Sundays with my PhD

Sunday mornings in the studio, analysing what feels like a never ending amount of data! The process here consists of several steps. After collecting this data during the charrettes I conducted in September in Amman, I took the last set of images of them while they were on the wall. Then I took the original files and marked them by group number, question numbers, and dates. The first set of images (taken after the 2nd activity in the workshop was completed) were transcribed (verbatim) as a visual map (using Scapple). The images were cross checked to ensure nothing fell out when I transported the original files. This step consists of a lot of trying to figure out some handwriting!

Analysing Activities one and two from the Charrettes

The second step was to transcribe the results from the final activity in the charrette. This entailed working from the original file and the images as well as the original visual map in Scapple. From there, I duplicate the file, and cluster the ideas based on how the participants clustered them. These are then cross-checked with the images.

Analysing the final activity in the workshops. Original file on the table, Scapple file on the screen.

The third step in the analysis was to compare the questions. As each charrette consisted of two groups, I compared results from each group to each other by creating a separate Scapple file (using the final data only) and compared them by adding arrows to similar elements and then writing a summary of the discussion. This is done for each question.

Scapple File of the Question Comparison across groups

Finally, the last step using visual maps is to compare the data from each group for each question across the two charrettes. This is then followed by at least 10 more steps (and a return to NVivo) to complete the analysis!

Towards a Locally-Centric Design Education Curricula

Last month, I presented my ongoing PhD research at the Lab at Darat Al Funun in Amman. Over 35 designers and non-designers turned out to the event and asked some great questions. Many thanks to the Amman Design Week team who helped promote and organise the event and who tweeted about it (#DEJ16), as well as to the people at Darat Al Funun for providing me with the space. Watch the entire talk below.

A Manifesto of Change or Design Imperialism? A Look at the Purpose of the Social Design Practice

In June 2014, I had the opportunity to present my paper "A Manifesto of Change or Design Imperialism? A Look at the Purpose of the Social Design Practice" at the STS Italia conference 'A Matter of Design' in Milan, Italy. The proceedings were published a few months ago, and I'm happy to announce that my paper is available to read for free in the proceedings.

The proceedings can be found here: http://www.stsitalia.org/?p=1548&lang=en, and the paper is on pp. 245-260.

It's wonderful to see the journey the ideas within this paper have taken in the past three years. The idea started off through discussions with a colleague during our MA in Social Design at MICA, then evolved to a short presentation for the Goldsmiths Graduate Festival in May 2013, reworked for the STS Italia conference, and then reworked again for the proceedings. It's also making an altered appearance in Beirut next month as part of the Beirut Design Week International Conference (2-3 June 2015). I'm looking forward to presenting it in a non-academic oriented conference.

Passages on nostalgia and authenticity

Been doing what feels like endless amounts of reading lately. Came across some fantastic passages, but these two in particular feel more and more relevant to recent conversations I've had (or found myself in!) and posts I've been seeing on social media.

From Undoing Culture: Globalization, Postmodernism and Identity by Mike Featherstone

From Cosmopolitan Vision by Ulrich Beck.

Notebooks

Notebook accumulation since beginning my MA in 2011. Actually this is not that accurate (many are missing!). Let’s call this the notebook accumulation since I moved to London in September 2012.

Check, 1, 2

Trying to make sense of my edits.
Double checking the reference list is best done by writing it down in order to make sure you didn’t miss anything.

Methodology chapter complete…or so I think. This video shows how I feel right now.

The literature review: Local

The last of the literature review (localism, institutions, cultural industries), and some Fry for the polishing of the design lit review. Part I of II of invading the library before the holidays.

The Literature Review: Local//Global

Localism, locality, alternative localism readings

Yeah…that’s exactly how I feel about my research right now.

The Literature Review: Colonialism, nationalism, and education

The next set of readings

This is what happens to diagrams after a 3 hour supervisory meeting.

The ‘Good’ Design Brief: Examining the effects of social design projects on communities

I will be presenting my brief paper “The ‘Good’ Design Brief: Examining the effects of social design projects on communities” at the Goldsmiths Graduate Festival on the 30th of April at 11:30am.

The festival goes on for three weeks and features a wide array of performances, installations, papers and more by the Goldsmiths, University of London graduate community.

gold.ac.uk/graduate-school/goldsmithsgraduatefestival/

How I use Evernote for my research

Evernote is one software I don’t think I’ve gone more than two days without using since I signed up many moons ago to “see what it’s about.” It’s incredibly useful, especially as a religious note taker/notebook hoarder.

As a first year research student, I find it interesting to find out how people use specific softwares to manage their work. I’ve found some posts about citation software vs other citation software, journals to keep track of thoughts, voice memos, and some on Evernote.

I use Evernote for everything: putting together every issue of my magazine, job searching, trip planning, design ideas, recipes and more. For this post, I thought it would be interesting to share my personal process of how my trusty Evernote helps me handle my research ideas, citations, and much more.

PS all diagrams are made with Skitch, another app that works seamlessly with Evernote

PPS Click all images to view larger

1) Citations

After experimenting with EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero, I’ve settled on Zotero. EndNote doesn’t work as a desktop application on my Mac, Mendeley has too many constraints, and Zotero was just working. I always make sure to have everything in two places in case anything fails. I write everything in Evernote first then transfer it since everything is automatically saved and synched.

• I tag it with the name of the book, the chapter in the book, editor(s) or author(s) of the book and the chapter, as well as keywords
• The name of the document is always “Name of Chapter by Author”
• I rewrite that information again along with page numbers, place of publishing, year, and all that.
• Then I copy paste that, alongside all the citations, into Zotero.

2) Grants

As a research student, a huge chunk of your time is spent writing grant applications. Unfortunately, you don’t develop magical powers that generate instant personal statements. I have a separate notebook for grants.

• Evernote Web Clipper clips the entire webpage and the URL - this helps when reviewing the guidelines as opposed to having to review the PDF/Word document
• I attach the application and other pertinent information to the note
• I make sure to tag the grant name and the date it is due as a constant reminder
• I first write all personal statements and research proposals in Evernote before transferring them to the official application. They can be used for future reference when writing other grants. Personal statement’s are tagged with “personal statement”, proposals are tagged with “research proposal” and other keywords related to the grant
• I also use the Evernote email tool to send any confirmation emails I received upon submitting the grant to have it for future reference
• I clip or paste any samples of successful grants for reference
• Sometimes I create lists of what I need to submit for this grant and check them once complete

3) General research/writing

I’m a practice-based research student whose practice is in both writing and graphic design. I collect many images, draw a lot of the artworks I see, and begin writing down my thoughts that will (hopefully) form chapters. I use the “Research” notebook to collect clippings of interesting articles, photographs for inspiration as well as photographs of my drawings, collection of notes on a specific place I’m researching, and pictures of objects/text that are relevant. In the example below, I took photos of the curatorial text around the V&A as some of it was relevant to what I was researching.

• Make sure to tag the museum (London has many, it’s easy to get lost)
• I include the section of the museum as well
• I write down my thoughts (literature reviews, critiques) and paste all the ideas I collected from that notebook (with proper tags). Then I assemble it to make it a piece of writing and move the almost final version into Word.
• If I am writing a critique, I tag everything with the title I am giving my critique to find it more easily
• If I come across many names (artists, writers, researchers and so on), I write down every name with a checkbox in order to search them. Once I have, I check the box!

And there you have it! There are endless ways to use Evernote, it’s just a matter of finding that way. I hope this post has helped you by giving you insight on my personal process.