Rosan,
In the spirit of referencing our forerunners, we should also include the
efforts of John Arnold of MIT and then Stanford, who founded the Product
Design program at Stanford. Seemingly separate from John Chris and
Dreyfuss, Arnold was developing and teaching what we now call user centered
or design ethnography in the 1950's. To my limited knowledge, this is the
first ever introduction of such methods to the engineering community.
Though not widely published, he died tragically in the 1960's, John
Arnold's focus on the user continues to drive the research and practice
paradigms at Stanford and formed the core of IDEO's now famous process.
Great discussion!
John
At 04:10 AM 3/28/2004, Rosan Chow wrote:
>Dear all
>
>thanks Cindy for her post. and thank you to all who have participated and
>especially Monica and Fatina who seem to sense where I was coming from and
>have spoken for me in ways that i feel very moved. it is a nice feeling to be
>understood - connected.
>
>just want to say that i won't make any apology to offer suggestions and
>opinions to fellow students especially when i never implied that maryam
>should take them as laws. i agree with Fatina that we all learn together. and
>i think, the appreciation that everyone has something important to say
>underlies the basic assumption of user study for design - that people know
>implicitly if not explicitly what needs to be designed. I am sure Liz and
>Christine will agree with this and they are two of the heavy weight
>practioners in user study whom i have had in mind.
>
>and in terms of graduate education, i have spoken as a 'user'!
>
>cheers. rosan
>did we have a full moon?
>
>
>Fatina Saikaly wrote:
>
> > dear all,
> >
> > Maryam asked a question about "consumer analysis for the design purposes."
> > Rosan interpreted the question and answered her. Cindy interpreted
> > Maryam's question and Rosan's answer and sent a message to all the list. I
> > was shoked by Cindy's agressive answer and that's why i'm writing.
> >
> > Cindy wrote:
> > --- Now Rosan has posted a long reading list. What I don't see in this
> > list is anything specifically on consumer analysis research methods. ---
> >
> > So simply, Rosan didn't interpret and didn't approach the question the way
> > Cindy did. She was influenced by many factors, among these, her
> > educational background, her professional background and mainly by her own
> > ontological and epistemological perspectives.
> >
> > --- While Rosan's post uses modest and humble language to suggest that she
> > is open to correction, this kind of humility is also a way to avoid sharp
> > criticism. ---
> >
> > the use of "modest and humble language to suggest that she is open to
> > correction" is a very kind and nice way for encouraging furhter
> > discussions.
> >
> > --- For consumer analysis, I'd make a polite phone to people who teach in
> > the business school, probably in the marketing department, or to people
> > who teach psychology. ---
> >
> > this is one possible approach. maybe Rosan was searching for a design-led
> > approach for consumer analayis or for another approach. she started with a
> > general theoretical framework for her discussion.
> >
> > --- Even so, I find it odd for another graduate student to pop up with
> > advice that is so irrelevant to the question. ---
> >
> > For the past three years, i've been studying the methodologies and methods
> > of doctoral research in design in 10 Ph.D. programmes. The head of
> > doctoral programmes argue that Ph.D. graduates learn from each other as
> > much as they learn from their supervisors.
> >
> > --- I'm criticizing a post that goes beyond Rosan's usual questions to
> > begin offering answers on topics she does not understand. ---
> >
> > To discuss and disagree about research issues is one thing and to offend
> > members of the list is another thing. I think a minimal ethical attitude
> > is required in a 'researchers' discussion list.
> >
> > (dear Maryam, you can find design-driven research techniques about user
> > analysis on the web site of the department of Interaction Design at the
> > Royal College of Art. you can refer to "THE PRESENCE" and "EQUATOR"
> > research projects. http://www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/)
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Fatina Saikaly
> > PhD candidate in Industrial Design
> > Politecnico di Milano
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