MDes Seminar III, Fall 2017: Advanced Interaction & Service Design Concepts
Carnegie Mellon University, School of Design
Tuesdays, 8.30–11.20am, MM 215. Course 51–825
Dr Dan Lockton — Office: MM 207b — danlockton@cmu.edu
Ahmed Ansari — Office: MM 207a — aansari@andrew.cmu.edu
Please note: this is a live document — the syllabus will be updated throughout the semester. Readings will be on Box.
Introduction to the course
Welcome to Seminar III — the last set of compulsory classes in your MDes. Seminar III, despite the name, is not entirely in a seminar format. We have a single session each week, of nearly three hours, which means we will be doing a mixture of activities, from reading and writing to practical workshops and some mini-projects. Some weeks we will cover two different subjects, or do different activities, in each half of the session.
This is a ‘topics’ course — we will cover topics both within interaction and service design and in relevant other areas, some of which link together smoothly, and others which provide different and alternative perspectives on the subject. There are five objectives for the course:
- Build on what you have learned in Seminars I and II and throughout your MDes so far, to give you more depth on some topics, and new perspectives on others.
- Introduce you to — and give you an informed, rounded and reflective stance on — theory, models, themes, and new approaches in interaction and service design, which will give you strategic strength and confidence in your professional practice.
- Give you an appreciation of the characteristics of your power, as designers — its scope to influence the ways people live, but also the constraints of the sociotechnical systems within which you work — and the wisdom to deal with this responsibly.
- Support your work on your thesis project through giving you a set of theories and approaches which you can use practically to structure and communicate your thinking and research.
- Build up your confidence and ability in communicating and explaining your process: what you’ve done, and why, justified through reference to theory and research (your own, and others’). This can be an issue for designers, but our aim is that you will be better equipped to do this in a professional context.
Course structure
We have four main broad themes, each of which has a number of topics within it:
1. The Philosophy of Design
2. Researching Through Design & Practice
3. Design and Futures
4. Design, Data, Politics, and Society
Here in this syllabus is an indicative outline of what we’ll be covering each week — but please note, this may change over the course of the semester. The four themes will not necessarily always proceed in order — there will be some skipping between themes week-by-week depending on the availability of guest speakers.
The course starts with a deeper dive into some of the theory (and history of thought) in the philosophy of interaction and service design, and relevant perspectives, led by Ahmed, before we explore how some of this theory might work in practice in your own projects. Although it’s a seminar series, we want you to make and be comfortable thinking through making and doing, particularly to explore some of the theory you’ll be learning, practically — and linking the topics in the seminars to your thesis projects.
Over the rest of the semester, through the other themes, led by Dan, we will explore different angles and focuses of interaction and service design research and practice, alongside helping you develop your own confidence to take strategic stances on issues. The assignments are intended primarily to help you design ways to translate and apply theory (from inside and outside of design) to interaction and service design practice.
The section of the course led by Ahmed (5 weeks) is worth 40% of your final grade; the section led by Dan (10 weeks) is worth 60%. In Dan’s section, this comprises 25 % each for two assignments, and 10% for engagement, which includes participation in activities and discussion in class.
Week 1: Tuesday August 29
Dan Lockton and Ahmed Ansari
Introduction
Introduction to the course, and outline of the topics we’ll be covering.
The first part of the course, The Philosophy of Design, has its own website at https://cmudesignphilosophy.wordpress.com, including details of assignments.
