Friends,
The odd usage of upper-case initials on common nouns such as “design,” “art,” or “craft” has been bothering me for some time. Using upper-case initials for common nouns is a mistake unless the word appears as the first word in a sentence. Words like “design,” “design research,” “design thinking,” and “research community” are common nouns. They aren’t proper nouns or names — they don’t require capital letters.
We do not spell common nouns like “physics,” “medicine,” or “engineering” with upper-case initials, nor do we write about “medical research” or the “physics community” with upper-case initials. The same is true for “design,” “design research,” “design thinking,” and “design research community.”
It occurs to me that spelling “art” or “craft” with an upper-case initial letter while spelling “engineering” or “mathematics” correctly gives rise to the feeling of prejudice that some list members detect in posts that incorrectly distinguish this way in describing fields that should be described using parallel orthography and grammar.
Warm wishes,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Elsevier in Cooperation with Tongji University Press | Launching in 2015
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology ||| Adjunct Professor | School of Creative Arts | James Cook University | Townsville, Australia ||| Visiting Professor | UTS Business School | University of Technology Sydney University | Sydney, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
Telephone: International +46 480 51514 — In Sweden (0) 480 51514 — iPhone: International +46 727 003 218 — In Sweden (0) 727 003 218
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