Reading Dick's description of his design project makes me
realize something about this email forum. Most of us would
agree that Dick's project is a kind of research that we
need more of. It is nicely described with its three level of
purposes. What I really liked was the way Dick framed the
third level, which is a level that I think we need to see
much more in our field, or in the field of design as an
overarching tradition (see excerpt below). It is the kind of
"basic" research where we try, despite the difficulties, to
frame the very foundation of all design fields -- the core
of design. I agree with Dick, it will be "almost
philosophical", but it will also (just because of its
philosophical status) be "focused on principles with
practical significance for design practice" (see Dick's text below).
I would like to see more discussions and speculations in
this forum on what brings design together into something of
its own - worth all our efforts, and maybe (just a small
wish) less of discussions on what might or might not be the
correct way of doing that kind of studies. Of course we need
to discuss our own practice, but maybe more interesting is
the results of our struggles. So, I can imaging some
exciting results from Dick's study (after reading his
"little essay") and is now eagerly waiting for the results
to be formed and presented.
To me the big battles are not to be found within our own
community, the big task is to convince the rest of the world
(out there) that design is its own unique approach, a
fundamental way by which we change the world. Design needs
to be treated with philosophical means. We need to join our
forces to make design a visible and understandable
alternative to other ways of approaching the world.
Ok, big words, big task, but I guess that is what we really
have to do. And Dick's "third level" of research triggered
my reflections.
Erik Stolterman
Richard Buchanan wrote:
>
> Finally, there was, I believe, a level of "basic" research, certainly
> going on in my own mind and not explicit at any point in the project
> that we were paid to complete. This level . . . oh, my . . . I won't
> even try to explain what was happening in this regard--except to say
> that I am studying some deeper questions about the nature of design as
> it moves from communications and artifacts into a new domain of problems
> involving services and organizational structure--what I have called
> "third order" and "fourth order" design. I suppose it may be almost
> philosophic, but it is certainly focused on principles with practical
> significance for design practice. (Surprisingly, I found a connection
> with the little essay I recently published in Design Issues on "human
> dignity and human rights.")
>
--
---------------
Erik Stolterman, Informatics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +46 (0)90 7865531
Fax: +46 (0)90 7866550
Homepage: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~erik/
Advanced Design Institute: http://www.advanceddesign.org/
|