Ahmed Ansari
The Philosophy of Design: The Artificial
Tony Fry, Clive Dilnot, Susan Stewart, Design & The Question of History, pp 1–7, 163–173
Optional:
Peter Sloterdijk, In the World Interior of Capital, pp 3–14
Viktor Papanek, Design for the Real World, read chapter “Conspicuous Consumptives: Design & The Environment”
Victor Margolin, The Politics of the Artificial
More details — including information on assignments — at https://cmudesignphilosophy.wordpress.com
Week 2: Tuesday September 5
Ahmed Ansari
The Philosophy of Design: Design as World-Making
Objects Presentations
Winograd & Flores, Understanding Computers & Cognition, Pgs 14–37
Paul Dourish, Where the Action Is, Pgs 189–209
Optional:
Being In The World Documentary
Peter Paul Verbeek, What Things Do, Pgs 47–145
Don Norman, Affordances & Design
Principles of Interaction Design Derived From Heidegger
Hubert Dreyfus on Artificial Intelligence & Heidegger
More details — including information on assignments — at https://cmudesignphilosophy.wordpress.com
Week 3: Tuesday September 12
Guest: Sarah Foley
Actor-Network Theory and Service Fictions Workshop
🌎 Event: September 14–15: Google SPAN Pittsburgh
Week 4: Tuesday September 19
Ahmed Ansari
The Philosophy of Design: Design as World-Focality & Sensitization
Objects Presentations
Alistair Fuad-Luke, Slow Design Theory
Cameron Tonkinwise, Exhibiting Animism
Optional:
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain, Pgs 278–326
Peter Paul Verbeek, What Things Do, Pgs 147–199
Thomas Tierney, The Value of Convenience, pp 15–49
Verbeek & Kockelkoren, The Things That Matter
More details — including information on assignments — at https://cmudesignphilosophy.wordpress.com
Week 5: Tuesday September 26
Ahmed Ansari
The Philosophy of Design: Political Economy
Objects Presentations
Pelle Ehn, Work-oriented Design of Computer Artifacts, pp 96–101
Aftenposten, Sweatshop, Season 1, ep 1–5
Optional:
Ellen Lupton, The Designer as Producer
William Morris, Art & Labor
John Heskett & Clive Dilnot, Design From the Standpoint of Economics\Economics From the Standpoint of Design
More details — including information on assignments — at https://cmudesignphilosophy.wordpress.com
Week 6: Tuesday October 3
Ahmed Ansari
The Philosophy of Design: General Economy
Objects Presentations
Clive Dilnot, The Gift
Allan Stoekl, Gift, Design & Gleaning
Optional Readings:
Bataille, The Accursed Share Vol I, read “The Theoretical Introduction”, pp 19–47
Tony Fry, Returning: Sacred Design III
Elaine Scarry, “On Beauty & Being Just”
More details — including information on assignments — at https://cmudesignphilosophy.wordpress.com
Week 7: Tuesday October 10
Dan Lockton
Researching Through Design & Practice
Applying theory in your projects. Finding ways to make the theory, and your reasoning, understandable to colleagues within a design team. Looking at some tools, card decks, and method collections. Assignment set: ‘Doing with Theory’.
🌞 Assignment: Doing with Theory
Set: Week 7, October 10; Due: Week 10, October 31. This assignment is worth 25% of your overall grade.
In this assignment, you’ll be developing a tool or method to apply, embody, or visualise some of the theory you have learned, especially from outside design, within a practical design context. The aim is to make it something you can try out — that you can (and others) can ‘do’ something with. This will enhance the ‘process’ aspects of your portfolio, and is intended to be something you will find useful in your work.
Your tools will be exhibited during Design Week (Week 16) and for those of you who want to take the work further, we will put together a workshop or conversation submission to the DRS 2018 conference in Limerick, Ireland or another conference.
Week 8: Tuesday October 17
Dan is away. You’re going to use this session to try out an example of a structured method, in teams.
Mini-workshop: Doing with Theory
Update: Here’s a write-up from Nurie Jeong:
Week 9: Tuesday October 24
Dan Lockton
Design, Data, Politics, and Society
Imaginaries, Mental Imagery, and Design
New Metaphors / Qualitative Interfaces workshop
Week 10: Tuesday October 31
🌼 Assignment: Doing with Theory part 1 due.
Researching Through Design & Practice
Writing for designers for designers: how to explain your work. Building on some of the ideas that Molly taught you in Seminar I, we’ll be considering how to write, as a designer, for other designers. What do designers read?
