Hi Tim, Håkan, Bryn, Chris, Terrence, and Dick

Thank you very much for your comments and questions; without them my growth will
be slow. Having said that, I feel that there are some misunderstandings about what
I wrote due to my inadequacy in articulating my thoughts, I am sure.

I read about what I wrote a few times to see how it could have caused these
misunderstandings. I realize that I need to make it clear that when I wrote
"another way of obtaining knowledge", I didn't mean it exclusively but rather
alternatively.

I don't think the 'what if ' question is unique to design and I don't think I have
said that either. When I said 'what if' is the favorite question for designers, I
didn't mean that is the only question that can only be asked by designers.

I apologize for the sloppy reference that I made to Bruce Archer's idea of design
with the big D as a generic and domain independent way of knowing. (see Design
Studies 1979 Vol 1 (1): 17-20) By citing him, I thought I covered the ground
without needing to go further to explain that this way of knowing exists in
scientific inquiry, management, arts, etc, etc. My fault. But as I said, I was not
sure the 'no name' knowledge is this either.

When I wrote that "I have this strange notion that this 'no name' knowledge is not
to be known but to be designed. I know that it sounds crazy for 'know'ledge is to
be known, but ... has it to be?", I was not advocating that design can't be
understood by other ways of knowing, I was just thinking if there is an
alternative way to seeing knowledge.

The what, how and why of design can be known and take the form of philosophy of
design, history of design, sociology of design, pyschology of design, design
studies, design science, design technology, there is no doubt that they all can
add to our understanding of design. But what about Design of Design?

A little context may help to further explain myself (or may not): I have an
interest in social problems and I always want to find out what I as a designer can
make a contribution to reduce some of these problems. I have a particular one now
that I am dealing with which is about condom use promotion among adolescents.

Since I was involved in this problem, I have been constantly asking myself how I
can make sure my inquiry into the problem is distinct from how social scientists
are investigating it and how design research can complement social scientific
research to reduce a social problem. And how in the end, I can make an original
contribution to knowledge.

So I have been searching for deficiencies in the social research done in this
area, from philosophical underpinnings, research methods, to actual intervention
and evaluation. I have been critical, as needed for research; but I think this
style got carried over and muddled the tone of my last posting and made it come
across as being full of design or myself.

In the process of analyzing my research problem, I had this diagram depicting two
parallel channels of inquiry to address the problem of condom use, one is the
scientific one and the other is the design way. And of course, I have not
conceptualized fully what this design way is or can be. The pairs are
Sciences-Design,
Scientific research-Design research, and Scientific knowledge - Design knowledge.
I was trying to identify how design knowledge can be distinctive from scientific
knowledge and I realized by making that distinction, I was already limiting myself
to what this knowledge may be.

I was staring at the diagram when a bunch of questions came to my mind:

1 What exactly is design knowledge?
2 If the nature of design is change, then how can design knowledge be grasped?
3 Does design knowledge exist in design-in-action?
4 Does design knowledge have a form? Can it?
5 Can we really know design if design is in the space of 'can be'?
6 How can we define the nature of design knowledge if 'it' doesn't exist yet?
7 By defining what design knowledge is, do we limit what it can be?
8 What kind of design knowledge will we have if we follow the traditional path of
research?

I have exhausted myself and I am not sure if I am making better sense, maybe it is
nonsense after all. But they are real and sincere thoughts, your time and patience
are greatly appreciated.

Best Regards
Rosan