Katie,
A few thoughts ...
1) since the beginning of this virutal community we have come back to
debates like these time and time again. We always will so long as a
few things continue.
a) People concentrate on what they DO instead of on the discipline
and theory as the core of the conversation and THEN move from there
towards methods, processes and practice.
b) People concentrate on their own job titles as the basis of
defining disciplines. 

2)I'd like to point people to Robert Reimann's definition of
Interaction Design that he crafted with Jody Forlizzi (@CMU)

Interaction Design is ...

A design discipline dedicated to:
Defining the behavior of artifacts, environments, and systems (i.e.,
products)

%u2026and therefore concerned with:
Anticipating how use of the products will mediate human relationships
and affect human understanding

Guiding the form of products to the extent that it influences/is
influenced by their behavior and use


I'm not saying it is perfect, but, it had a few elements that are
important for this discussion.

1) "design discipline" - What does this mean. 
a) It is an ARTISTIC craft connected to aesthetics.
b) It is a value driven process where function is valued within the
aesthetic forms made manifest
c) It is focused on design education processes and not those of
engineering or science. (not exclusive, but focused)

2) It guides FORM. To Andrei's points (and others, interactions
cannot exist with the forms and spaces we create to embody the
potentiality for those interactions

3) It is tied to human beings; and thus human social sciences and
their methods will forever be important data points to aid in the
design of interactions.


Titles are meaningless to the above. And there are many many many
people who DO interaction design w/o ever hearing of the discipline.
Just like early newspaper publishers did graphic design and why we
learn so much from Comics, movies, games, etc.

-- dave


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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=23732


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