posted on 2005-01-01, 00:00authored byIan Hargraves, Brian Haven, Shelley Evenson, John Zimmerman
This paper addresses the design of socially centered tools to support
Arts and Humanities PhD students in their Inquiries. We discuss the limitations
of current products and describe our research of PhD students. Drawing on the
work of the philosopher John Dewey, we find that inquiry is a characteristic activity
of the members of an academic field. Inquiry as a shared human endeavor
has aesthetic qualities that direct students. These aesthetic qualities
manifest in social interaction and the material products of inquiry. We suggest
that the fractured experiences associated with current inquiry-supporting tools
can be avoided by designing from an understanding of the underlying aesthetics
of inquiry. A product concept designed from this perspective is presented.