"this is a highly deficient field whose hope for future
development lies not in a defense of what was but *only* in openness to
wider ranges of thinking and practice"
Hear, hear.
Best,
C
Clare Bell
Lecturer, Visual Communication
Typography Ireland @typographyIRL
Board Member: ATypI @ATypI
Room NA 104
Dublin School of Creative Arts
Dublin Institute of Technology
7 Grangegorman Lower
Dublin 7
Tel: 01 4024245
On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 2:36 PM, Clive Dilnot <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Written in response to Milena Radizikowska’s post of Jan 31st.
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> As I have watched this list over the last months I have become more and
> more depressed at the thought that the “debates” that take place here
> represent, in theory, the best of design research and the best of design
> researchers.
>
>
>
> Like Milena I am these days a more or less invisible member of this list.
> Like her the list does not feel welcoming to me as a participant. The
> difference is that I am an old, near-dead, white male with a comfortable
> academic position. I should, therefore, in theory, feel comfortable. I do
> not. Very often I have felt ashamed to be even a silent participant in this
> list.
>
>
>
> Two things in particular have struck me over the past weeks. The first is
> the contrast - encapsulated today by Milena’s letter - between the
> maturity, the *grace* (and the sheer intelligence) of most of the recent
> posts by women and younger researchers, and the too-often immaturity,
> gracelessness and over-defensiveness of many of the posts by the hierarchy
> of this list.
>
>
>
> The second point is how this bears on the conception and understanding of
> “design research.” Some who have defensively posted here appear to have the
> implicit notion that they are the keepers of the sacred flame of
> “research.” This is nonsense, both personally and intellectually. The truth
> is that while “design research” has globally made great institutional
> strides since the 1980s (as represented by the number of PhDs and the like)
> intellectually – and especially in terms of the models majorly represented
> on this list - it has made almost no real advance. Frankly, in its most
> conventional modes, "design research" is of little interest, either to
> thought or practice, and far less so than some here seem to imagine.
>
>
>
> (I found it ironic that just this week one poor poster was feeling he had
> to apologize for raising the question of the relation of designing, making
> and researching as of “specialist” interest – when of course it is (one of)
> the most fundamental issues to be thought today).
>
>
>
> If this field is to advance as a field of thought, understanding and the
> modelling of action it requires an infinitely more open dialogue. But that
> can only happen not just through intellectual openness (if only!) but also
> personal openness.
>
>
> This is to come back to Milena’s post. She, and many others who have posted
> here and have tried to talk sense to power, are exactly right. Unless real
> openness, personal and intellectual is extended to *every* serious design
> researcher this list will become (as it is already very close to becoming)
> an empty echo chamber of decreasing relevance.
>
>
>
> Design research is NOT in its conventional (and now historic) models an
> intellectually vibrant field that requires the endless vigilance of
> self-appointed guardians. It just isn't that important. It hasn't, in
> truth, accumulated the intellectual worth that some seem to self-ascribe to
> it. On the contrary, this is a highly deficient field whose hope for future
> development lies not in a defense of what was but *only* in openness to
> wider ranges of thinking and practice represented by younger researchers
> and thinkers - precisely the people the managers and guardians of this list
> are currently managing to push away.
>
>
>
> Milena is gain exactly right when she finishes her letter with a plea for
> *listening*:
>
>
>
> More clarity: what would I like to see happen? For those most senior, with
> the most privilege to listen. Just listen and hear what they have been
> saying. Believe them. Accept without defense. Look in yourself for what
> there's still time to change. Then educate yourself on how to support that
> change.
>
>
>
> It is that or it is slipping further into irrelevance.
>
>
>
> *CLIVE **DILNOT *| *THE NEW SCHOOL*
> Professor of Design Studies
> Parsons The New School for Design
> 6 E16th St., Room 731
> New York
> NY 10003
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 10:40 PM, Milena Radzikowska <
> [log in to unmask]
> > wrote:
>
> > Dear all
> >
> > I've been an invisible member of this list twice: once when I was doing
> my
> > MDes in the early 2000s and I returned again when I started working on my
> > PhD.
> >
> > Let me make this as clear and direct as I can: this list does not feel
> > welcoming to me as a participant. It does not appear inclusive. It does
> not
> > appear to take as "enough proof" or "strength of argument" the experience
> > of certain academics. There are enough times that it utilizes the methods
> > of gendered and hierarchical toxicity of the world beyond it that I have
> > never felt comfortable in engaging in its discourse.
> >
> > I respect and know many of you by your work and your writing. I would
> love
> > to feel a part of this community - as a designer, a professor, a PhD, a
> > researcher, an academic - but I do not.
> >
> > Let me answer the most obvious first question - I don't feel safe because
> > when ever I've seen someone raise these kinds of issues on this list, the
> > response from those with amassed hierarchical worth, is to deny them,
> > defend those with power, or demand specific, itemized, weight of proof,
> > similar to what happens in the "outside world" when women (and not only
> > women) call out sexual harassment or assault or discrimination or any of
> > the other countless feminist and intersectional issues.
> >
> > I am intentionally not naming names. I am intentionally not offering
> > proof. I am intentionally attempting to call your attention to the voices
> > that are being silenced (yes they are). When enough of them unsubscribe,
> > you will be left with an echo chamber, filled with only those ideas you
> are
> > most comfortable with.
> >
> > Then others might join: younger, newer, and with more energy. But unless
> > they are heard when the same issues arise (and they will), this toxic
> > situation will just repeat itself.
> >
> > More clarity: what would I like to see happen? For those most senior,
> with
> > the most privilege to listen. Just listen and hear what they have been
> > saying. Believe them. Accept without defense. Look in yourself for what
> > there's still time to change. Then educate yourself on how to support
> that
> > change.
> >
> >
> > Milena Radzikowska, MDes, PhD
> > Associate Professor of Information Design
> > Faculty of Business and Communication Studies
> > Mount Royal University
> >
> > mailto:[log in to unmask]
> > http://www.milenaradzikowska.com
> >
> > It's a great life if you don't weaken.
> >
> > This communication is intended for the use of the recipient to which it
> is
> > addressed, and may contain confidential, personal, and or privileged
> > information. Please contact the sender immediately if you are not the
> > intended recipient of this communication, and do not copy, distribute, or
> > take action relying on it. Any communication received in error, or
> > subsequent reply, should be deleted or destroyed.
> >
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