Design Collaboration Across Disciplines
Design researchers and practitioners collaborate across a wide range of communities, disciplines, and subject matters. When people from different fields choose to work together, they need to find ways to understand each other as they are often separated by the words they use, the ways they work, and how they think. However, they also often share a common ground, seeking not only to better understand what already exists, but to make useful guesses about possible better futures. The guesses consist of small forays into that future, using strategies that are variously called learning through making, research through design or, more simply, prototyping. For over 15 years, Drs. Roberts-Smith, Radzikowska, and Ruecker have collaborated on projects across the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. In this talk, they will share the contexts for their work, a theoretical framework, and a set of methodologies for interdisciplinary collaboration in design.
Moderator:
Gillian Harvey – Assistant Professor, Design Studies, University of Alberta
Presenters:
- Dr. Milena Radzikowska – Professor, Information Design, Faculty of Communication Studies, Mount Royal University
- Dr. Jennifer Roberts-Smith – Associate Professor, University of Waterloo
- Dr. Stan Ruecker – the Anthony J. Petullo Professor of Design, University of Illinois