You read that right - a portfolio review for design researchers.
With the growing number of design researchers and the importance of research as a skill for designers, there's a need for guidance on putting together a design research portfolio.
We are in the early planning stages, with the goal to pilot this at the Northeast District IDSA conference in Philadelphia, April, 2008 (district conference web site is not up yet). This would likely be a sub-section of the overall design portfolio, with an emphasis on research methods. The reviews will focus on the quality and presentation of:
- formulating research questions
- identifying research participants
- methods of conducting research and capturing data
- organization and analysis of findings
- communication of results and outcomes
It would be open to both students and professionals with work in design research, including designers, human factors specialists, design researchers, anthropologists, etc.
If you are a professional with experience in design research or human factors, and are planning to attend the NE district conference and are interested in serving as a reviewer, please contact me at robtannen@hotmail.com Also, if you have suggestions or examples for the review process, guidelines, etc, please forward those to me as well.
Nothing written in stone yet, so stay tuned...
UPDATE - Conference date has been set for first weekend of April 4-6, 2008.
