Hello everybody,
I was trying to stay away from this topic, but in the long run, the conversation is very thought-provoking. I would like to offer an alternative view on all these ethical conundrums, risking to get under fire from several sides. Below are some thoughts related to the Respect thread.
It is normal to engage in discussions and scholarly disputes. We should be tolerant to some degree. Sometime people might slip a word or two. But the most important thing is that we don't use offensive words or political arguments to silence the others. Disagreement is part of the process of making science and has a great potential for fostering new ideas. I cannot imagine a discussion without disagreement, and I would like to hear disputes all the time.
In my life history, I have learned most by listening to disputes by top-notch scholars. Such encounters force the dueling parties to stretch their arguments and to invent new and more accessible explanations of their ideas. In the last several scholarly disputes we witnessed this and have a few hundred pages of exchanges. Look at this as the productivity of the discussion list, the DRS, and the virtual community that we have made. I would credit Terry and Ken as the engines of the last scholarly exchange. Without Terry, Ken would not have engaged in the dispute. And without Ken, we would not have seen a different view point. That is why I join the calls: Terry come back. And also want to extend my support for Ken. I personally don't think anything extraordinary and unscholarly had happened in the last scholarly debate. No one was an underdog. The debate would not have been possible without both parties. From time to time, scholarly exchanges become more emotional and heated. The art of making science is to know how to get out of the fire and cool it with a cold beer, or glass of fine French Cognac with Swiss chocolates. I have seen that scholarly ritual many times in my life.
On the other hand, resistance and rejection of ideas can be discouraging, I agree. But isn't that the same like the rejected papers by narrow-minded reviewers who don't understand the material and don’t make any effort to understand it? It is the same. Many journal reviewers know only one way of making science and if your paper doesn't fit into what they studied in their research methods class, they reject it right away. That is life. But no one has the right to complain and challenge journal reviewers, that is the norm in the scholarly community. We need to be resilient and stick to our ideas if we believe they will bring something new to the humankind. And we need to be flexible and switch to a new approach when needed. How to find the thin line between these two situations is the wisdom of the scholar, a quality that we need to possess. This I think is the most difficult part in scholarly work.
On a different note, I don't understand why people will get intimidated by long, well-crafted posts. I look at them as an opportunity to learn something new. I don't mind participation with a quick note that shares an idea. And I would not be offended if someone asks me for referencing supporting research. I have a choice to do or not to do it. This is one of the advantages to participate in a virtual community without the pressures of everyday politics in a real institution.
From all the mails in the last week or more, I got the impression that people who write long and well-conceived mails should be embarrassed by something (not clear what). I am a bit frustrated by such voices. My advice is: take it or leave it; take it and use it, or just delete the mail. There are so many options. When we teach in the classroom, we are forced to teach to different learning "styles," not matter how unreasonable they are. Let's adapt to the writing styles of our colleagues and instead of pigeon-holing them in our routines, try to be more flexible. You can feel the tone and the contribution of a mail from the first several hundred words. Use it or deleted. I very often disregard mails by particular people and am sure that my mails are disregarded as well by many others. This doesn't bother me I and when I got the silent treatment, I actually look at it as a feedback, in several different ways, judging the interest of the list in my topic or my approach.
Not everything is useful for a particular person and even for the community; actually, sometimes whole threads might go without real contribution; but you if you look at the scholarly output in general, you will find thousands of articles that you cannot use for your project. I personally have to sift through thousands of pages to find something useful. That is the nature of scholarly work. We need skills to deal with vast volumes of information. Very often the titles, abstracts, and table of contents are very promising, yet the actual text is pretty mediocre. So, nothing new under the sun.
Very often professors dedicate their books to their students who have challenged their imagination in the seminar classes and helped them develop and refine their ideas. I hope this discussion list is more serious and substantial then a seminar class and people can gain more insights and understanding of their own theoretical initiatives. I hope that someday someone will dedicate his/her book to the PhD-Design discussion list and the people who challenged him and forced him to stretch to a new height.
OK, time to stop. Thank you very much if you have read up to here. No offence if the others have deleted this mail.
Best wishes,
Lubomir
Lubomir Popov, PhD, FDRS, IDEC, CSP
Professor, Interior Design Program
American Culture Studies affiliated faculty
Bowling Green State University
-----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 G. Mauricio Mejía
Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 10:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Respect
Dear Ken,
I am an early career design researcher.
I just want to say that I have learned and enjoyed a lot in short and long posts from old cheerful and grumpy male professors like you. I really appreciate carefully written and referenced posts.
It will be impossible to write a post without intimidating or discouraging anyone. I have not seen disrespectful posts from you or other great contributors like Gunnar, Lubomir, Mike, Birger, or Don.
Please keep up great posts and allow many of us to keep learning.
Best,
G. Mauricio Mejía, PhD
Associate professor University of Caldas, Colombia @mmejiaramirez
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