----------------------------------------------------- PhD workshop HOW THEORIES INFORM INTERACTION DESIGN November 1, 2005, 10.00 - 18.00 University of Queensland, Ipswich Campus Building 1, Room 352 11 Salisbury Road, Ipswich, Qld 4205 www.uq.edu.au/maps/index.html?menu=3 Programme: 10.00 Introduction round 10.30 Margot Brereton, UQ: How we adopt theory 11.00 How can theory inform design? We will use a 'Silent Game' format to experiment with different understandings of theory and design. 12:00 Presenting your 'theory' and creating 'informing design' games 13.30 Lunch + Melbourne Cup 15.00 Pelle Ehn, Malm¿ University: Artefacts as theory 15.30 Jacob Buur, Univ. of Southern Denmark: Ethnography as theory 16.00 Tuning your work to 'inform design'. In groups we will work with scenarios of design practice and explore how one can best formulate theories to support designers in their work. 17.00 Group presentations and final discussion Supervisors are invited to join the afternoon presentations. 18:00 End Preparation: To participate I'll ask you to prepare a 5-min presentation of 'your theory': If you have recently started, pick a theory you are struggling to learn, if you have results of your own, use this as an opportunity to try out your thoughts on theory in an informal forum. I've added some hints below. Sign-up: Send me a mail before October 25 if you want to participate. Please include your affiliation and supervisor name, the title of you PhD, a short abstract, and indicate your enrollment date, to give me a chance to prepare and organise groups. ----------------------------------- Workshop preparation hints: 1. Choose a theory that you are struggling to learn (if you have recently started your PhD) or choose a theme that you foresee as being a central outcome of your PhD (if you already have results to show). It should somehow relate to interaction design; it could be: - theory of how people perceive, think or act in general - theory of how a particular group of people act in a particular context (an ethnography) - theory about interaction between people and technology - theory about how to design (e.g. a basis for new design methods). 2. Find a good descriptive name for your theory, so we can easily refer to it in our discussions. 3. Create a short and precise presentation. Be careful about the terms you use, concepts are an inherent part of any theory. Often a simple graph will help explain relationships. If you are building your own theory now, be bold about it: This workshop is not about checking how you scientifically argue for your theory, its about how you formulate it so others can easily understand and 'use' it. Sharp provocative statements will work better than lengthy, all-inclusive deliberations. I'll be happy to discuss this with you on an individual basis before the workshop.