Category: design

• design design research design theory HCI hci research Human-Computer Interaction Informatics Interaction Design knowledge production knowledge tools theory theory building theory-practice gap Uncategorized

  About The Theory-Practice Gap

  How is it that we distinguish between theorists and practitioners?

  December 23, 2016
• design design research design theory HCI hci research HCI/d Human-Computer Interaction knowledge production

  The Problem of Problem-setting

  One of the more interesting and recent questions I’ve been thinking about has to do with the theory-practice gap in HCI research. Now, I have very little interest at the moment in bridging the gap. And really there are plenty of folks in the field working on this problem. I’m…

  December 2, 2016
• design design research design theory HCI hci research HCI/d Human-Computer Interaction theory theory building theory-practice gap

  Bridging Theory and Practice

  Just as there are lots of discussions and debates about theory building in HCI, there are also some interesting contributions to the discipline that address the theory-practice gap. In a previous post I wrote about how important it is to think about what words mean for intellectual progress (or just for…

  August 11, 2016
• design design research design theory hci research HCI/d knowledge production theory theory building theory development theory-practice gap

  Theoretical Adequacy in HCI Research

  Theoretical adequacy is an concept that comes up in some form or another in various readings in the hci literature. More often than not, authors express concern that hci is currently (or soon-to-be) theoretically inadequate. But what does this mean? What is theoretical adequacy? Is it the degree to which knowledge produced and…

  August 10, 2016
• design design research design theory HCI hci research HCI/d Human-Computer Interaction karl popper philosophy of science theory theory building theory development theory-practice gap

  what should theory mean?

  I’ve been collecting (and modifying and losing) thoughts about theory and the different ways it has been discussed and debated in academia for some time now. Recently I started organizing a collection of readings on/about theory according to different concepts like: theory development, theory-practice relationship, theory-artifact relationship, etc. What’s really…

  August 8, 2016
• design design research design theory hci research karl popper knowledge production knowledge tools theory theory building theory development theory-practice gap

  The Theory Project

  I’ve added some new pages — well one new page and a few revised page names — to the site! I’m really excited about the new page: the theory project. It is one of the outcomes of a research project that I’ve been involved in for the past couple years…

  July 14, 2016
• design design research design thinking HCI/d interaction design Interaction Design knowledge tools research writing

  Questions Designers Ask

  We can probably all agree that questions matter in designing. I’m a firm believer (along with many others) that ambiguity is a key characteristic of design problems, which means that posing good questions to clients isn’t just important. It’s essential. It’s these good questions that will bring clarity to the…

  January 4, 2016
• design design research design theory HCI/d interaction design learning Uncategorized

  Designerly Ways of Listening

  I’ve been thinking for the last few months about listening. How can I be a better listener? What does it mean to be a good listener? How would I describe the feeling of being listened to? These are questions whose answers are important for the sake of personal improvement. If I believe…

  December 13, 2015
• design design research design theory design thinking HCI/d karl popper

  Demarcating Design Research

  I’ve been thinking over these last few days about just what we mean when we say “design research.” Does saying we do design research or that we are design researchers imply that we do a different kind of research? Does it mean that as design researchers we make a unique intellectual…

  May 31, 2015
• design design research design theory design thinking HCI/d karl popper philosophy philosophy of science theory Uncategorized

  Knowledge Claims in Design Research

  One of my summer research projects has to do with knowledge claims in design research publications. The question stems from an interest in understanding the similarities and differences between how knowledge claims are formulated in design research publications as opposed to natural and/or social scientific research. One would expect there…

  May 15, 2015