Questions & Hypotheses

QUESTIONS & HYPOTHESES

DRNetwork Learning Conference 2008, Berlin, October 25&26
http://www.questions-hypotheses.org

Call for paper click here
Submission click here
Registration (Open on 01.08.2008). Priority are given to presenters and students.
Reviews (Open 17.06.2008)

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.