>From time to time people make disparaging remarks about idforum so I thought
that I would clarify what it is and why it is different from this and other
discussions concerned with design.
idforum is an open list in that anybody who has an interest in industrial
design or related subjects can and does subscribe. It started out primarily as
a home for professional designers and a few academics but has expanded to
include a very wide community, including some very young contributors. A few
years ago members of the list characterised it as a "discussion round the water
cooler" for people who often worked in professional isolation. It has never
been concerned with research or scholarship as central topics.
As such it attracts a huge diversity of discussion and comment, a great deal of
humour and speculation and naturally, some acrimonious and ill-informed debate.
Just like any workplace discussion you have to take from it what you wish and
ignore the rest, easier when you have got to know the protaganists. It is a
great place to go if you want practical advice from a professional about some
aspect of designing and it is remarkably tolerant of students with dumb
questions who might get flamed but might also get taken by the hand. It has
suffered in recent years from its own success and the quality goes up and down,
but, as Lubomir has pointed out, there have also been some flat spots in the
design research debate.
You may not wish to subscribe to idforum but, as a researcher, you may wish to
know that there is a complete archive of idforum discussions, searchable by
topic, thread, author and date, maintained by Tek-Jin Nam at Brunel University.
A search on "idforum" and "brunel" will find it. There is very little that has
not been discussed on the list (if you want the advice of an ex-US Navy
meteorologist turned toy designer on why Bangladesh suffers from floods, it is
there somewhere) so it might provide a very useful source of pointers to
designers' opinions, experiences and concerns.
I have had to cancel my subscription to idforum - I am too busy to read it
these days, but it was my first home on the net, gave me some good friends and
taught me a lot about what the internet and email are for. Like everything,
you have to judge it for what it is rather than what it never set out to be.
Best wishes from Sheffield
Chris Rust ([log in to unmask])
Sheffield Hallam University, uk
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