Articles you’ll be choosing from in the session, to examine:
Jonathan Goodman, statistics and public understanding
https://aeon.co/ideas/how-statistics-are-twisted-to-obscure-public-understanding
Courtney Martin, other people’s problems
https://thedevelopmentset.com/the-reductive-seduction-of-other-people-s-problems-3c07b307732d
Laura Forlano, posthumanism and design
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405872616300971/pdfft?md5=30716eb178dfaf09d5717acbee37da06&pid=1-s2.0-S2405872616300971-main.pdf
Joe Lindley, Paul Coulton and Rachel Cooper, the Internet of Things and object-oriented ontology
http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/85080/1/OOO_Full_paper.pdf
George Aye, how power is dealt with in design education
https://medium.com/greater-good-studio/design-educations-big-gap-understanding-the-role-of-power-1ee1756b7f08
Rachel Coldicutt, women and futures
https://medium.com/doteveryone/can-women-dream-of-different-futures-b82528ad96c0
David Benque, machines and prediction
https://medium.com/@davidbenque/counting-the-future-8f593b826a13
Josh Clark, design and algorithms
https://bigmedium.com/speaking/design-in-the-era-of-the-algorithm.html
Rob Speer, stereotypes in machine learning
https://blog.conceptnet.io/2017/04/24/conceptnet-numberbatch-17-04-better-less-stereotyped-word-vectors/
Aleks Krotoski, haunted smart homes
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161027-how-smart-homes-have-become-the-haunted-houses-of-today
Jean Jackson, fieldnotes
http://faculty.washington.edu/stevehar/Fieldnote.pdf
Audrey Watters, educational technology
http://hackeducation.com/2017/07/08/what-went-wrong
Julie Beck, life stories
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/08/life-stories-narrative-psychology-redemption-mental-health/400796/
James Clear, productivity
https://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box
Jason Mesut, design leadership
https://medium.com/@jasonmesut/8-reasons-to-become-a-design-leader-7e55b2986ba1
and https://medium.com/@jasonmesut/design-is-hard-design-leadership-is-harder-bdbfd14e35ce
Mike Monteiro / Claire Blaustein, design ethics
https://dc.aiga.org/mike-monteiro-youre-waiting-someone-else-right-thing-youre-wrong/
Week 11: Tuesday November 7
Presentations for Doing with Theory part 1
Week 12: Tuesday November 14
Dan Lockton
Design, Data, Politics, and Society
A tool for thinking about systems: a gentle introduction to second-order cybernetics.
Playing with Nicky Case’s Loopy.
Readings: Extracts from Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems; Jeff Sussna, Designing Delivery; and Hugh Dubberly & Paul Pangaro, ‘Cybernetics and Design: Conversations for Action’.
🌞 Assignment: ‘Doing with Theory part 2’ OR ‘Developing Your Voice’ set.
You have a choice of assignment: either continue with your Doing with Theory project (see more details below) or write an article for Developing your voice.
🌞 Assignment : Developing your voice
Set: Week 12, November 14; Draft Due: Week 14, November 28; Final version due: Week 15, December 5. This assignment is worth 25% of your overall grade.
Writing and publishing a Medium article (as part of the Advanced Interaction & Service Design Concepts publication), based around one or more of the topics we’ve covered, and/or responding to others you have looked at, to the standard of A List Apart, UX Mag, ACM Interactions, UX Booth, or other outlets. The aim is to get a wider practitioner audience, to establish you as a thought leader, a voice, or at least someone with ideas and a professional way of articulating yourself — enabling a more strategic positioning when you apply for jobs.
There’s an opportunity to have your draft reviewed the week before the final submission, if you would find that useful.
🌞 Assignment : Doing with Theory part 2
Set: Week 12, November 14; Final version due: Week 15, December 5. This assignment is worth 25% of your overall grade.
Continuing with your Doing with Theory project, taking your tool / method / approach further, to the stage where you have:
- tried it out with people (a group / individuals / whoever is most appropriate)
- documented it in the form of a Medium article (as part of the Advanced Interaction & Service Design Concepts publication) in a way that designers could apply
- Your article should include background material on the theories you have embodied in the tool
- It should explain how the tool can be used, with reference to your own trial of the tool (and if it’s something you’ll use in your thesis, you can talk about that)
- It should evaluate the tool in the context of how designers might use it
Please also include (at least) two good images that represent the tool — think about how you would present it in a portfolio, or as a header image for your article. How can you convey its essence or what it covers?
Week 13: Tuesday November 21
Guest: Dr Stuart Candy, Carnegie Mellon School of Design
Design and Futures
Experiential futures. Trying out The Thing From The Future.
