Papers by Thomas Markussen
Design Studies, Mar 1, 2021
Re-visiting design games from a design anthropological perspective This article explores how desi... more Re-visiting design games from a design anthropological perspective This article explores how design games might serve as a form of design anthropological fieldwork drawing on examples from the project 'Changing Perspectives'-a social design project aimed at designing games to support family consultants in working with incarcerated fathers' empathic understanding of how their children and family experience the collateral effects of imprisonment. In this design anthropological approach to design games, focus shifts from how games facilitate collaboration to how they can help design researchers understand the ambiguous roles of the design researcher vis-à-vis participants, the gap between research intentions and situated practices, and stakeholder agonism to help us discover and challenge implicit assumptions and roles embedded in the design project.
Design and Political Dissent
Nordic Design Research Conference, 2021
It is, today, widely appreciated that Research-through-Design-or Constructive Design Research as ... more It is, today, widely appreciated that Research-through-Design-or Constructive Design Research as we will call it in this paper-allows for designers to produce knowledge based on the skills and capacities of the design field itself. However, most of the research fails to bridge the gap between the general notions of constructive design research and the detailed research activities of the field. We therefore suggest bridging this methodological gap in the academic discussion with what we have ended up calling the "entrance level of constructive design research". As a step towards to a more nuanced and solid perspective on how to keep constructive design research on track, this paper offers a model for understanding the role of hypothesis in constructive design research. The model allows for understanding the hypothesis's relation to research motivation, questions, experiments, evaluation and knowledge production. The intention of the model is to have it serve as a tool in the research process aiding the researcher to understand at what "level" discussions and claims are brought forward, and what consequences these might have for the research work at hand. Thus, the paper claims the central position of the hypothesis as a key-governing element even in artistic led research processes.
International Journal of Design, 2008
Interaction design is commonly viewed as a recent trend in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that ... more Interaction design is commonly viewed as a recent trend in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that focuses on designing user experiences with technology. With the advent of tangible and physical computing, over the last decade or so, new opportunities have emerged for ...
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In this paper we offer a new explanatory tool, called 'dynamic research sketching' useful for map... more In this paper we offer a new explanatory tool, called 'dynamic research sketching' useful for mapping and understanding how research through design can be a vehicle for theory construction. 'Research through design' is often used as an all-inclusive umbrella term for research practices that recognize the process of designing and making an artifact as a legitimate method of inquiry. However, even though this type of research is thus grounded in design practice there are many different ways in which the process of designing and making an artifact can be used as a method of inquiry in order to explore a research question. Occasionally, the lack of a systematic methodology for research through design being able to make clarifications and distinctions between various methods has been pointed out. Yet, only few attempts have been made to compensate for this lack. In this paper, the aim is to make a first step toward such a methodology. Initially, we set the scene by providing a critical examination of existing literature on the subject. Then, we demonstrate the explanatory strength of dynamic research sketching by applying it to three case examples. In so doing, we uncover three different methods for using design practice as a vehicle for theory construction. Finally, we discuss and conclude on our findings by holding them up against our critique of existing frameworks.
In this paper, we introduce a new approach to designing games for serious contexts. In contrast t... more In this paper, we introduce a new approach to designing games for serious contexts. In contrast to Serious Games we argue that learning is a too narrow focus for serious contexts and that simulation of real world problems ought to be supplemented with other design strategies that place greater emphasis on fiction and narratives. The approach is exemplified through three game prototypes designed to be played by an inmate and his child in a prison during visiting hours. By analyzing these game prototypes we demonstrate how a game can be structured around a narrative plot in three different ways. Moreover, we discuss how narrative plots in a game may open up for developing player's emotional experiences over time and grow social relationships between inmate and child. On the basis of our case analysis we discuss, in more detail, how our approach differs from Serious Games and we single out some key implications for emotion-driven design.
Nordes 2019: Who Cares?, 2019
The aim of this paper is to show how the value of social design lies in the approach’s ability as... more The aim of this paper is to show how the value of social design lies in the approach’s ability as a caring practice to foster change for vulnerable groups in society. Yet, to achieve such change, social designers must have a navigational tool that allows them to identify and steer through some of the value conflicts that are typically involved in public service care provision. To substantiate this claim, we rapport from two recent social design projects in the public sector dealing with care within criminal justice and healthcare. Building on these two projects we propose a provisional model for navigating care throughout a social design research process in accordance with an organizational level, a professional practice level and an interpersonal level.
