Dear Thea & listers,
I am not disagreeing with Gavin on the benefits of publicly declaring one’s research work during one’s candidature. My comments relate to the true motivations that are driving the increased call to publish throughout one’s doctoral candidature. It is not motivated by a genuine interest in increasing the quality and/or rigor of a doctoral student’s education. It is motivated by federal funding alone.
I think you clearly state one of the inherent problems that is preventing the Design discipline as a whole from moving forward in your closing statement. You suggest that the only way to have a Research career is to publish. There are a variety of different methodologies and modes of representation that can support and generate research. I believe very passionately that dissemination of research through text alone is not the only way for doctoral students to engage in the positive career building activities that we all agree are required during candidature.
Those whom subscribe to the view that Design is a creative practice would suggest that there are a raft of other activities that are currently unequivocally understood as Research; such as Exhibition and Performance. This is clearly an ongoing debate on this list, but one never-the-less that is worth returning to. There are a number of artists/academics whom have not necessarily published a great deal about there work themselves, but there is a prolific volume of work that discusses and critiques their work, disseminating the work and its impact into the public realm.
This brings me to my point. The issue here is about ‘impact’, not the ‘quantity’ of publications, exhibitions, or performances that one produces. One measure of the quality of our contributions to the discipline is through the impact our research work has on other academics, the profession, and the public at large. We can, and do, have other tangible means of agency and advocacy through modes of dissemination other then writing that we should be openly encouraging our doctoral students to explore.
Regards,
: : c h r i s b r i s b I n : :
B. Des. Studies, B. Architecture [ hon I ]
Lecturer in Design [ Architecture ]
Doctoral Candidate of the ATCH Research Group UQ
[ architecture/theory/criticism/history ]
http://www.architect.uq.edu.au/atch/
Research Member of the AMDM Research Group QUT
[ arts/media/design/modernity ]
personal web site
http://web.mac.com/christopherbrisbin/
s-architecture web blog
http://s-architecture.blogspot.com/
downloadable e-print publications
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Brisbin,_Christopher.html
[ postal ]
School of Design
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering
Queensland University of Technology
2 George Street, Brisbane 4000
[GPO Box 2434]
CRICOS No. 00213J
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[ p ] +61 7 3138 2903
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