Well, on a related note, some time ago I wrote to Nigel Cross to ask if my publications on design would count towards a case for election to the FDRS and he said unless it was a "design journal", it would not.  But of course I myself think that design is such an important field that it would benefit from engaging the idea interdisciplinarily, and I've written some works on design and they've been published in Semiotica, and for special issues edited by leading semioticians (Susan Petrilli, a Sebeok Fellow) for instance but that would not "count", nor my piece on design engineering in educational journals (including one edited by IOE which ranks no.1 on the QS rankings in education)  Whereas if you look at Herbert Simon or James March for instance, it would be hard to say they don't know anything about design but these guys published in variety of journals of different fields and disciplines.  

Of course that's not to say that the standard leading Design journals aren't important - I continue to be stimulated by the very good articles in Design Studies for instance, but what is design? We ought not presume to think that if scholars in other fields say something about design, most of that is hogwash unless a designer puts a stamp of approval on it.  The fact that the very idea of design can be discussed means that it can be contested and that designers can and do bracket their appreciation of that very notion, in order attend to musings by scholarship in other disciplines.

Fortunately, quite lately Prof Ken Friedman has started a new journal called She Ji which welcomes design thinking and management ideas (as I read its call) and I've found that really liberating, to be honest.

Suppose I came up with a new methodology to "design" - of course it could be submitted to a design journal - but would it not be better validated if it were peer reviewed by a methodology journal, not related to design per se?  

Perhaps there is a politics of design research and design thinking that needs to be contested and challenged?  I worry that some of the suppressed premises of its politics are not very defensible.

 Jude

-----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 Barbara Emanuel
Sent: Sunday, 30 August, 2015 6:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: design research and its closed circle

I'm sorry to intrude (I'm one of the younger padawans, who only "watch" the list to learn, but do not feel worthy of posting), but I would like to share a concern about what I have been seeing here lately and in my country (Brazil) as well, when it comes to where to publish and which conferences (and such) to attend.

I feel that, more and more, design academia is closing itself and publishing in the same old journals and going to conferences from the same old circles, because our time/money/energy is limited, and we should focus on what is worth it. Established journals are great and leading conferences have la creme de la creme. Awesome. I understand the appeal. But that is SO limiting. It is so exciting when one of you guys, top researchers, goes to a conference that we, younger students, can actually go to and learn, and share our work, and get asked good questions... And newer journals might not have the super qualified reviewers, but MAYBE that will lead to articles with more different/fresh/experimental ideas being published, that would be rejected in established journals right off the bat.

I think design researchers should go out more and talk to those who are interested, those who could benefit from it, those who could teach us about their world and their needs, those who could inspire us...

I don't know (much about anything at all), but I think obsession with metrics is getting in our way (at least here, in Brazil).


Barbara



-- 
Barbara Emanuel
doutoranda || PhD student
ESDI/UERJ
http://ppd.esdi.uerj.br
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil




-------------------------------------------------
Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial
UERJ


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