Dear Colleagues,
Over the past few months, I have been sorry to see that public debate on the PhD-Design list has been infrequent. We continue to see notices and information, but relatively little lucid debate.
This situation more or less began after one list member accused us of a “toxic list culture,” demanding at the last DRS conference that the list be terminated. Around the same time, a number of people accused list members of colonialism, claiming — incorrectly — that some of us (myself among them) had written them privately, telling them to leave the list. In my case, the accuser promised never to back off — but when I located and posted the actual letter I wrote urging her to remain active on the list and to consider creating a “safe space” along with list participation, that individual went silent.
Around the same time, another list member was subjected to a fierce attack in an article on Medium. It was written by an author who signed his article, but who cannot be located for a reply at his apparent home university. The same article criticized me, though I was not subjected to such a ferocious attack. When I tried to locate the author to ask questions, I discovered that it is impossible to find him. I guess he is real — but then, one must wonder who it is that is actually toxic — those who shoot from the shadows with no right of reply, not even a private reply, or those of us who sign our names and accept the consequences of a debate.
In the face of these very public attacks, my suspicion is that people grew afraid to post to the list, especially when their opinions might be contrary or unpopular. People seem to be fearful of participating in the debates that once took place here, lest they, too, be subject to public attacks to which they cannot respond. This is unfortunate.
Admittedly, list debates sometimes grow heated. That is sometimes the nature of university life. Like many of us, I have occasionally been grumpy and overheated. Nevertheless, I value the list as a source, a resource, and a meeting place. The harsh and unjustified attack on list culture and list members has taken too great a toll.
In today’s New York Times, Prof. Karen Stohr of Georgetown University addressed similar issues in her analysis of Donald Trump’s behavior, and the shallow but harsh politics of contempt that characterized both his political campaign and the first days of his administration. Reading this, I thought back to some of the claims made about this list — and the attacks on list members by a few shrill and arrogant voices.
It would be a sad thing to think that a few Trump-like voices can so thoroughly disrupt what was once an interesting and passionate community. There is a difference between passionate debate, even when it grows too passionate, and the “my way or the highway” proclamations that we saw in the attacks against this list, the list culture, and the community that we have built over the years since this list became truly active following the La Clusaz conference on Doctoral Education in Design. (And, as always, I am grateful to List Owners David Durling and Keith Russell for nearly two decades of stewardship and care.)
I’ve been sorry to see things grow so quiet. I’ve been less vocal myself, but this list deserves more than useful information announcements and CFPs.
It seems to me that Karen Stohr’s article in the New York Times offers an interesting and reflective approach to some of the same issues we’ve seen at play here. You will find it at this URL:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/opinion/our-new-age-of-contempt.html
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
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 | Melbourne, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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