Scribing as Seen from the Inside: The Ethos of the Studio

Abstract

IntroductionThe Research Through Design (RTD) conference was first held in 2013 as a way to engage practice-based researchers of and in design to share their process, reflect on their work, and critique the work of their co-delegates. In a break from a traditional conference format, RTD placed objects at the core of discussion, with delegates seated around large tables on which the practitioners' work sat at the center as artifacts of research. A notable success of RTD 2013 was the richness of the intellectual critique that the "Rooms of Interest" and roundtable approach fostered. However, this success was a cultural memory that faded with time. The conversations, reflections, and atmosphere of this richness were left unrecorded. This loss was something we wanted to address through the documentation of RTD 2015.This reflective piece focuses on the practices of Scribes, a feature that was newly introduced to RTD 2015 and was envisioned as a way to capture aspects of the highly discursive nature of this conference format. "Scribing" refers to drawing, writing notations, or mark-making on paper to capture some essence of the discussions, dynamics, and atmosphere of the various sessions of the conference as they happen. Scribing was selected because of its potential to capture more than notes of what was being said and because of its place in broader design studio practices as a means to capture ideas, conversations, and textures of group engagement. For RTD 2015, six scribes worked in pairs in the "Rooms of Interest" and collectively during "Provocations." None of the invited scribes were "professional scribes"; instead, each had an active interest in research through design and came from diverse backgrounds as practitioners. The scribes were briefed by the event's Documentation Chairs to capture conversations in any way that fit with their practice and with which they were comfortable. For example, Erika Shorter, a creative writer, used writing as her "scribe lens." The other scribes were Jo Foster (Fine Art and Music),

Curricula Design & Pedagogy for Sketching Within HCI & UX Education

“…Creative arts activities such as sketching or visual notetaking can produce reflective imagery, and can help us solve problems (Roam, 2013), and the ability of hand-drawn sketching to capture thought, opinion, and show a record of events is well documented (Mendonça, 2016;Wallace et al, 2017). These types of visuals offer an organic, human response to stimuli, and have been shown to aid recall (Paepcke-Hjeltness et al, 2017), offer opportunities for reflection, analysis and feedback (Walny et al, 2011;Fernández-Fontecha et al, 2019), enhance learning and engagement (Paepcke-Hjeltness et al, 2017), and have additional cognitive benefits that can be lost as we move to using computers to make notes and plan our work as adults (Goldschmidt, 2017).…”

SketCHI

“…As a field, we are bringing freehand sketching to the fore by offering courses [11], workshops and tutorials [10] and reference books, guiding the researcher through the entire design process [6]. It is no longer unusual to see an artist sketchnoting or scribing at high profile events [16], and the results serve as both documentary and summary of the range and scale of HCI research.…”

The augmented house: Crafting tangible interaction in house museums

“…He argues that studio-like environment provides design researchers with a playground, which is an essential ingredient of RtD. Indeed, studios function as "knowledge environments" (Koskinen et al 2011, p. 129) where hands-on methods and play foster understanding in a safe and shared environment (Wallace et al, 2015). It is now common practice for designers to take their work to the field, which expands the space for making beyond the studio where new players are involved in the design process (Sanders & Stappers, 2008).…”

“…An example is the visual investigation by Lyons (2009) who shows the value of drawing to better look, to understand a medical phenomenon through the activity of drawing it. In interaction design, this process has manifested in multiple forms; as sketches to get the design right (Buxton, 2007), as comics to communicate the researchers' journey (Dykes, Blythe, Wallace, Thomas & Regan, 2016) and as scribing to document a research event (Wallace et al, 2015). In my process, I have explored the value of drawing for sense making.…”