EKSIG 2009: Experiential Knowledge, Method and Methodology
International Conference 2009 of the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge

The EKSIG International Conference 2009 will address the theme of “Experiential Knowledge, Method and Methodology”. It will be convened by the DRS Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge (EKSIG), and hosted by London Metropolitan University.

Date: Friday 19 June 2009
Organisers: Linden Reilly, Chris Smith, Kristina Niedderer, Seymour Roworth-Stokes
Venue: London Metropolitan University, London, UK
Conference home page: http://www.experientialknowledge.org
Contact: [log in to unmask]


FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS

For EKSIG 2009, we invite submissions for the theme “Experiential Knowledge, Method and Methodology”. With this theme we aim to provide a forum for debate about methodology and methods for the inclusion and communication of knowledge in research and practice in the creative disciplines.

The need to be more explicit about research methods, frameworks, and methodologies has arisen from the increasing use of creative and professional practices as part of the practice of research in recent years. While research guidelines and regulations have been either generic enough, or were adjusted, to accommodate the use of some creative and professional practices under certain conditions, the debate about the nature, aims, validity, evaluation, and necessity of such research has continued.

While all research has a method, and disciplines are characteristically driven by debates about the best methods for achieving their aims, that which constitutes a research method in design and related disciplines is still a matter of debate. The debates about research methods in design in many ways echo questions addressed in the design methods movement of the 1960s and 1970s, such as: 'What are design methods?' Now framed in terms of design research, questions address the conditions under which design methods might be used as research methods as well as the nature of discipline specific methodologies.

The developing understanding in this debate is that the inclusion of practice in the research process or as a research outcome helps to integrate and/or communicate those kinds or parts of knowledge that cannot easily be made explicit, such as the tacit part of experiential and procedural knowledge, commonly known as tacit knowledge. With this conference, we wish to explore the different ways in which tacit knowledge can be integrated and communicated within the framework of research.


Questions of interest are, for example:

-       What are design methods and what are design research methods?
-       How is knowledge/knowing created within the process of research?
-       What frameworks are there to guide discipline specific methodologies?
-       How can we integrate and utilize tacit knowledge in the process of research?
-       Why is the use of tacit knowledge important in research?
-       What contribution can the use of practice make to the inclusion of tacit knowledge in research?
-       What contribution can the use of design practice make to the development of design research?
-       What methods are there for the communication of tacit knowledge within research?
-       Can we talk about the communication of tacit knowledge, or should we talk about a transfer?
-       What means and methods do we have to transfer tacit knowledge?

We wish to bring together people from different fields and disciplines with different approaches to address these issues. We invite contributions from the design disciplines (design, engineering, craft, media etc), philosophy, education, health and knowledge management that are concerned with methods and methodology in research and in creative and professional practice; with the nature, role, and management of knowledge within research; and with the role and use of creative practice (both as process and outcome) as a means by which to develop and manage experiential/tacit knowledge within research.


SUBMISSIONS

For EKSIG 2009, we invite position papers, which offer challenging new views on the subject. Position papers will be selected subject to a double blind review process by an international review team. In the first instance we ask for the submission of abstracts. Authors of selected abstracts will be asked to submit full papers.

We invite the submission of abstracts of 700-800 words (excluding references) for position papers by 1st December 2008. Authors of selected abstracts will subsequently be invited to submit full papers (3000-5000w) in early 2009.


TIMETABLE
8 September 2008        Submission of abstracts open
15 November 2008        Submission of abstracts ends
15 December 2008        Notification of accepted abstracts
1 March 2009            Submission of full papers
1 April 2009                    Notification of acceptance of papers
1 May 2009              Submission of revised papers
19 June 2009            Conference







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