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Jointly grasping the possible in design

Chuck Huff (Department of Psychology, St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA)

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society

ISSN: 1477-996X

Article publication date: 4 March 2014

97

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate the contribution of Christiansen attempting to reintegrate ethics into the process of design.

Design/methodology/approach

It situates her attempt in the context of the history of the participatory design movement, and the way ethical concern has been jettisoned leaving only a pragmatic toolbox of techniques.

Findings

Christiansen is successful in finding ethical encounter residing of necessity at the heart of design. Design imposes a vision or narrative on the world and participatory design makes that narrative negotiable.

Practical implications

All design is of necessity ethical endeavor, and Christiansen helps us to understand why.

Originality/value

This response situates Christiansen's approach within the Heideggerian understanding of the “ready to hand” assumptions that lie in the ways we approach objects in our world. This language may help provide a structured way to talk about the encounter.

Keywords

Citation

Huff, C. (2014), "Jointly grasping the possible in design", Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 14-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-11-2013-0049

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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