Interaction design in the university
Gale Moore, Danielle M. Lottridge · 2010
Interaction design (ID) as a field emerged in the late 1990s with roots in both the HCI and design communities. We ask whether the 'interdisciplinary' agenda of the 3rd paradigm of HCI can be accommodated in the traditional disciplined university. An alternate model of 'interdisciplinarity' offers one way forward, but calls for clarity on the question of what interaction design aspires to be. We offer the notion of 'disciplined transdisciplinarity' as an exciting and perhaps necessary way of solving the complex problems that ID researchers face, and illustrate this with examples drawn from the area of emotional design and assessment. Our bridge between 3rd paradigm, knowledge production and what we are calling 'disciplined transdisciplinary' yields insights into the path toward institutionalizing and legitimating research on ID and academic careers in this field in the university.