 |
 |
Dear Colleagues, With Dick Taylor off to the dentist, we seem to be moving toward the end of Session 1. I will be looking forward to final comments and responses from our other speakers - Thomas Rasmussen, John Feland, Sylvia Pizzocaro, and Chris Rust. Perhaps we will even hear a few last words from Dick. There remain a few questions for specific speakers, and I hope they will take the opportunity to answer. I will be back in a few hours to wrap things up and start things off for Session 2. I want to welcome new subscribers to PhD-Design - and I am happy to welcome old subscribers back to the list. With over 1,200 subscribers, this is the largest and most active Internet discussion group dedicated to design research. For those who are new, the list as established by David Durling and Keith Russell after the 1998 Ohio conference on doctoral education in design. In the run-up to the La Clusaz conference on doctoral education design, a lively debate titled "Picasso's PhD" on another list led us to realize the need for a list that welcomes serious, deep inquiry in addition to short notes, conference calls, and the like. We renewed PhD-Design in 2000. Our mandate was to cover the four major thematic areas of the La Clusaz conference: philosophies and theories of design, foundations and methods of design research, form and structure for the doctorate in design, the relationship between practice and research in design. In the three years since La Clusaz, our remit has expanded to cover emerging themes in design research and design education. During those three years we have grown from just under one hundred subscribes to just over 1,200. We form an interesting community - a community of conversation and learning linked to several communities of research and of practice. On behalf of the community, I thank the speakers in this first session. Dick, Chris, Sylvia, John, and Thomas have fostered a lively debate ands a rich series of issues. It is my sense that these conversations have not so much been about oppositions but about distinctions, contrasts, and reflections. If I were to thank everyone who made this session a success, I would start with Pip Ashton, Chuck Burnette, and Ron Curedale and work my way to Karel van der Waarde and Pradeep Yammiyavar. Thanks to you all! The five speakers from Session 1 will remain with us for the rest of the conference. Now they get to sit back to raise questions and propose challenges for the next speakers to consider. They will be able to take up their new roles soon when Lorraine Justice takes the stage for the first presentation of Session 2. If you have questions or ideas to bring forward, you are welcome to do so during what remains of Session 1. With four sessions to go, there will be more opportunities to reflect on the role and future of design in the university. Once again, to quote the Governator, "I'll be back." Ken -- 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 Faculty of Art, Media, and Design Staffordshire University