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Jon, What words can describe a rose that smell so sweet? Perhaps art and poetry can come closer to describing the sensorial reality of a rose better than any scholarly journal. That is perhaps why art and poetry exist but are sometimes considered inferior to a scholarly article. Culture and science are difficult bedfellows. ______________________________ R o b C u r e d a l e Professor, Chair Product Design College for Creative Studies Detroit 201 East Kirby Detroit MI 48202-4034 Phone: 313 664 7625 Fax: 313 664 7620 email: [log in to unmask] http://www.ccscad.edu ______________________________ >>> Jon Allen <[log in to unmask]> 10/07/04 3:37 AM >>> Dear Carla, Should a PhD in design be described in cultural terms? We think it is unhelpful to describe studio invention as a contribution to knowledge. This remains the key criterion for the PhD beyond the Faculty at Monash, as in all universities. But we felt strongly that the imaginative work of artists and designers in creating new ways of looking, forming and interacting should not be defined in terms of knowledge, because this falsifies not only the sensory, intuitive and creative processes of making but also their patterns of evaluation, as with the sundry formalist and ideological, symbolic and metaphorical criteria that may be engaged by a critic. Meaning in art and design cannot be reduced to knowledge except with great pretension or evasiveness; and so how much less available are the creative processes to such a narrow epistemological framework? Better, therefore, to define the PhD as making a substantial contribution of cultural significance. The specification of cultural significance has greatly helped us to recognize the rigour proper to research in the studio disciplines, which of course design is. We talk about research in terms of the 'contribution to knowledge', but the real premise of design is not to contribute to knowledge, but rather to contribute to the betterment of the human condition. This is a crucial issue, and one that I feel is often missed by design researchers in their search for 'new knowledge'. Is knowledge explicitly the goal of design research, or rather should we redefine design research in terms of design's contribution to humanity, culture, and society? This is a pressing issue for the design research community, and will be an underlying theme that the *Futureground Conference* will address. I think you would benefit from coming - especially as there is a discount for PhD students. Kind regards, Jon Allen Academic Co-ordinator Futureground -- Dr Jonathon Allen Department of Design Monash University PO Box 197, Caulfield East Melbourne Victoria 3145 Australia Phone: +61 3 9903 2070 Fax: +61 3 9903 1440 e-mail: [log in to unmask] ----- >Dear all, > >I'm doing my PhD about the influence of cultural aspects on >Design. >Can you please help me finding out the research centres >and/or the researches who work on this area of study. >I would like to know what are the topics they work on and >what are the methodological approaches they use. > >Best regards, > >Carla P. Giuliano >PhD student in Industrial Design >Politecnico di Milano/Italy >