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PHD-DESIGN  October 2020

PHD-DESIGN October 2020

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Subject:

Re: Meredith Davis’s Talk

From:

Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

PhD-Design <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 15:13:35 +0100

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Dear David,

There has been a fair amount of off-list conversation on Meredith Davis’s talk. Several people questioned my enthusiasm for the talk on the basis that this didn’t constitute new and original research. Your post implies that the talk is in some way flawed because Meredith was ploughing old ground by “…rediscovering and reinventing the nature of design, design research, and design practice.”

IMHO, this is not the case. This was not a research presentation or even a summary of Meredith’s own research. She wasn’t attempting to rediscover or reinvent design, design research, or design practice. Meredith Davis was doing a graduate seminar for PhD students.

Koc University invited us to sit in — but they didn’t invite us to witness an advanced research seminar. They welcomed those who were interested to listen in when a senior design educator answered questions for PhD students who are taking the first steps in a research career.

This was a talk, rather than a research paper. I wasn't enthusiastic because it’s new. I was enthusiastic because it made sense, and it was a well spoken. 

It’s not just the case that you can see papers in the Information Design Journal that shed light on these topics. Many of us have said things like this over the past 50 or 60 years. I’m also one of them — I said many of these kinds of things in a 1997 book chapter titled “Design Science and Design Education.”

https://www.academia.edu/250736/Friedman_1997_Design_Science_and_Design_Education

The fact that others have addressed these topics and the fact that some of us have said what Meredith says doesn’t diminish the value of this seminar. Meredith herself addressed these topics many times over the years in her research articles, conference presentations, and books. 

There is an issue of significance. Beyond the fact that this was a talk, this was a talk for PhD students in the Bologna system. In the Bologna system, most students come to PhD work after 3 years of studio courses and 2 years of studio courses. They don’t know the literature of last 50 years of literature. Most of them are even new to the research of the past 5 years.

Based on the questions that the PhD students asked, I’d say they are intelligent and thoughtful. They participate in seminars like this to enter the literature. 

Meredith wasn’t presenting original findings, new research, or even radical ideas. She was helping doctoral students to learn something useful. 

It would be useful for the rest of us to remember that the students at Koc University asked the questions. Meredith answered. Student questions set the agenda and through those questions, the PhD students determined the structure of the talk.  

It is my view that Meredith Davis is one of the leading lights of our field. I am in awe of her command of the literature, and I am bowled over by her ability to summarise so much in such a crisp, concise way. 

It was generous of Koc University to invite PhD students from around the world to listen in, and it is a real service to us all to make the talk available in several versions on YouTube. Over the next few years, these videos will enable many people — students and teachers both — to listen and learn.
 
The next step is to read the journals. That’s up to the PhD students, to their supervisors, and to people who organise seminars.

As for this seminar, I enjoyed it. And despite the fact that Meredith was saying things that some of us know, I learned a few new and useful things myself.  

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 ||| Visiting Professor | Faculty of Engineering | Lund University ||| Email  [log in to unmask] | Academia https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn 

--



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