About
That was great! We thank all Delegates and our Special Guests for the tremendously inspiring Conference!
Documentation of the Conference will follow.
Errata Abstract Booklet: Please download the PDF with Lesley McKees actual abstract, pg. 65
Corrected Table of Contents
Looking for the abstracts online reviewing? Go there.
When
Pre-Conference Social: October 24, 2008
Conference: October 25 & 26, 2008
Why
In 2008, there are at least eight design conferences: CUMULUS, Changing the Change, SwissDesignNetwork, DRS, Design History, Research into Practice, Participatory Design, Design & Emotion. With so many conferences in place, one cannot help but wonder the value of having another one. To warrant its existence, ‘Questions & Hypotheses’ (Q&H) must offer something that other conferences do not. Q&H has three distinct characteristics that aim to fill the gaps left open by others.
Target
Student-Centered. Q&H is for student researchers. We call Q&H a learning conference because we set our first priority on the benefits of student researchers.
Format
Discussion-Oriented. Conference is a rare opportunity for face-to-face interaction. Q&H is designed in such a way to ensure sufficient time and favourable environment for debates.
Content
Promote rigour in conceptualizing. Design Research has been self-conscious about its lack of systematic methods and theories in comparison to other academic disciplines.
This self-consciousness, on the one hand, to a certain degree, has advanced the quality of design discourse; on the other hand, it has resulted in much research that is methodologically rigorous but conceptually weak. ‘Here is the solution and what was the problem?’ seems to describe the unfavourable character of much design research. It is forgotten that it is questions and ideas that give meanings and values to meticulously executed research. Q&H is aimed to promote rigor in formulating research questions and conceiving new ideas, thus the conference title.
What
The conference is about questions and hypotheses. Q&H is not only interested in ‘talking’ about questions and hypotheses, but also ‘doing’ questions and hypotheses. Q&H welcomes submissions that reflect on the role and practice of questioning and hypothesising in Design Research. Equally welcomed are submissions that contain critical and interesting questions and/or hypotheses in all domains of Design Research. We emphasize that it is systematic research that is sought. Reports of ordinary design practice are not appropriate.