I'm sorry in that I am a relatively new addition to the list but reading
the level of discussion on this subject (which is dear to my heart), and
how it has so far been pitched I didn't see an obvious difference between
researchers, scholars and practitioners of design. Is that truly the case
here? It seems that people such as Chris Rust for instance are teachers who
have an obvious desire to have relevant things to say to their students.
Likewise if I start to babble a lot of incoherent or overly philosophical
rubbish either to our MBAs or to our industry partners I would soon lose
any credibility and be thrown out. I am deeply interested in this subject
of design and context, preferably beyond social definitions, beyond
semantics, into real practice. As currently a researcher of design, with
something of a background in design, which interpretative camp should I
belong? 

Please I don't mean to sound rude or arrogant but I still think 'context is
all there is' is a totally meaningless concept. God knows how any student
can take anything pragmatic theoretical or practical from taking on such a
motif. I mean is this something derived from when a practioner is deep in
the process of designing and his/her unique privalage to philosophise out
of existence the notion of objective, substance or intention under the
constelation of actual and potential contexts? Sorry I still go with the
Bateson definition I offered earlier, bound with the idea that the craft
lies in economising on the infinate realm of 'context' pendent on what you
are trying to do (i.e. praxis and activity theory).




At 11:11 AM 6/25/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>It is more than evident from the ongoing discussion that designers and
>researchers have different understanding about theory and research. What
>designers see as a benefit of the language, researchers perceive as
>shortcoming. How much fuzzy and how precise -- this evidently is
>interpreted every time according to the professional culture a person
>belongs to.
>
>Probably the best thing is that designers and researchers hold discussions 
>in separate groups rather than getting frustrated by the views of the
>other group.
>
>After all, design is design. The result is important.
>
>Regards,
>
>Lubomir Popov
>
>On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Derek Nicoll wrote:
>
>> I disagree with Chris Rust on a couple of points. As an acedemic I have
>> long argued that the value that we offer is the ability to consider, then
>> name, taxonomise and otherwise redefine. What is in a name is important if
>> your work is, for instance, helping industry realise benifits in theory.
>> Our recent work for the Design Council of the UK, has been largely about
>> definition. In this case what 'smart' or 'intelligent' products are or
>> could be. In order to settle on defnitions we worked closely with
>> practitioners and others in order to define what was and was not in this
>> category, and to reach some consensus about the category itself.
>> 
>> In a sense this links quite directly to the issue of context, and my second
>> point of disagreement. "context is all there is." 
>> 
>> Things define and are defined by contexts. Any study or theory of context
>> is only relevant by defining limits to contexts, or deciding which elements
>> are relevant for a particular project or goal. How much is a particular
>> context relevant to defining meaning in an act or object? This is the aim
>> of contrasting the particular to the general, or the instance and the
>> category. Contexts within themseleves are potnaitlly infinate, and
>> therefore not defining them and their relevance to an act or thing is
>> surely a regressive frame of analysis. This surely confounds any sensible
>> disscusion of their relevance. 
>> 
>
            ________________________________________
Derek Nicoll - Research Fellow               [log in to unmask]
The University of Edinburgh Management SchoolTEL. +44 131-650-9098
The University of Edinburgh                  FAX. +44 131-650 6501
7, Bristo Square                             Telex 727442 (UNIVED G)         
Edinburgh  EH8 9AL         *home* 
Scotland, UK      http://www.ed.ac.uk/~ejuv19/dnhom.html	
             _________________________________________




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%