Hi Ranjit,
Tough question, Which is why it hasn't been already solved so easily in most
design fields.
The reason I asked which design fields is that sometimes people ignore
design research done in the technical design disciplines such as
engineering design and software design. For example, the field of Design
Theory in mathematics has done a pretty good job of this.
There has been much more design research done about design concepts in
technical design areas than in newer areas such as graphic design and
product/service design. Some starting points in these other areas are C-K
theory, Design Rationale, IBIS, Entity-relationship modelling, UML
modelling , .
One of the problems of what you propose is avoiding being superficial about
concepts in ways that undermine the enterprise. This is a problem that has
plagued design research and the teaching of design in the 'Art and Design'
design fields. The technical design fields have addressed this much better
and consequently had significantly greater success in improving design
practices through sound concepts.
The need is for understanding and taking care of the epistemological
foundations of concepts in terms of understanding how they fit together.
An example of this kind of thinking is awareness that conceptually, and in
terms of tools, 'Brainstorming' is epistemologically different sort of
concept to 'MindMaps' which are again different to 'Concept Maps'. For
example, 'Mindmaps' do not have to have epistemological integrity, whereas
that is expected when mapping concepts.
One of the limitations that is really problematic and results in failure in
using CMap to map concepts is CMap has no mechanism for maintaining,
checking and comparing the epistemological foundations and dependencies of
each concept and its necessary epistemological relationships with other
concepts. In other words, CMap unhelpfully enables users to mix and connect
concepts that are epistemologically different - the 'apples and oranges'
problem.
Clarity on this sort of issue is something that the design research
literature from Art and Design fields has predominately been unhelpfully
careless about. It is one of the reasons that the majority of design
theories that have emerged in the Art and Design literature do not stand up
to critical review.
From your emails, it seems that what you may really be asking for is a
software for 'critical thinking' to analyses the relationships and validity
of concepts used in design theories to enable them to be mapped into some
kind of coherent relationship tree (see below for quote from 'Epistemology'
in Wikipedia).
Stegmueller's 'Structure and Dynamics of Theories' is a good starting point
for beginning to map the structures of design theories. A few years ago I
created some approaches for mapping design concepts and theories that work
also for Design History and Design Pedagogy (see Love, T. (2000). Philosophy
of Design: a Meta-theoretical Structure for Design Theory. Design Studies,
21(3), 293-313, Love, T. (2002). Complexity in Design Management: Layered
System Dynamics Graphs. Paper presented at the ANZSYS'02 'Management
Approaches to Complex Systems', Mooloolaba, Qld.
. and other papers at www.love.com.au ) - no software though. Experts in
this field include Per Galle and CEPHAD in Denmark.
It may be that you are looking to make a domain model of concepts.... if so
that's something different again.
Best wishes,
Terry
===
'Many dictionary definitions may give the impression that epistemology is
closely related to critical thinking: "the study or a theory of the nature
and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and
validity" (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 11th Edition). But in part
because epistemology defines knowledge as being of the truth, unlike
critical thinking, epistemology nearly ignores mechanisms, topics, and
methods emphasized in critical thinking such as the testing of specific
propositions, logical fallacies, bias, and deception found in everyday,
real-life conditions and problem solving.' ('Epistemology' in Wikipedia)
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of ranjit
menon
Sent: Tuesday, 8 March 2011 10:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Advice needed on Brainstorming, Mindmaps and Concept maps in
design thinking
hi,
@ Jonas, Thank you.
I explored through some of them, and I got recommendation on Cmap as well. I
was also looking for some tool that in addition to Aiding collaborative
concept mapping, can also 'playback' the enclosed attributes as a movie.
I wonder if those design research theories comparisons are available
somewhere, would be nice to see how it was used.
@ Terence, I was wondering if there are ones already created as a holistic
knowledge tree for 1. design research, 2. design pedagogy and philosophies,
3. that focuses and expands any of the disciplines, especially interaction
design, graphic design and product/service design.
I guess these are too broad areas, but nice if there is any linkages
Not exclusively, but I was mainly looking for any internet based digital
versions one could explore interactively as well.
thanks!
On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 10:18 AM, Wolfgang Jonas <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Ranjit,
>
> regarding Concept mapping I would recommend CMap Tools
> http://cmap.ihmc.us/.
>
> I am using it with my students for visualizing the rationale of
theoretical
> texts.
>
> Frances Joseph from AUT has used it extensively for comparing design
> research theories in her recently finished (excellent) PhD thesis.
>
> Best,
>
> Jonas
>
> ________________
>
>
>
>
>
> At 18:34 Uhr +0200 06.03.2011, ranjit menon wrote:
>
>> Hi friends,
>>
>> This post is a query regarding Brainstorming, Mindmaps and Concept maps.
>> Are
>> these still the best tools to input, manage and synthesize diverse and
>> complex information?
>>
>>
>>
>> Also is there any really good collaborative mind map/ contact map
>> available,
>> I found quite a few online but maybe something is more suitable for
>> designers?
>> Any suggestions welcome!
>>
>>
>> Also,
>> Has anyone come across Design history and pedagogy that has been data
>> visualized in the form of a dynamic concept map or mind map? Something
>> similar to the ImpulsBauhaus installation below?
>>
>> http://vimeo.com/5333614
>>
>> cheers and many thanks!
>>
>> --
>> Ranjit Menon
>> TAIK Helsinki
>>
>
>
--
Ranjit Menon
TAIK Helsinki
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