INTERACTION DESIGN THEORY SEMINAR 5th semester
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"Sweet Dreams are Made of This" proposes to dive into the very essence of interaction design agency, ahead of the thesis semester. How does a design project emerges from a particular interest? Should it have an impact? And at what scale? Through a variety of references, we'll address notions of dreams, contribution, position and ownership, especially as they relate to contemporary societal questions. We usually consider that a novel contribution to knowledge has to be read about, dreamed about in a visionary sense, used and related to, through hands on testing, iterations and prototyping at various stages, explored orally and visually, and discussed by peers and tutors. The course is structured around materials discussions showcasing social engagement, activism and aesthetic movements, various assignments such as fictional dream-like scenarios and practical workshop formats.
This course is also a guided exercise in your autonomy to look for relevant references and to integrate them as part of your research endeavour. You should start early with topics of interest for your diploma work, even it is expected that they might evolve or even change completely. In that sense, even if your topic changes, the questions & methods that will be addressed in this class will be valid throughout your diploma work. Different than previous theory classes, with mostly discussions based on readings, this class is a continuous assignment-based exploration of your research engagement. It is required that you follow through and ride the wave.
COURSE OUTLINE
12 sessions structured around the notions of engagement, positioning, research and ownership.
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Session 04-07 – 10-11.10.2019 – Free Flow SeminarRetreat
Detailed program is indicated in the Free Flow program. This is 2-day deep dive into your research interests and ways to let them flow, in conversation with mentors.
Assignment for the following session: we meet again in one month. During that time, you'll make a detailed literature review of 8 essays (no web articles or entries) that help you advance your research and unpack your topic. By the end of that month, you'll narrow your topic from big overview to 2-3 possible angles - make one paragraph introduction in that sense to your literature review. Additionally, find 8 related projects and make a matrix of them where you situate your own interest. This should keep being developed until the final assignment which is an extension and update of this work. Share on the server.
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In a second individual exercise, you should come up with examples of research questions that are derived directly from the works you created in past classes.
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Assignment for the following week: do an observation of a situation that you want to tackle, and if applicable meet and interview the people involved. Present the results in a short essay with visuals (max. 1-page2 pages). Publish in your blog and share on the server.
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So far in this process, you should have gained a large collection of ideas and examples. How do you relate to them?
Come up with research questions that relate to your interests.
How will you investigate themyour research questions?
This class will focus on discussing this week' s readings of ways of doing research and explaining itare 3 examples of conducting, structuring and presenting research. Find 2 more examples.
We'll also review together the diploma thesis structure and look at some tools for research.
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Jarvis, N., Cameron, D., Boucher, A. 2012. Attention To Detail: Annotations of a design process. pp. 11-20.
Gaver, W. 2011. "Making spaces: How design workbooks work" in Proceedings of CHI 2011, Vancouver.
Assignment for the following week: dream.
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In a parallel note, a thesis work has to stand the grounds of an academic endeavour while bringing a unique contribution.
What is truly unique about your contribution?
Exercise tba
Readings:
Eco, U. 2015. How to Write a Thesis. MIT Press. 1st ed. 1977.
Koskinen, I., Zimmerman, J., Binder, T., Redström, J., & Wensveen, S. 2011. Design research through practice: From lab, field, and showroom. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
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