Rosan and others,
I don't think there is another way to learn what other people have
thought and found out except for listening to them. The most efficient
way of doing that today, is reading what they have written.
I found Ken's last letter most enlightning from my own point of view
since it brought some social issues of design work into focus. I
personally consider myself a cognitive anthropologist as well as an
interaction designer and as such I find it important that we try to
understand the theories-in-use, and the cultural and cognitive tools
that designers use in their (our?) daily practice. If we look upon them
and ask ourselves what we take for granted, we might be able question
the foundations of what good design is. When doing so we create a space
for both researchers and practitioners to reflect on the
taken-for-granted categories of designing. By doing that, in turn, we
open up our proximal zone of development (to speek in Vygotskyan
terms)and can learn new things relevant to our practice.
When I teach interaction design at undergraduate level I always ask my
students to do the painful thing and take a step back from the
nitty-gritty design work and ask themselves what they are doing, or what
they have been doing, during the day and what the rationality for those
activities are. I believe that this an important part of their and our
learning process and I strongly believe that we can gain insight and
become better designers by looking upon our practice from different
theoretical perspectives.
Regards,
// Mattias Arvola
+---------------------------------------------------
| Mattias Arvola, Doctoral student
| Linkopings universitet, Human-Centered Systems
| Dept. of Computer and Information Science
| SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden
| http://www.ida.liu.se/~matar tel: +46 13 285626
+---------------------------------------------------
Rosan Chow wrote:
> Hello Ken
>
> In my eyes, you and other active participants on the list are my internet
> teachers who together with my NC teachers raise me. Like any kid, as soon as I
> learn to speak, I say 'no', so please bear with me:
>
> As much as I respect scholarship and research, they are nothing but an
> instutionalized way of learning and knowing. Institutions have giant walls with
> heavy metal gates which only open for those who have a 'swipe card'. This 'swipe
> card' is the books, publications, research reports, diplomas, degrees and all
> the wonderful inventions that give a false sense of security - as if the holder
> really holds the key to knowledge.
>
> I think that is enough for the metaphor. What I really want to say is that I
> would like to see there are some back or side doors open for others who hold
> different views, who happen to learn to see the world through other channels.
> Instead of sending them away to get the offical 'swipe card', let some of them
> in, they may have something important to teach all of us.
>
> Best Regards
> Rosan
>
>
>
> --
> Rosan Chow
> Graduate Student
>
> North Carolina State University
> College of Design
> Raleigh, NC 27695-7701
> USA
>
|