|
Dear Stephen, thanks for what you wrote. It helps me, and probably many
others, to move on in my/ours reflections.
/Premise/: I wrote the open letter with Victor, but moving on in the
discussion I cannot talk for him. The fact that we agreed on the letter
contents doesn’t mean we must agree on everything.Therefore, from here
on, what I will write has to be considered only my personal opinion.
Unfortunately I will not be able to answer to all the questions you raise.
Therefore what the open letter proposes will remain vague.
But the letter is vague not only because I don’t have all the answers.
It is so also by choice: the first move to be done if you try to involve
others in a collaborative action, is not (to try) to impose a complete
view on the issue in discussion, but to look for some basic points on
which different actors can converge. In the open letter there are two
points that we propose as the basis of the initiative: a sense of
urgency (different people can be driven by different motivations, but
feel that something should be done together “to stand up for
democracy”), and the idea that design can bring a contribution (and we
indicate 4 areas where design and democracy intersect, imagining that
everybody could elaborate on them making clearer what they are, what can
be done and how things are changing).
I understand that your way of thinking is quite diverse. You write/: “A
call to action has to be believable and trustworthy for me or anyone
else to take the time to support democratic processes and democracy, let
alone design something to support democracy against alleged attackers/”
and later: “/My hope is that the authors will provide some evidence and
clarity/”.
Sorry to disappoint you. But I also have a question to you: why do you
expect that somebody else, Victor and me in this case, should give you
all these answers? Why don’t you try to find /your/ answers and share
them with us? Wouldn’t this be a contribution?
Of course, if you don’t feel the sense of urgency and if you think that
we, as designers, hve nothing to bring to democracy regeneration, the
open letter ant its proposals are not for you.
On the contrary, if you decide to participate, giving your opinion on
the questions you raise could be first step in this direction.
All the best
Ezio
PS. You conclude saying: “/Lastly, I would say, that if I were to
support any part of this Open Letter, to take up arms (this is a
metaphor), use my time, or my action, I would need to see where Victor
and Ezio have skin in the game. What actions, leadership, and personal
risks are you both taking against these attacks to democracy and what
are you doing about it, personally?/” … This is not a party, not even a
movement. Leadership is not required. What is required is that many
people autonomously stand up and (re)starts discussions and actions.
On my side, beyond facilitating, in the limits of my possibilities, the
Stand Up for Democracy imitative, of course I have my personal line of
research and action on this topic. But let’s talk of it next time.
Il 21/05/17 06:22, Stephen Matthew Wisniew ha scritto:
> Dear Ezio (and Victor),
>
>
> I admit that I am a member of the list who is less enthusiastic about
> this Stand Up for Democracy “movement”. I believe that those who have
> initiated this movement need to elaborate more clearly about this “crisis”
> before I or others can use this statement of fear to fill in the blanks of
> actions we believe ought to be taken with design action. Initially I was
> intrigued because of the names associated with this movement, but as I
> critically examined this document it raised my concern about using fear as
> a motivation. Also, the document is vague enough to make everyone feel that
> there was something clearly expressed in this “Open Letter” that we all
> could do. It's just so vague and full of hyperbole.
>
> I had to step back and make sure that I was not taken away by The Open
> Letter as an appeal to authority because I like what I have read in design
> literature by both Ezio and Victor and I believe that they both are
> professional academics in design. I stopped myself from joining the
> bandwagon of designers to follow the famous names backing this movement. I
> was believing what they wrote without clear evidence, and that is why I am
> writing this. I know the level of detail and thinking of both authors
> evidenced from their published works, and I expect that they can provide
> better examples to their claims and calls for action regarding the Stand Up
> for Democracy Movement, and I don't think they would find it an unworthy
> request.
>
>
>
> The beginning of this Open Letter reminds me of the National Military
> Strategy of 2015 (
> http://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Publications/2015_National_Military_Strategy.pdf),
> using fear and trying to connect global disorder as a means for military
> action. The differences between the Open Letter and the NMS are that NMS
> names the perpetrators and has a strategy and approach, tangible evidence
> you can pick apart (if you want), and the NMS has a perspective and point
> of view with data and information to align with the reasoning. This is
> missing from the Open Letter and makes it less trustworthy for me.
>
>
>
> The following are my questions and comments regarding the Open Letter: (
> http://www.democracy-design.org/open-letter-stand-up-democracy/) My method
> is to quote the open letter and then ask questions about the sections
> quoted.
>
>
>
> “1. We are in difficult and dangerous times. For many years, we lived in a
> world that, despite its problems, was nevertheless committed to principles
> of democracy in which human rights, fundamental freedoms, and opportunities
> for personal development, were increasing. Today, this picture has changed
> profoundly. There are attacks on democracy in several countries - including
> those where democracy had seemed to be unshakable.”
>
>
>
> Can you elaborate more fully on the world we lived in compared to the
> world we live in now that was once committed to human rights, but now has
> fallen into disarray? I would like to see your comparative analysis so I
> can understand your perspective. What are the problem frames and solution
> frames? What are the sources of instability today that didn’t exist years
> ago? We had the Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, to name a few from
> the lived past. Democracy knew about it and watched it happen. Today’s
> picture does not seem to have profoundly changed, and if so, please provide
> some examples that show this sharp increase in democracies decline or
> increased attacks on democracy.
>
>
>
> When you define democracy do you define it as a system of government or a
> process of organization, or something else?
>
>
>
> “Today, this picture has changed profoundly. There are attacks on
> democracy in several countries - including those where democracy had seemed
> to be unshakable.”
