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Hi Elisa, One good contribution that you can make is to create a new term describing the phenomenon you construe. The term metadesign is too general and too misleading. I understand that you just borrow it from someone who have already generated it. However, as long as we are at the beginning of using it and there is no convention about it, it might be better to think about a better term that implies more correctly your intentions. For example, sociotechnical design, sociomaterial design, sociospatial design or whatever. Actually, what I see in your conceptualization is more like user participation, user empowerment, and the like rather than a comprehensive social approach. It directs toward participatory design. Terms like metadesign and total design are too general to imply the social aspect you envisage. They imply a higher level of generalization and conceptualizing the ontology, which includes the social aspect as well, however, they imply also many other principles that you do not refer to in your contextualization of the issue. It seems to me that the prefix "meta" is often abused. Regards, Lubomir At 02:46 AM 10/28/2002 +0100, elisa giaccardi wrote: >Dear all, > >in order to reply to requests of clarification about what sorts of material >I am looking for, I would like to explain something more about my research. >Beside collecting useful material and information for my thesis, of course I >will be glad for any discussion my work can raise. > >It is true, it is a broad spectrum. But I think that an effort can be done >in order to identify a thread related to 'metadesign' issues both in art and >design. > >According to my study, metadesign (or meta-design) is a term that has been >used with reference to art and cultural theories, and design practices since >the 80s. Describing the origins of the term and the history of the concept, >my aim is to produce a conceptual framework for metadesign that takes into >an account the technological and cultural context, and the spectrum of >theories and practices that form its conceptual fabric. > >I claim for an adoption and development of metadesign as an emerging design >culture and practice able to address the challenges of future >socio-technical systems. > >What I can see in the many different uses of the term metadesign, if I >articulate them in a matrix, is the recurrence of some conceptual and >operational elements like - for instance - the capability for >users/communities to be in charge of, to "control" their own "meanings", or >to "modify/generate" their own artifacts/realities through "seeding" >processes and "transformation rules". If I put all these conceptual elements >together (I am still in the process of identify and organize them >coherently) a clear philosophical, ethical, and political perspective >(utopia?) emerges, whose final aim - from my point of view - is to provide >people with the means to get back their everyday horizon of life, ultimately >to be creative, to be able to enter poietically - as designers? - into the >contemporary process of enactive production of the world. > >Now, my contribution, grounded on this work of "reconstruction" of a design >culture never properly jumped up to a cultural movement or design >methodology (like it happened instead for "participatory approach", for >instance), is the production of design principles leading to a coherent >shift to what I call an "interbeing" perspective. Metadesign has all the >makings of a socio-technological "know-how", but this "how" is something >that can only be defined intersubjectively and that is never fixed. > > From my point of view, the crucial point is not to empower design >(particularly the design of interaction) as a kind of moral action. This, at >best, would mean a social modelling informed by new ecological metaphors, >inevitably proposed in terms of the recovery of a new meta-narrative. Within >a poietic frame, as that I propose in my work, an advanced form of design - >like metadesign seems to be - cannot be based on a priori metaphors or >meta-narratives, in the same way as it cannot be based on a priori policies >of technology. As Mitcham recognizes (Mitcham, 1995), this imposes ethical >demands 'on' design rather than extract new ethical principles 'from' it. > >The actual crucial point is to learn a new 'how' instead of establishing any >'what', however appropriate. Ethical responsibility should be shared as a >'know-how' (Varela, 1999) of interbeing, rather than to refer to 'what' has >been fixed to be transcendentally better for people. It should be conceived >as a mode of consciousness (like caring could be understood), embodied in >evolving practices of fluid and interdependent communities. Hopefully it >would link knowledge and ethics in a new way, fostering unexpected >socio-technical systems. > >So what I am looking for is material specifically addressing the concept of >metadesign, or any other material that you think can be related to my >framework. Of course, I am glad for any discussion my work can raise. > >Best regards, > >Elisa > > > > -----Messaggio originale----- > > Da: Ken Friedman [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > > Inviato: domenica 27 ottobre 2002 22.09 > > A: elisa giaccardi > > Oggetto: What sorts of material are you looking for ? > > > > > > Dear Elisa, > > > > This is a broad spectrum. > > > > I have material that reaches toward design and design research > > in one direction, and toward art and technology on the other. > > > > In addition,. I see that your foundation works in the field of > > art and business, which is yet a third direction. > > > > I'll be happy to send you material in any or all of these areas, > > but I don't want to overload you with too much material. Just let > > me know. > > > > What sorts of material are you looking for ? > > > > Best regards, > > > > Ken Friedman > > > > > > >Hello! > > > > > >I am a PhD student within CAiiA-STAR, an interdisciplinary research > > >programme addressing the convergence between art, science, and > > technology. > > > > > >I am doing a research on Interactive Art and Metadesign in order > > to produce > > >a conceptual framework that takes into an account the cultural > > context and > > >the spectrum of theories and practices that form its conceptual fabric. > > > > > >According to my research, Metadesign (or meta-design) is a term that has > > >been used with reference to art and cultural theories, and > > design practices > > >since the 80s. It is a concept particularly interesting when compared to > > >the > > >issues of social responsability currently debated on the list. > > So maybe it > > >won't a new concept to some of you. > > > > > >Does this topic suggest any authors/books/articles that would be critical > > >to > > >and especially of this topic? I would appreciate any relevant suggestions > > >you can offer. > > > > > >Thank you! > > > > > >Elisa > > > > > > > > >Elisa Giaccardi > > >--------------------------------------------- > > > > > >Fondazione Fitzcarraldo | Head of New Media > > >http://www.fitzcarraldo.it > > >[log in to unmask] > > > > > >Research Fellow | CAiiA-STAR ..-* > > >http://caiia-star.net > > > > > >Personal address | > > >[log in to unmask] > > > > > > -- > > > > Ken Friedman, Ph.D. > > Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design > > Department of Leadership and Organization > > Norwegian School of Management > > > > Visiting Professor > > Advanced Research Institute > > School of Art and Design > > Staffordshire University > >