On 13/06/2012 05:11, Ken Friedman wrote:
> For more than a decade and a half, I've been trying to find Frayling's
> actual description. What I find, time after time, is people who state
> that Frayling described a method -- all of them pointing back to the
> original 7-page pamphlet.
Lise's reference to Bruce Archer is the more relevant source. There's
something a bit odd about the Frayling version, or at least some
interpretations, that position research "through" design practice in
quite a different way from Bruce Archer. Owain Pedgley has cited
evidence that Archer was pursuing these ideas several years earlier.
As Ken says, Frayling's words were really a provocative pamphlet, very
likely influenced by Archer who was his in-house expert on the topic,
and clearly he did a good job in creating debate. Archer's paper (as I
remember) started out as a keynote speech at a DRS conference and was
then developed as a paper in the codesign Journal (not the current
CoDesign but a short-lived and interesting publishing project in the mid
1990s.)
So Archer's work is much more considered and framed by a substantial
discussion of the nature of research. A senior scientist colleague of
mine at the time described it as one of the best pieces of writing on
research he had seen. There is much more to it than the famous triad and
I would commend it to all novice researchers.
However we have moved on a lot. Archer was discussing a possibility, one
which he had explored in his own work but we had very few other
practical examples available and he did not cite his own experience*.
Since then we have seen a very diverse array of relevant research
practices and the most successful have been those which put the inquiry
first but recognise the role of designing and other creative practices
as instruments of inquiry.
As an example I would like to offer Edward Wade's (2010) PhD by
publication at University of Middlesex, UK. Edward is an illustrator who
has worked extensively with herpetologists on developing our knowledge
of snake varieties through analysis of scale patterns. Over many years
Edward worked on the reconstruction of fragments of snakes with drawing
techniques to identify the snake varieties present in different
geographical areas (often the only evidence available is road-kill. It
is valuable to know which actual snakes are present if only to inform
which snake-bite antidotes to stock).
The result of his programme of drawing and analysis was both a better
understanding of the distribution of snake varieties but also a
methodology for reconstruction and identification that has wider
application. The project married a high level of skill** as an
illustrator with a rich understanding of the relevant science gained
through personal study and collaboration with experts. Almost all good
"practice-led" projects include these elements of strong
professional/creative skills located in a rich context but the glue is
the ability to develop a convincing methodology for the inquiry. There
are few off-the-shelf methods here.
<http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/view/creators/Wade=3AEdward_O=2E_Z=2E=3A=3A.html>Wade,
Edward O. Z. (2008) New reconstructive methods in scientific
illustration with reference to systematic herpetology. PhD thesis,
Middlesex University. (Available online at
http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/6276/ accessed 13 Jun 2012)
For those who have not seen it I've archived the Archer paper here
http://chrisrust.wordpress.com/1995/12/31/archer-the-nature-of-research/
*I've also archived Ghislaine Lawrence's PhD Thesis on Archer's Kings
Fund Bed project. Arguably this project includes an element of research
through designing, and much more besides.
http://chrisrust.wordpress.com/2001/12/31/lawrence-hospital-beds-by-design/
**It is always good to have in mind that Lavoisier's great achievements
in C18 chemistry depended on his dexterity in manipulating the
instruments of his trade. Few others could achieve his results because
they lacked his skills. We should never be afraid to claim the
particular skills and insights of our various professional disciplines
which can similarly unlock problems that resist other forms of inquiry
as Edward Wade has demonstrated.
Best wishes from Sheffield
Chris
..............................................................
Prof Chris Rust FDRS
Head of Art and Design Dept
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
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In theory, practice follows theory, in practice theory follows practice
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