Designing Probes

Semester 2 · 95217 · PhD Programme in Experimental Research through Design, Art and Technologies · 2CP · EN

The course is organised in the form of practical workshops that provide students with a testing ground for designing and constructing design probes that allow them to obtain different information about their research questions through the use of an artefact. This practice-based course will give students the opportunity to develop a customised research artefact that offers an experimental way to gather valuable insights and data in the context of their research.

Lecturers: Secil Ugur Yavuz

Teaching Hours: 10
Lab Hours: 0
Mandatory Attendance: yes

Course Topics
Turning a research question into a probe, types of probes, ideation and concept sketching for probes, crafting probes, testing and reflecting with probes

Teaching format
The teaching format will be a series of hands-on workshops that merge theoretical grounding with experimental making. Each session provides students with practical space to conceptualize, design, and construct research artefacts (probes) tailored to their individual research questions. Through iterative making, testing and collective reflection rounds, students will learn through making.

Educational objectives
Students will acquire the ability to develop projects in terms of design, artistic ability, experimentation and technological application in order to generate and foster knowledge, culture and innovation.

Assessment
Assessment will be based on the presentation and live demonstration of the probe that is developed during the course. Each student will present their research context, design process, and the final artefact with a live demonstration of how the probe functions.

Evaluation criteria
The criteria for assessment: conceptual clarity: demonstrating a clear and well-articulated conceptual foundation for their probe. relevance to the research question: originality and appropriateness of the probe in addressing the research question critical reflections: critical reflection on both the process and outcomes of the probe

Required readings

Gaver, W, Dunne, A., & Pacenti, E,. 1999 Design: Cultural probes, Interactions, Vol 6, Issue 1, Jan/Feb

Boehner, K., Gaver, W. & Boucher, A. 2012. Probes. In: Celia Lury and Nina Wakeford, eds. Inventive Methods: the Happening of the Social. London: Routledge Press, pp. 185-201. ISBN 0415574811

Çerçi,S., Cecchinato, M.E. & Vines, J. 2021. How Design Researchers Interpret Probes: Understanding the Critical Intentions of a Designerly Approach to Research. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 624, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445328

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Sustainable Development Goals
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals.