David,
I am going right to the end of your email, and reaffirming that asking the
question whose interests' does research or for that matter anything else serve
is an exceedingly good question. Carol Bacchi in her book, Women, Policy and
Politics which is a discussion of the construction of policy problems (not
their solutions) clearly argues that the construction of the problem statement
defines the solution. Who determines what the statement is, who is a
participant in that process, who is not a participant (often the subjects of
policy) predetermines the direction of the problem solving. It is essential in
design that the problem statement be understood to have immense power to
direct, and that an analysis of the statement must precede any design activity
if a designer is serious about dealing with design which reaches beyond
self-gratifying object design. Just my opinion of course.
Jan
Jan Coker
C3-10 Underdale Campus
University of South Australia
+61 8 8302 6919
"There is no way to peace, peace is the way"
Gandhi
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