Terence wrote:
> I took it that Dori's interest was 'evidence' to prove yourself to qualify
> as a member of a particular group - such as the professional group of
> 'design researchers'
>
In that case, the peer group of graphic designers will assess you on
your published product, the eventual poster etc. Very few of your peers
will see the digital artwork or any other of the steps along the way.
Similarly a car designer is assessed by their peers on the basis of real
cars, prototypes (which are produced as assessment artefacts rather than
blueprints) and concept designs in 2D or 3D form which are an end in
themselves.
The artefact of design research however is whatever you choose it to be.
If your contribution to knowledge can be embedded in some kind of
product (eg a novel form or operating principle) then that's the one. If
your research results in a method of operation you may need to capture
that operation through a recording medium or notation. However most
research results in some sort of description. The Wright Brothers did
all three - they examined the performative aspects of flying gliders to
determine how the pilot might do their work, they built gliders to
explore constructional problems and integrate the principles developed
in their laboratory (or in their case bicycle shop) and they used
laboratory techniques, including wind tunnel testing (did they invent
the wind tunnel?) to compile, for example, detailed tables of the
aerodynamic properties of different wing shapes.
So I don't know whether their artefacts of evidence, in Dori's terms,
were the performances, aircraft and tables of data or the understanding
of performance, constructional principles and aerodynamic knowledge that
represent the generalisable knowledge from their work.
But whatever way you look at it they were designers and scientists par
excellence, completely wedded to the principle that the only way to
learn about new worlds is to invent and test but looking only to add to
our sum of knowledge, they never thought about eventual profit or glory,
just the possibility that they could move us a little bit closer to the
ideal of flight.
Best wishes from Sheffield
Chris
*********************
Professor Chris Rust
Head of Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, S11 8UZ, UK
+44 114 225 2706
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www.chrisrust.net
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