Dear list-members,
I'm stuck in a circle of thoughts; hopefully one of you can get me out...
You have probably discussed the issue before on this list, since everything we do repeat it-self. If so, please give me a direction where to go…
To get to the point:
Professional knowledge/skills (eg. what you need to know to be able to perform within your profession, such as a designer) does not only consist of scientific knowledge that a person can obtain from different available sources and later ‘use’ in a specific context/situation/meeting/product. The ‘usage’ is dependent on the person’s capacity to reflect/ familiarize oneself with/ and act upon the information (facts) in relation to the situation. That the person can estimate and value the information to be used, how and when etc…
Still it’s my task as a ‘scientific researcher’/design researcher to produce knowledge with relevance and usefulness, so that design as knowledge field can grow and mature… and the profession can be developed etc. The Purpose of research!
My experience is that a lot of (?) scientific knowledge stays within the university and its scholars instead of being used by the professional/designers… I might be wrong here… is there any studies on dissemination of research findings in design?
Do you have any experience of scientific knowledge been produced by a design researcher (yourself or others) which later is actually used and incorporated as professional knowledge? if so, what type of knowledge? and how is it used?
Methods/computer programme could be an answer, development of tools another. However my problem with methods is that they often are fragmented and not always describe what really is going on… and just adding to the practice vs theory discussions… And that’s not what I’m looking for to get out from my tunnel…
I need examples of produced (for design) knowledge that can be obtained by the designer and later be transformed to professional knowledge by the designer him/herself… and that knowledge characteristics…
Any suggestion?
/Elin Olander, PhD, senior lector, Industrial Design, Lund University
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|