address critical issues
within creative arts education.
Call for Participants
Given the themes of the conference, a wide range of
presentation formats are encouraged and we invite colleagues
across the various disciplines to submit abstracts for
presentations that will engage with the conference themes in
one or more of the following conference strands:
- Academic Papers (45 minutes) Abstracts should indicate
theoretical research underpinnings and research
methodologies used. The meaning and possible significance of
the research findings should be discussed. No more than 25
minutes of the session will be used for presentation,
leaving the remaining time for discussion and questions.
- Case Studies (45 minutes) Abstracts should demonstrate
aspects of interdisciplinarity and innovation in learning
and teaching practices. The significance and possible
generalisation from the case study should be highlighted and
related to educational theory.
- Projects in Progress (45 minutes) An opportunity to
provide and share information on funded projects and
developments in the field, including on-going research.
- Workshops (90 minutes) Workshops should be activity-based
and interactive. Abstract proposals should indicate issues
and activities for participants.
Deadline for submissions is Friday 1 March 2002.
For further information please contact
Kath Bowden: [log in to unmask]
Conference Website
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/palatine/shared_visions
* 8-10 July 2002: EUROHAPTICS 2002 INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, UK
Haptics is the study of the human sense of touch and
interaction with the environment via touch.
Eurohaptics is a major international and the primary
European conference for researchers in the field of touch
enabled computer applications and human haptic sensing. This
diverse field covers research in areas including, but not
limited to, sensory-motor research, haptic hardware
developers, through to end applications and users, such as
surgical simulation, rehabilitation robotics, and haptic
feedback for design and applied arts applications.
1st March 2002: Abstracts due for submission.
http://www.eca.ac.uk/eurohaptics2002
http://www.eurohaptics.org
* SEQUENTIAL ART STUDIES CONFERENCE IN SYDNEY
SEQUENTIAL ART STUDIES CONFERENCE in Sydney, Australia April
19, 2002 at the SUPANOVA POP CULTURE EXPO Sydney Showground,
April 20-21, 2002.
Details from Jeremy Allen: [log in to unmask] or
Michael Hill: [log in to unmask]
Abstracts DEADLINE: Friday December 21, 2001
* 8-9 April 2002: The Idea of Education, Oxford,
Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
This cross disciplinary conference marks the launch of a new
project to provide a vigorous forum for the examination and
evaluation of university education. Committed to the
tradition of liberal education, the inherent value of the
pursuit of learning and the principle that knowledge must be
an end in itself, the forum will use the conference series
to broadly examine the nature and aims of university
education, its guiding principles, its practical functions,
and its role in society.
Papers will be considered on related themes. 300 word
abstracts should be submitted by Friday 18th January 2002.
Full draft papers should be submitted by Monday 11th March
2002.
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ioe1.htm
* 11-13 June 2002: Eurographics UK Conference
The 20th Eurographics UK Conference is being jointly hosted
by De Montfort University's Faculties of Art and Design and
Computing and Engineering at Leicester on June 11th - 13th
2002. The initial deadline for completed papers is 4th
February 2002. For more information about the conference go
to:
http://www.eguk.org.uk/DMU02/index.html
* 1-4 August 2002: 4th International CAiiA-STAR Research
Conference CONSCIOUSNESS REFRAMED 2002 non-local,
non-linear, non-ordinary
CAiiA-STAR in collaboration with the Biennale of Electronic
Arts Perth, John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of
Technology, Perth, Western Australia
http://www.caiia-star.net
Deadline of 15th December 2001 for Abstracts
* 27-28 June 2002: FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
University of Liverpool, UK
http://www.liv.ac.uk/sustain
* 11-13 June 2002: 2nd International Symposium on Smart
Graphics, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Hawthorne, NY,
USA
SG2002 welcomes submissions from cognitive scientists,
psychologists, graphic designers, and human-computer
interaction, computer graphics & artificial intelligence
researchers and practitioners.
http://www.smartgraphics.org
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
* 2-5 July 2002: DATA Annual Conference incorporating
the First International Design and Technology Association
Research Conference, Loughborough University, UK.
http://www.data.org.uk
* Communication Research Institute of Australia
This month we start publication of our e-papers.
http://www.communication.org.au/html/shop.html
* Lectures Online - Royal Society of Arts
Unable to get to an RSA lecture?
http://www.rsalectures.org/
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REVIEWS
* Peter F. Drucker. 1999 [1957] Landmarks of tomorrow. A
report on the new 'post-modern' world. New Brunswick, New
Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
In 1957, this was the first book to describe and analyze the
phenomenon of post-modernism, and one of the first recorded
uses of the term. Many have used the term since then, but
few have addressed the theme better or more comprehensively.