In this paper we focus on ‘patient-democracy’ and ‘shared decision-making’ seen from the perspect... more In this paper we focus on ‘patient-democracy’ and ‘shared decision-making’ seen from the perspective of design practice and design research. In the research on democracy in healthcare it is rarely questioned what forms of democracy underlies these concepts. We have examined three different theories of democracy and the democratic practices that belong to each of these. For designers working to increase patient democracy it is of vital importance to be able to distinguish different structures underlying democratic practices and to work out methods for prototyping democracy. In design research there are already a number of approaches available which in one way or the other address the relationship between design, democracy and power. We provide an account of participatory design, adversarial design and design activism thereby pointing towards design’s potential for re-distributing power and authority in healthcare. Positioning ourselves within design activism, we have set up a series ...
Conjunctions. Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 2017
In this paper we introduce social games as a new terrain for studies in participatory culture. So... more In this paper we introduce social games as a new terrain for studies in participatory culture. Social games defy easy classification and cannot be appropriately understood from existing research perspectives. Initially, we therefore attempt to define social games by comparing the genre with related game genres, notably serious games and health games. To further increase knowledge of social games, we introduce a typology of playful participation in social games. The typology is constructed by using formal concepts from theories of participatory art. Its range of application is then demonstrated through an empirical analysis of eight social game prototypes that are designed as part of an on-going three-year research project called “Social Games against Crime”. The purpose of this project is to develop social games that can help children build resilience towards many of the personal and social problems they experience as a result of parental incarceration.
vbn.aau.dk
Paper for When Architects and Designers Write, Draw, Build, ? a PhD. The 2011 symposium of the ... more Paper for When Architects and Designers Write, Draw, Build, ? a PhD. The 2011 symposium of the Nordic Association of Architectural Research, Aarhus School of Architecture, May 4-6, 2011 ... NICOLAI STEINØ Associate professor, PhD Aalborg University, Department of ...
Fibreculture Journal, 2012
Introduction to issue 21 of the Fibreculture Journal.
The advent of new digital design techniques and thereby the possibility to work more intensively ... more The advent of new digital design techniques and thereby the possibility to work more intensively with topology is believed to have shaken the conceptual grounds in architecture. In other words, that we are facing a paradigm shift. In one of his highly influential contributions to architectural theory, Greg Lynn has claimed that through topological design a new and more profound alliance has been instigated between space, geometry and body (Lynn, 1998). In the same vein Lars Spuybroek has introduced the concept of “motorized geometry ” in order to explain how interactive buildings is able to engage fundamental ‘topological’ levels of perception and bodily action (Spuybroek, 1998, 2002, 2004). Moreover, Spuybroek bases his arguments on what appears to be irrefutable neuroscientific evidence. The aim of this paper is above all critically to examine and clarify if neuroscience actually supports these architectural ideas. It should not go unnoticed, for instance, that neurobiologist Davi...
Over the last couple of years, design activism has attracted increasing attention among designers... more Over the last couple of years, design activism has attracted increasing attention among designers and design researchers, but the approach seems not to have found it's way yet to the Design & Emotion research community. In this paper, we introduce design activism as a new approach valuable for probing into the role of mixed emotions in interpersonal interaction. To set the scene, we critically examine recent sources on design activism in order provide a general characterisation of what constitute the approach. Next, we argue for how social game can be seen as an instantiation of design activism used, in a current research project, to inquiry into how teenagers feel about visiting their incarcerated fathers in top secure prisons. Finally, we relate our findings to discourse on ambiguous emotions and use this to visualize the eliciting pattern of ambiguous emotions.
Design Issues
In design research, critique has recently been voiced against the multiple ways the notion of par... more In design research, critique has recently been voiced against the multiple ways the notion of participation is understood and practiced. Studies of performativity and performance art have been used to account for this methodological multiplicity. However, in this article, we argue that participation still has much to offer design research as a foundational concept, but that a more nuanced understanding is required. Further, we offer such an understanding by presenting three theories and methodologies from participatory art. The value of participatory art for design research will then be exemplified by a practice-based design research project exploring forms of patient democracy.
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Papers by Thomas Markussen