Democratizing diagnostics by design
I began developing my approach for diagnostic study of unstructured problem spaces in complex adaptive human systems in earnest more than a decade ago. The roots of my interest in this work, however, go back more than 35 years to my final year of engineering back in Bangalore (Bengaluru). It strikes me, on reflection, […]
Multidimensional Climate Justice Must Recognize ALL Types of Knowledge Holders
What is interesting in this diagram from Kivimaa et al. (2021:7) from the Finnish Climate Change panel, is the missing component of Indigenous, local, and traditional knowledge from the sphere of Recognition Justice. Why it is interesting is because the authors cite Tribaldos & Kortetmäki (2022) among their references for the concept of justice, who […]
Cognitive Justice at the user interface
Justice has become the hottest topic in calls for papers this year, particularly noteworthy in inter- and cross-disciplinary design and innovation studies. I first came across the theme of justice last year in the IPCC February 2022 report, where the authors defined it as: Justice is concerned with setting out the moral or legal principles […]
Future-proofing human creative practice in the age of AI
“Algorithms are able to be creative… And so in their very nature, they are showing and exploring new ideas.” Ai-Da’s creator Aidan Meller in an article about “her” design exhibition at this year’s London Design Biennale Creative professionals around the world are faced with the introduction of user-friendly generative AI tools offering a plethora of […]
Pondering the standpoint of a third culture kid (TCK) exploring plural knowledge systems
“[We] reflected on what it meant to be Brown academics (Curtis-Boles et al., 2012; Muhs et al. 2012) while personally navigating multiple cultural and work boundaries as transnational women (Joseph 2014).” (Lahiri-Roy, Belford, & Sum, 2021) Looking for a standpoint from which to respectfully approach different knowledge systems, particularly local, traditional, and Indigenous ones, led […]
Contemplating the conundrum of designing for cognitive justice
“Cognitive Justice: the right of different knowledges to coexist so long as they sustain the life, livelihoods, and life chances of a people.” Shiv Visvanathan, 2021 Unpacking this theoretical statement and putting it into practice in the form of design of interactive, collaborative, and social processes that comprise various participatory methodologies in design and innovation, […]
Linking Recognition to Resilience: Cognitive Justice and the Informal Economy
Soon enough, at some point this year, I’ll have to take a decision about whether to situate my vegetable vendors and informal traders as ‘livelihood’ actors, ekeing out a living by the side of the road, or continue bypassing the literature of poverty as I strive to reinforce their status and role as professional traders […]
