Dear list, Mikhal, Clive, Ken, Terence, Nicola, and more
I am really happy to see the ongoing discussion in this thread. It is
much needed and we are addressing issues that in so many contexts
create communication problems (see the posts by Jonas and Nicola).
There are different fields/traditions/philosophies in play here. I
think we can use all these terms in the discussion. A "tradition"
might denote a larger and broader intellectual tradition with its
history and roots. For me, some overarching traditions are science,
art, religion, economics, etc. All these traditions bring their own
basic ideas of purpose, intention and what constitutes success,
inquiry and action, distinguishing how they approach the world.
Within each of them, several sub-traditions live their lives, for
instance within science we have social sciences, humanities and
natural sciences. They all share some core values and ideas but
differ radically in method and object of study.
I think design (in the overall sense) can be seen as a tradition on
the level of science, art, religion, economics, etc. And as such it
has its sub-traditions. These sub-traditions are not well developed,
except that we recognize some of their characteristics more as
"disciplines", such as industrial design, architecture, and maybe
"art&design" is one of them.
I strongly believe that in order to create a broader understanding of
design at a general level (which I think is what this list is about),
we should not be afraid of stressing differences between our design
sub-traditions, the dialectic approach is needed here. Stressing
differences between, for instance, "art&design" and my field human-
computer interaction design, really helps me understand my own fields
basic assumptions and how we can or should try to create our own
fields (discipline's) understanding of design, and how to apply that
in our teaching.
I want to end by supporting Clive's last sentence:
"By implication, there is a major publishing and intellectual project
contained in these last posts, I wonder if the field can rise to the
challenge? "
Erik
-----------------------------------------
Erik Stolterman, Ph.D.
Professor of Informatics
Director of HCID Program
School of Informatics
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
My Blog: http://transground.blogspot.com/
Phone: (812) 856 5803
Fax: (812) 856 1995
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