Principles
This work-in-progess note is about the persistent goals and principles of academic and creative work at Deep Design Lab.
Teaching
Goal
Teaching as futuring (teaching of design for sustainability).
Learning Objectives
Ontological design (humankind by design, the Anthropocene, design ethics, designer responsibilities, redirective design).
Systemic design (distributed, dynamic, persistent, complex, interconnected systems involving biological, social and technical systems).
Evidence-based designing, performance-driven designing, bio-inspired designing.
Teaching Methods
Redirective teaching
Critical practice (critical technical practice, critical making, conceptual designing, computer experiments)
Learning as activism (activist modelling.
Learning Outcomes
Algorithmic thinking, visual programming, formal languages, data acquisition, manipulation and visualization, computer experiments and simulation.
Research
Goal
Research as futuring (research into design for sustainability).
Principles
High ambition/high reward.
High risk/high return.
Combine immediate rewards, with middle-term plausibility, with long term prospects.
Resist incrementalism and publicationalism.
Cf. Some home truths about declining research productivity, innovation and disruption - Future Tense
Research Questions
Worldviews/ontologies in Anthropocene (inclusive, processual, relational ontologies; complex system, emergence, self-organisations, swarm intelligence; autopoiesis; object-oriented ontologies, new materialism; post-humanism; ecologies).
Epistemologies of design (ways of acquiring, sharing, practicing knowledge; formal languages and models; artificial intelligence; artificial evolution; bottom-up approaches to control and behaviours).
Creativity; non-human and posthuman creativity, artificial and automated creativity; generative approaches to art, design, architecture, etc. Understanding difference in architectural design occurs when ecology, biology, etc. are integrated with art…
Ethics of design in Anthropocene.
Aesthetics of art and design in Anthropocene.
Design methods (undesign, redirection, representation, language, formal languages, formal and other models, code).
Research Methods
Philosophies of humankind, design, nature and technology.
Cultural, science and technology studies.
Critical practice, conceptual designing, future scenarios, demonstrators.
Research Outcomes
Deeper understanding of relevant issues.
New methods for knowledge acquisition and manipulation in design.
Creative and design practices, innovation strategies.
Learning strategies.
Communities of practice and exchange.
Tools and techniques.
Engagement
Goals
Practical (direct) futuring through interaction with local, regional and international communities (which?).
Tactics
Activism, small steps, redirection, demonstrators, contributions to public debate.
Leadership and Service
Promotion of ecostentric and more-than-human ethics (justice, direct participation, political voice) across all activities.