This book was Drucker's analysis of a future that had
already begun to happen. Drucker analysis was systematic and
insightful. Bringing a journalist's eye to a background in
social science and economics, this book was an attempt to
understand the effects of developments already under way.
The author applied theoretical acumen to empirical data
while avoiding the perils of straight-line extrapolation.
This book should have paid greater attention to the nascent
information revolution, but it holds up well in every other
respect.
Buckminster Fuller once noted that scientific breakthroughs
take a quarter century to take root in technology. Drucker
notes a forty-year gap between scientific revolutions and
the philosophical shifts that flow from them. If Drucker is
right, it should soon be time for a robust post-modernism
anchored in empirical reality as well as shifting thoughts.
- KF
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CYBER NEWS: snippets from the networks
* The site at http://www.scholar-net.com aims to
facilitate information flow amongst scholars located in
different countries.
* The Electronic Literature Directory is a useful resource
located at
http://directory.eliterature.org/
* Colin Beardon is pleased to announce the launch of
version 2 of the 'Visual Assistant' software. It can be
downloaded free of charge from
http://www.adr.plym.ac.uk/va
The software is an easy-to-use tool for visualising plays,
places, sets or performances,
* A useful web site on research methods.
http://www.managementhelp.org/research/research.htm
* metadesign.s5.com is a website about design thinking;
food for thought, design flavour.
http://metadesign.s5.com
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DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY
The Design Research Society is the multi-disciplinary
international learned society for the design research community.
DRS was founded in 1967, and since then has established a
record of significant achievements in contributing to design
knowledge.
DRS has facilitated an international design research network in
35 countries comprising members who maintain contact through the
publications and activities of the Society. Members are drawn
from diverse backgrounds, not only from the traditional areas of
design, ranging from fine art to engineering, but also from
subjects like psychology and computer science.
Our interests include:
o recognising design as a creative act common to many
disciplines
o understanding research and its relationship with education
and practice
o advancing the theory and practice of design
We realise these by:
o encouraging the development of scholarship and knowledge in
design
o contributing to the development of doctoral education and
research training
o sharing knowledge across the boundaries of design disciplines
o facilitating networks to exchange and communicate ideas,
experience and research findings among members
o disseminating research findings
o promoting awareness of design research
o organising and sponsoring conferences, and publishing
proceedings
o encouraging communications between members internationally
o responding to consultative documents
o collaborating with other bodies
o lobbying on behalf of members' research interests
o recognising excellence in design research through awards
o sponsoring email discussion groups and a monthly emailed
newsletter
Membership of DRS provides:
o regular communications about research activities worldwide
o reduced subscription to Design Studies, the international
journal for design research in engineering, architecture,
products and systems. Design Studies is published by
Elsevier in cooperation with DRS
o reduced fees to DRS sponsored events
o representation of the design research community and members'
interests
o a means of identifying and contacting other members
o an opportunity to contribute to the international design
research community
For further details and an application form, contact the
membership secretary:
Professor Robert Jerrard, School of Design Research, Birmingham
Institute of Art and Design, University of Central England,
Corporation Street, Birmingham, UK B4 7DX
email: [log in to unmask]
or the interactive form at http://www.drs.org.uk
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ELECTRONIC SERVICES OF THE DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY
o Design Research News is the electronic newsletter of the
Design Research Society. It communicates news about
research throughout the world. It is mailed automatically
at the beginning of each month and is free. You may
subscribe at the following site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/design-research.html
o DRS is a discussion list open for unmoderated discussion
on all matters related to design research. You may
subscribe at the following site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/drs.html
o PHD-DESIGN is a discussion list open for unmoderated
discussion on all matters related to the PhD in design.
Topics include philosophies and theories of design, research
methods, curriculum development, and relations between
theory and practice. You may subscribe at the following site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/phd-design.html
o Full information about the Design Research Society may be
found at:
http://www.drs.org.uk
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
CONTRIBUTIONS
Information to the editor Dr David Durling, Director, Advanced
Research Institute, Staffordshire University, UK.
<[log in to unmask]>
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