Chris,
Thanks for asking ... I will need a bit of time to work up some thing like a
review and overview of Schon's material to come back to you on this and to
expose my thinking a bit more clearly. I hope to be able to settle to this
later today, and intend sending that work as an attachment.
Dianne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christiaan Thomas Johannes De Beer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: Design as Research
Hi Diane
Having read Schon I find your response very helpful and I relate to the idea
that,
as a natural designer, design = research was 'hidden' from me.
Could you possibly explain a bit more about "order of evaluative criteria,
and why one order over another has particular power/value"? It sounds like
the type of entry point I'm looking for.
Regards
Chris
________________________________________
From: Practitioner-Researcher [[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Dianne Allen [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 30 March 2010 04:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design as Research
Chris,
My understanding of 'design' and the 'design process' is that it is a series
of steps and responses, multiple evaluations in a sequence, where the number
(multiples) of criteria used for evaluation can be added to or subtracted
from, and where the sequence of compliance to criteria can be reordered, and
where the multiples and order, as they are varied, can interact ... until
the 'solution' represents a best fit for all the components, and in a way
that is aesthetically pleasing.
(I see Donald Schon explicating the design process as he spells out what he
calls 'reflective practice' in his two key books about educating for
professional expertise. I see that reflective practice = design process.
Donald Schon sees that 'reflective practice' = research, research within the
professional practice context. By logic, then design process = research.
See Schon, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books.
and Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New
Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass. Watch out for the fact that Schon uses a design studio as his
'architectural practice' example. That can tend to disguise/hide from a
natural designer what is going on, and how and why it 'fits the bill' of
being both research and design, and design=research. Notice how Schon
extracts the 'general' from the particulars of a number of different
professional practices to build his description of 'reflective practice'.)
My understanding is that, especially in the development of more mechanical
devices, design work can also be team work, compared with jewellery and
other artistic expression design, and where the artistic expression is
expected to be wholly individual (ie like 'all your own work' of a thesis!).
In such team work there are brainstorming sessions, and then individual
focus on solving particular design issues. The activity, in the design
studio and in team work in brainstorming sessions, of talking out what it is
that is being addressed (which evaluative criterion, what order of
evaluative criteria, and why one order over another has particular
power/value, in this context) would be akin to some of the 'participatory'
of 'participatory action research'. After all, what is going on in
participatory (democratically processed decision making for action) action
research is making explicit and then building consensus around the multiple
values that the participants hold as they endeavour to act in the world, in
order to take collaborative, or cooperative, or corporate action.
Dianne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris de Beer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 12:38 AM
Subject: Design as Research
Dear All
In the area of Jewellery Design and Manufacture there seems to be a strong
correlation between the steps that the design and manufacture process
follows and that of the action research process (plan/act/observe/reflect).
However, in the design process, as my students are executing it at the
moment, the participatory element (from an AR point of view) is missing.
Is there a more appropriate methodology/process that I can investigate that
would lead to more 'depth' and will guide my students towards being more
immersed in their design work without it becoming an exercise in narcissism?
Regards
Chris
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