Dear Colleagues,
So far, there have been five replies to the question, "Do people from an art and design background avoid posting to the PhD-Design list because they are afraid of being attacked or treated disrespectfully by people from a background in the scientific or technical disciplines?”
Here are the answers so far:
(1)
I suspect that I may not qualify to answer the question because I manage to overcome my terror and post to the list despite my well-founded fear of attack by zombies in white lab coats.
Who I am: BA in art history, years of experience in graphic design, MFA in graphic design, writing about design-related issues for popular/trade and academic press, teaching graphic design. . . Knowledge of research informal and to some extent centered on marketing research. No PhD degree. Largely autodidact.
Why I do or don’t hesitate to post: I often give up on subjects because people do not engage in actual consideration of challenges to their statements. This is true of a wide variety of people from all academic and political perspectives. I do not worry that someone will disagree with me. If I discovered that someone always agreed with me, it would either sadden or scare me.
I think that there have been instances of people being attacked or treated disrespectfully on the list but I don’t think it’s a big problem except in cases of regular participants who have built up animosity.
Anyone who has not been insulted on the internet is an extra and should not complain that they have not been given Academy Awards.
(2)
This is a very interesting and valid question. It comes up a lot privately in discussions I've had with people in art and design fields but I haven’t seen it discussed in this setting of the list itself.
A problem that I’ve heard voiced is less that people are afraid of being attacked, and more that they will simply be ignored. The discussions on PhD Design often feel like they are an insider-dominated dialog. Whether or not this is true is a different story. I’ve encouraged others with my (art and design) background to join, but often just get eyerolls ...
(3)
I am from design background. I have always just been an observer and reader on the list, never a poster. While I think the main reason for not posting is because I'm introverted, but I also hold reservations not because of people from diverse background, rather from the established and “high profile” researchers and educators.
It seems to me that at times, the way the “established” researchers/educators interact with the other posters (and each other) can be quite unkind.
(4)
I avoid posting to the PhD Design List after seeing the way scientific/technical background members often pounce upon, in the most denigrating way, members who bring up any discussion on any cultural/anthropological/sociological perspectives of design. The atmosphere on the list gets particularly vile when issues related to gender, decolonisation, power, etc., come up and the virulence is unprofessional and offensive and also so uninformed. It is also often misogynist and ahistorical.
I hesitate posting on this group not only as as one with an art and design background, but also as a woman, and as someone as a member from the global south.
Thanks for undertaking the survey. I look forward to the results. I doubt it will change anything.
(5)
I rarely participate in PhD-Design list discussions, with exception of posting opening positions or call for papers. I had been following this list since 2006 when I was a PhD candidate in Design at [ university ] and I consider it a great resource. At that time I felt intimidated by the voices on the list, and I had the feeling that a smaller group of influential voices were more interested in discussing with each other rather than helping young scholars. This impression has changed through the years and I feel that there are more and more posts where this is the case.
Said that, even if now I am not a PhD candidate anymore, I have a solid track of publications, book chapters, academic achievements and I am much older and confident in my stance around design issues, I still do not find the courage of posting on the list.
What stops me is the witnessing of a long record of very aggressive posts, where arrogance, patronization, belittling, and (intellectual) attacks informed the tone of the writing. I believe that the general tone of the list excludes voices who do not subscribe to the idea that intellectual discussion should be thought, combative and argumentative. Those voices are tho, typically, of those marginalized, the English second language, the self-conscious, the introverted or of the women or of those who are at the margins of the academic world proper.
This makes the list feeling patriarchal in tone and mannerisms. And if it is still a great reading is not a platform where I personally want to actively participate. There are already too many battles to be fought in academia (for resources, ideologies, politics etc) when I engage in intellectual discourse I want collegiality and support, exclusively.
So as to your question "Do people from an art and design background avoid posting to the PhD-Design list?" My answer would be yes, I do.
--
If you come from an art or design background and you avoid posting to the list for fear of personal attacks from people in the traditional science and technology disciplines, I would like to hear from you. This includes people in design history and the humanities.
In your reply, please let me know who you are, describe your background, and tell me what you do now. This information will remain confidential. I will gather the cumulative data and post it to the list late on Friday, August 31.
If you want to write a statement about why you avoid posting to the list, I will include your statement while protecting your identity.
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (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 ||| Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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