[Air-L] Issues in design research and design research methods

Tue Jan 22 04:47:42 PST 2008

Artifact invites contributions for a special issue on issues in design
research and design research methods edited by Jonas Löwgren and Yukari
Nagai. Please consider contributing and repost where appropriate.

Best and thanks,
Charlie Breindahl

http://www.informaworld.com/artifact
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Journal: Artifact
Special issue: Issues in design research and design research methods

INTRODUCTION: DESIGN RESEARCH AND OUR SCOPE
Design research is a challenging topic with many open issues concerning
conceptual foundations and methodological practices. It is also a timely
topic, given the current movement in art and design institutions towards
articulation, conceptualization and research, where labels such as
practice-based research abound.
       We aim at compiling a special issue of Artifact that collects up-to-
date experience and thoughts on design research, crucial issues for
taking the field further, and best practices in design research
methodology.

To be a little more specific, we might use the well-known distinction
between research-into-design, research-for-design, and research-by-
design that was introduced by British scholars in the 1970s. Even though
it is somewhat debated, it helps in indicating the breadth of the design
research field. Research-into-design refers to studies of the activity
of designing, whereas research-for-design concerns the development of
knowledge to support design practice and research-by-design refers to
developing knowledge about a phenomenon by designing for it.
       What we are looking for are contributions that report on theoretical
and methodological findings in design research, or reflect upon
theoretical and methodological issues in design research, rather than
examples of design research per se. Here are some examples of questions
to indicate the kind of contributions we have in mind.
-       Research-into-design: How can we study the activity of designing?
What are the methodological conclusions and caveats? What are the
characteristics of designing that have an impact on the choice of
research methods?
-       Research-for-design: What is design ability and how can it be
developed? How can the development of design ability be facilitated by
knowledge contributions from research? What does validation mean in
relation to such knowledge contributions? What are the criteria for
judging the quality of research results? How can we conduct research
that leads to knowledge for design?
-       Research-by-design: How can we conduct research by design? Can we
construct knowledge about a phenomenon by designing for it? What is the
nature of that knowledge? What is the role of the artifact in such
knowledge construction processes? What does validation mean in relation
to knowledge constructed by designing? What are the criteria for judging
goodness of research results? What are the epistemological foundations
of exploring possible futures?

There are, of course, also general questions to be addressed, such as:
What is design research? What should it be? What is the role of design
research? What should it be? Our list of questions is by no means
complete. It is provided merely for inspiration, to get your thoughts
started on what could be a useful contribution to the special issue.

TIMELINE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Submit your manuscript as a PDF file by email to both of us, no later
than March 15, 2008. You can find our addresses below. The manuscript
should be no more than 12 000 words and formatted for general
readability. See the Instructions for authors at the Artifact web site
(address below) for information on how to treat references and other
aspects of manuscript preparation. Start the subject line with the words
"Artifact special issue submission".
2. Your manuscript will be peer-reviewed and we will notify you of our
decision no later than May 1, 2008. The manuscript can be accepted for
publication (as-is or with minor revisions), accepted conditionally if
you revise it according to our instructions, or rejected.
3a. Authors of accepted manuscripts submit final version of text and
images for publication no later than June 1, 2008.
3b. Authors of conditionally accepted manuscripts submit final version
of revised text and images for publication no later than June 1, 2008.
We provide notification of acceptance no later than June 8, 2008.
4. We write an editorial introduction and hand it over to the general
editors, together with the accepted manuscripts, on July 1, 2008. The
articles appear in volume 2, issue 3, of Artifact, which is slated to
appear in September, 2008.

CONTACT
If you have questions about this call for contributions, or if you have
an idea for a contribution that you want to discuss with us before
starting to develop it, we would be happy to talk to you. Please send us
an email and we will get back to you. We are looking forward to your
contribution!

The guest editors:
Jonas Löwgren, Malmö University, Sweden, jonas.lowgren at mah.se
Yukari Nagai, Japan Adv. Institute of Science and Technology, ynagai@
jaist.ac.jp

The journal Artifact is published by Taylor and Francis. It is an
international peer-reviewed academic journal dealing with design. The
journal addresses topical themes and issues that are of relevance to
design researchers, practising designers, and manufacturers. It reflects
the broad field that makes up design today by giving researchers from
different disciplines the opportunity to debate and exchange ideas about
specific areas and issues.
       The aim of the journal is to promote transdisciplinary design
research, encourage cross-fertilization, interconnections, and
crossbreeding among different scientific disciplines, the design
industry, and the arts. The journal embraces experimental research
approaches to design, with a basis in, or view to applied design
practice.
       More information about Artifact, including general instructions on
manuscript preparation, is available at http://www.informaworld.com/artifact
-- 
Charlie Breindahl
External Lecturer
University of Copenhagen + IT University of Copenhagen

Co-editor, Artifact, http://www.informaworld.com/artifact

"For the modern Don Quixote, the windmills have been preprogrammed to
turn into knights"
        - Janet H. Murray