>
>
>
> If there are attacks on democracy, in any sense of the order, system, or
> process, who are the attackers and in which countries are they from, and
> which countries are they attacking? This is important to know and it
> deserves a geographical map to identify the “several countries” who are
> perpetrators to democracy. This should not be left up to my or any other
> designer’s imagination. A call to action has to be believable and
> trustworthy for me or anyone else to take the time to support democratic
> processes and democracy, let alone design something to support democracy
> against alleged attackers. I would offer also, that there are places where
> democracy isn’t a viable option. I do believe in justice, equality, and
> human rights, and most importantly, a fair rule of law. Democracy doesn’t
> guarantee any of those, and majority rule, a process of democracy, may
> actually subvert these values.
>
>
>
> 2. “Faced by these developments,…”
>
> What do you mean by developments? What are the actions that have occurred
> that have caused this fear that requires design action? What are the
> problems you are calling “developments”. Please cite examples of
> developments I should be concerned with.
>
>
>
> “ we believe the design community should take a stand, speak out, and act:
> practitioners, researchers, theorists, students, journalists,publishers and
> curators - all who are professionally involved in design-related
> activities.”
>
>
>
> Can you name some specific problems that you think the “design community”
> should take a stand? Or can you describe more tangibly the threats that
> design should mitigate? For example (and this is a made-up example), in the
> U.S., a democratic nation, the rule of law is under attack by policing
> authorities that are poorly trained, and by the fact that arrested
> individuals of indigent status cannot afford legal representation; and
> therefore, the value of justice, an assumed democratic value, needs an
> acceptable design solution.
>
>
>
> “We do not have to share exactly the same idea of what democracy is: to
> defend it as a core value, it is enough to recognize the strong convergence
> between democracy and design in four respects: design of democracy -
> improving democratic processes and the institutions on which democracy is
> built; design for democracy - enabling more people to participate in the
> democratic process, especially through the use of technology; design in
> democracy - building access, openness and transparency into institutions in
> ways that assure equality and justice;design as democracy - the practise of
> participatory design so that diverse actors can shape our present and
> future worlds in fair and inclusive ways.”
>
>
>
> I think this group has a hard time defining design and will have an equally
> difficult time defining democracy and what it ought to mean and how and who
> should deliver the proper correctives to these “attacks” on democracy. As
> of right now, I don’t even know who is attacking democracy’s flanks, to
> make a stand against them. My hope is that the authors will provide some
> evidence and clarity.
>
>
>
> Lastly, I would say, that if I were to support any part of this Open
> Letter, to take up arms(this is a metaphor), use my time, or my action, I
> would need to see where Victor and Ezio have skin in the game. What
> actions, leadership, and personal risks are you both taking against these
> attacks to democracy and what are you doing about it, personally?
>
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> *Stephen Matthew. WISNIEW*
>
> *Stephen Matthew Designs*
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 11:36 AM, Ezio Manzini <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>>
>> few days ago Luke Feast has kindly presented and commented the Stand Up
>> for Democracy initiative. Now I would like to share with all of you some
>> information on it, to invite everybody who agrees with its spirit to
>> participate and to give indications on how to do it.
>>
>> /Stand Up for Democracy/is an international initiative motivated by the
>> concern for the attack to democracy we are witnessing in several countries
>> in the world. Its first aim is to be a strong political statement of the
>> Design Community against these on-going highly concerning trends. But,
>> facing this crisis, /Stand Up for Democracy/ presents also a constructive
>> side: it aims to create and multiply arenas of conversations and
>> experimentations on how to conceive, develop and connect new possibilities
>> for democracy.
>>
>>
>> This initiative has been started in March 2017 by an Open Letter sent by
>> Ezio Manzini and Victor Margolin to the Design Community. Now it is
>> autonomously moving on and spreading internationally.
>>
>>
>> Everyone who agrees with the Open Letter spirit can participate. The way
>> to do it is simple:
>>
>> (1) Write a "personal statement", organize a "event" and upload them in
>> these two digital forms:
>>
>> * for your personal statement: http://bit.ly/ddp-person
>> * for the related event:http://bit.ly/ddp-event <http://bit.ly/ddp-event>
>>
>>
>> (2) spread the Open Letter with your personal statement in your networks,
>> asking for other friends and colleagues to participate in the initiative in
>> the same way.
>>
>>
>> These statements and the information on the related events are collected
>> by DDP Democracy-Design Platform http://www.democracy-design.org. DDP is
>> a digital platform that works as the Stand Up for Democracy initiative
>> enabling system, giving the collected statements and events more
>> visibility, coordinating them with other projects and offering other
>> relevant information. DDP has been designed and is coordinated by three of
>> laboratories of the Politecnico di Milano (Design Policy Lab, Density
>> Design and DESIS Lab) and can be considered as their contribution to the
>> Stand Up for Democracy initiative. __
>>
>>
>> The Stand Up for Democracy initiative will last until October 2017 and
>> will have its milestones in some main design-related events that have
>> introduced or will introduce its topics in their programs.The first of
>> these main event already took place and has been at the EAD /Design for
>> Next Conference/, in Rome, where the organizers offered Stand Up for
>> Democracy a space for discussion in the opening day, the12^th April.
>>
>> For the future, several other possibilities are under discussion. Two
>> important ones are already confirmed. They are: the Cumuls Conference, in
>> Kolding-Denmark, at the end of May, and the WDO-World Design Organization
>> Conference in Turin in October 2017.
>>
>>
>> All the best
>>
>>
>> Ezio (and Victor)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