Week 14: Tuesday November 28
Dan Lockton
Design, Data, Politics, and Society
The boundaries of inclusive design, and paying attention to biases and assumptions. Perspectives from different projects worldwide, including Cambridge Inclusive Design Toolkit, Exclusion Calculator and Impairment Simulator, and excerpts from BBC’s The Big Life Fix (episodes, 1 and 2) — projects by Ross Atkin, Haiyan Zhang, and Ruby Steel. Looking at biases in interface design (Sara Wachter-Boettcher). Trying out part of Inclusive: A Microsoft Design toolkit.
🌼 Assignment: Developing Your Voice — draft due.
Week 15: Tuesday December 5
Dan Lockton
Researching Through Design & Practice
Developing your own design philosophy: what design do you like? Why? Can you extract principles that you can apply in your own work and elsewhere?
🌼Assignment: Developing Your Voice — final version due.
🌼Assignment: Doing with Theory part 2 — final version due.
(Week 16: Design Week: Date TBC)
Dan Lockton and Ahmed Ansari
Mini-exhibition and publication of your work for the assignments
Expectations
While we encourage and support professional development through conferences and your search for internships and careers beyond the degree, it is also our expectation that you will balance these opportunities with the commitment you have made to your education here. You are responsible for any and all missed classes and assigned work, including team work. Please give Ahmed or Dan plenty of notice and discuss your plans with them carefully. This is particularly critical when additional days are taken for international travel. Instructors are not required to make allowances for your absences nor adjust the course schedule, so once syllabi are issued and calendars set, it is your responsibility to negotiate your absences. For team projects, it is also critical that you make these same negotiations with your fellow students, for fair completion of work according to assigned schedules and due dates.
Before making travel arrangements for the end of the semester, check with Ahmed and Dan to confirm final dates for presentations, critiques and coursework submissions.
(This text is lightly modified from that provided by Bruce Hanington)
Plagiarism
It’s not worth plagiarising anything. In this course, our aims include your development of a professional stance and approach to your work, and so we want you to embody that in everything you do. Very little in the world of design (or academia) is wholly original, but the ways in which you build on and transform others’ ideas in a respectful and appropriate way include attribution, acknowledgement and referencing. It is a marker of your professionalism, and you should treat developing this skill as part of your toolbox as seriously as you do other skills.
If you use an idea, image, or text from somewhere else, acknowledge this: reference where it came from. It makes your work stronger to do this — it shows that you are professional, well-read, and alert to developments in your field. If you are quoting or paraphrasing text, do it properly. We will discuss image licensing and copyright during the session about Writing for Designers, but the rules on plagiarism apply to the whole course.
Here are the CMU policies on academic integrity, and although they look complicated, the section on plagiarism is relatively simple. As instructors, Dan and Ahmed will have to give you zero marks for any assignment which is plagiarised, and that could have a major effect on your overall grade for Seminar III — and ultimately, your degree.
Take care of yourself
This class is meant to be fun, and exploratory, but as a student you are under lots of pressure from different directions. If you can maintain a healthy lifestyle this semester, it will help you achieve your goals and cope with stress. All of us benefit from support during times of struggle. You are not alone. There are many helpful resources available on campus and an important part of the college experience is learning how to ask for help (this is actually a really useful skill to develop anyway, even in less stressful situations). Asking for support sooner rather than later is often helpful.
If you or anyone you know experiences academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to seek support. Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS) is here to help: call 412–268–2922 and visit their website http://www.cmu.edu/counseling/.
Consider reaching out to a friend, faculty or family member you trust for help getting connected to the support that can help. If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal or in danger of self-harm, call someone immediately, day or night:
CaPS: 412–268–2922; Re:solve Crisis Network: 888–796–8226
If the situation is life threatening, call the police:
On campus: CMU Police: 412–268–2323
Off campus: 911
If you have questions about this or your work, please let Dan or Ahmed know.
(This text is lightly modified from that provided by Provost Farnam Jahanian, based on the work of the Task Force on the CMU Experience)
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability and have an accommodations letter from the Disability Resources office, we encourage you to discuss your accommodations and needs with us as early in the semester as possible. We will work with you to ensure that accommodations are provided as appropriate. If you suspect that you may have a disability and would benefit from accommodations but are not yet registered with the Office of Disability Resources, we encourage you to contact them at access@andrew.cmu.edu.
(This text is lightly modified from that provided by Laurie Weingart, Interim Provost)
