To: Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Answer to Request
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 18:34:50 +0100
From: WWW Server <[log in to unmask]>


Hi Ken

Thanks for your message - sorry it has taken me so long to reply to you.
I agree with your comment relating to the low number of subscribers to the
PhD Design list and would have thought that the Ohio and La Clusaz
Conferences
would have engendered more interest in this list.  A few months ago, I
asked one of our office secretaries to send an e-mail to members of staff
giving them details of the PhD Design forum - I had wondered if this
generated
any interest from staff at Wolverhampton?
Myself and a colleague, Jane Webb, organised a conference 'Practically
Speaking - Research Issues in Art & Design', at the School of Art & Design,
University of Wolverhampton in Dec 1998 and found that it was very
difficult to
raise interest in research issues, from some members of the postgraduate
community in the UK (in particular PhD students).  The reasons for this are
difficult to uncover.  As a PhD student myself (and Visiting Lecturer) I
find
that time is the most difficult aspect of my life to control, but time
spent within the arena of the PhD-Design discussion can be most rewarding
and
I view this site as a prerequisite for any scholar considering postgraduate
research in design.  All I can say is keep on track, the PhD Design forum
should grow and develop especially considering the keeness of the existing
contributors to further debate in design research.

Kind Regards

Jane Cooksey

Ps. Although I have not participated in any of your debates, I am a keen
reader
and thinker of the subject matter on this list.  If I ever feel I have
something
relevant or positive to add to the discussions, I will contribute.  In the
meantime I think I should reaffirm that the information that is offered
through
this site reaches out farther than its subscribers - take heart Ken!

Jane Cooksey
School of Art & Design
University of Wolverhampton








Ps

Quoting Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]>:

>  Dear Jane Cooksey,
>
>  PhD-Design will soon be three years old. Over the past three years,
>  PhD-Design has become a central international forum of dialogue and
>  debate on design research issues. The list was established at the
>  1998 Ohio conference on doctoral education in design. We began to
>  expand after the 2000 conference in La Clusaz, France. Today, we have
>  570 subscribers from around the world.
>
>  Two of the factors that affect the value of a list to its subscribers
>  are activity among subscribers, and critical mass - enough
>  subscribers to represent a broad spectrum within a field.
>
>  These past few months, I have been engaged in a quiet campaign to
>  invite individual subscribers to become more active. Now, I am hoping
>  to increase our circulation to build critical mass.
>
>  What does critical mass mean for a list like PhD-Design?
>
>  Depending on how you count them, there are probably 120,000 to
>  140,000 teachers of design and art around the world. This includes
>  all the fields of design, graphic, industrial, product, and
>  mechanical, as well as engineering design, architectural design,
>  software design, and systems design.
>
>  In these fields taken together, there are at least 10,000 doctoral
>  students around the world and another 10,000 or 20,000 students
>  earning research-based master's degree.
>
>  570 subscribers is far from critical mass. Given a population of
>  120,000 to 140,000 teachers and 20,000 to 30,000 students, we should
>  far more than 570 subscribers as we enter our third year.
>
>  A brief survey suggests that many people who would subscribe to PhD
>  design do not know it exists. If they knew about PhD-Design, they
>  would subscribe.
>
>  I write to ask your help in informing your colleagues about PhD design.
>
>  Anyone who is interested in doctoral education in design, design
>  research, research methods in design, philosophy of design, and
>  similar themes will find this a vital resource.
>
>  To subscribe, all they need to do is go to this site:
>
>  http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/phd-design.html
>
>  When you get there, click on the line that reads:
>
>  Join or leave the JISCMAIL list (or change settings)
>
>  Please ask your colleagues to join us on PhD-Design!
>
>  Are there teachers or graduate students at your school who ought to
>  be joining our conversation? Just pass this letter along, together
>  with your recommendation and a suggestion that they subscribe.
>
>  With best regards,
>
>  Ken Friedman
>
>  Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
>  Department of Knowledge Management
>  Norwegian School of Management
>
>  Visiting Professor
>  Advanced Research Institute
>  School of Art and Design
>  Staffordshire University
>
>


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