With a necessary correction...
Dear Ken,
Thank you for your comments. I will answer them in two posts.
This post is on the mess of design theory.
First, I'm not the first to comment on the mess of design theory and the problems of it. There was a paper referring to it in the 1963 Design Conference convened by Jones and Thornley. Others, including yourself, have commented on it and the problems of design researchers and academics without sound research and theory-making training.
A better test of whether design theory literature is a mess is to test whether there is ANY design research literature containing epistemologically sound design theory. If not, then it is safe to regard the current design research literature as a mess.
If anyone, including yourself, thinks the design theory literature is not a mess, there is a chance to prove it.
I've now posted three times (I think) on this list that I will donate two bottles of good Australian wine to the first person to send me a refereed paper on design theory that will stand up to critical epistemological scrutiny. I have also made the same offer at design research conferences. More recently, I have excepted one book from this. So far, I have had no takers.
I repeat the offer! Except....This time, as the offer has been a bit one-sided with me doing all the work and all the paying, I make the offer subject to the following: anyone who sends me a paper to critically analyse that does NOT stand up to it must pay $10 US to the Therapeutic Community of their choice (see http://www.therapeuticcommunities.org/ for a list).
Asa background for those who might be interested....Therapeutic Communities have been one of the most successful service designs for addiction treatment see, e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64342/ As a service, Therapeutic Communities such as Phoenix House and the Humaniversity were clearly formally designed and planned (starting in 1958 or perhaps before) without reference to any of the service design or design research literature. Research into their ongoing design and development could be useful in design research literature on service design. The best info on their history I know is in Carrivick, A. (2001) , Bliss Beyond Fear (http://www.amazon.com/Veeresh-beyond-Anthony-Dharmaray-Carrivick/dp/B00E7WTLPC ) (disclaimer, I occasionally work with the author).
Best wishes,
Terry
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Dr Terence Love
PhD (UWA), B.A. (Hons) Engin, PGCE. FDRS, MISI Love Services Pty Ltd PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks Western Australia 6030
Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848
Fax:+61 (0)8 9305 7629
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