All,
Since Gunnar cited my graduate research assistantship, I'll chime in here. I see that the conversation has also moved, so I'll keep this short.
InformeDesign (http://www.informedesign.org/) is an online database of research related to interior design that has been translated into practitioner-friendly language. I worked at InformeDesign for the duration of my doctoral studies, and can speak to the breadth and depth of the disciplines and journals covered by the project/database (everything from nursing to epidemiology to Design Issues to Science). The site/project is currently idle, meaning that new research is not being added to the database. But, existing Research Summaries (the practitioner-friendly format of the work) are still accessible and searchable.
The project is the brain child of interior design researcher/educators Dr. Caren Martin and Dr. Denice Guerin at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The project is an outgrowth of their ongoing research documenting the interior design profession's body of knowledge. It is also driven by Caren and Denice's passion for promoting evidence-based design among the interior design community. But, I don't want to put words in their mouths. These observations are based on my work at InformeDesign, and if you're curious, you should check out the site and contact them directly.
Tangentially, this thread/notion also connects to my research documenting graphic design's body of knowledge (inspired by my work with InformeDesign) and my larger interest in knowledge production/transformation/transmission in graphic design.
Best,
Kate.
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Kate LaMere, PhD
Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of Graphic Design
School of Art and Design
Mail Stop 502
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858 USA
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(+1) 252.328.5180
On Feb 7, 2012, at 10:14 AM, Gunnar Swanson wrote:
> On Feb 7, 2012, at 9:59 AM, Self, James A wrote:
>> Anecdotally, while I was a practitioner it was more I.D magazine than Design Studies. The thesis: practicing designers have limited engagement with 'academic journals'.
>
> The editors of I.D. read (some) academic journals and/or hire writers (often academics) who read (some) academic journals. Articles from academic journals make it into anthologies that are read by practitioners (and are certainly read by some of the faculty who teach the next group of practitioners.)
>
> That's not to say that most published academic articles are of interest to practitioners; it would be hard to make the case that most are even of interest to a broad range of academics.
>
> My friend and colleague Kate LaMere worked for an interesting project at University of Minnesota Twin Cities when she was doing her PhD there. They translated research in interior design into a form that would be accessible for practitioners. Maybe Kate or someone at U of M can comment.
>
>
> Gunnar
> ----------
> Gunnar Swanson
> East Carolina University
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