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.

Accumulation

Three years in London, three years since I began my PhD. Time flies. Since then, I've finished over 20 notebooks/agendas cover to cover...

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.

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.

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

Vision & Articulation | The Goldsmiths Graduate Festival 2014

Vision and Articulation | The Goldsmiths Graduate Festival 2014 | 6-16 May 2014

Call for Papers | Deadline for Abstracts: 24 February 2014

 The Goldsmiths Graduate Festival is a celebration of postgraduate research in Goldsmiths and internationally. It is organised by and for postgraduate research students. The 2014 Festival will focus on ideas of vision and articulation:

• How do we conceive of innovative ideas?
• What methods do we use to articulate, embody or perform those ideas?
• What is the interface between criticism and analysis in the creation of new knowledge?
• How do the materials that we work with inform, or determine, how we think, or what we can know?

Proposals are invited for 15 minute papers, presentations, performances and exhibitions that articulate the vision that underpins your research. Use the theme of this year’s festival as a springboard to present your work in a supportive environment. Make links with other researchers across Universities. Gain experience as a presenter, organiser or chair of a panel.

The Festival is scheduled to take place over two weeks, and will consist of a broad range of activities including performances, exhibitions, film screenings, keynote speakers and master class discussions with prominent intellectual figures.

Students are encouraged to collaborate across the stages of their research, to suggest panels and thematic streams. The Festival will be open to all students to attend and to external audiences. We invite papers and presentations from postgraduate students, and particularly students from our partner organisations in CHASE and Design Star, our AHRC Doctoral Training Partnerships; IGGI, or EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre; and Queen Mary, our ESRC Doctoral Training Centre partner.  International participants are most welcome.

How you can be involved?

1. Propose a paper: Submit an abstract of 300 words, outlining your name and departmental location, the title of your presentation and a description of its main arguments. Presentations will be 15 minutes and we would recommend that you address your paper to a broad academic audience. We will accept proposals from all MPhil/PhD students regardless of what stage they are at in their doctoral work.
2. Propose a Performance, installation, event, or screening: We would also like to receive any ideas that students might have about ways to animate their work be it through performances, installations or related events that can be scheduled during the Festival.
3. Propose a panel: We would also like to see proposals for panels of 4 papers, of 15 minutes each, on a shared theme which would last for no more than 1 hour 30 minutes. This means 30 minutes would be left for Q&A and discussion at the end of you panel. Panel proposals should include abstracts and we would like to encourage collaborations between academic disciplines and also between students at different stages in the academic work.
4. Submit a Poster: Goldsmiths Library will be hosting a poster exhibition of current research. Articulate your vision in words and images: submit an A3 poster to the Festival.
5. Chairing panels: You can also be involved in the organisation of the event as a chair of a panel and we will provide guidance with regard to how to do this.

Upload your abstract or proposal to the Graduate Festival area of the Virtual Graduate School at: http://grad.gold.ac.uk/festival/.

Details of past festivals, including abstracts, can also be found here

If you have any further queries, please contact the Graduate School Office.

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.

Preparing the literature review

This is exactly how I feel about my research right now - dipping into one too many topics.

The Literature Review: Colonialism, nationalism, and education

The next set of readings

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

Should social design be taught in the art college?

A question and a quote summarising my presentation. Looking forward to further developing this presentation into a more comprehensive research paper.

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/