Design Connections Doctoral Program & ARKTIS Doctoral Program – Summer School 2011:
(Monday 13 – Friday 17, June 2011)
‘Concepts and Conceptualization’
Summer school 2011 is organized in collaboration with the Design Connections Doctoral Program and the Arctic Doctoral Program, ARKTIS. It takes place at Keropirtti, the field station of the University of Lapland in Pyhätunturi. The topic of the summer school is ‘Concepts and Conceptualization’. It offers students an opportunity to clarify the basic concepts related to their PhD and DA research and work further with the content of these concepts. During the summer school the central concepts will be approached also in a creative and experimental way, as each student is encouraged to work further with her/his central concepts in another mode than writing.
In the beginning of the summer school the topic of ‘Concept and Conceptualization’ will be approach from theoretical perspective, based primarily on the working papers. Based on your own paper, please prepare 5 minutes presentation where you introduce the main ideas related to the topic. Each of the papers will have an opponent, who opens the discussion with 5 minutes commenting speech. This will follow by 5 minutes discussion. Please find author-opponent pairs in the end of this text. The papers are downloadable by clicking the authors name, as soon as they are sent in by the participants (some are still missing). The papers will have an open access only during the summer school. If you have not yet returned your paper, please send it as soon as possible to Maarit (and cc to tatu.marttila@aalto.fi). Also, please negotiate with your opponent the delay of your paper.
Before the summer school, please visit at http://www2.uiah.fi/projekti/metodi/e00.htm and bring back to your mind what is written about research, especially about concepts, models and methods. The main plan is to start with Kari Kuutti’s keynote, following by student presentations. After that you will have time to work further with your topic, both in textual and visual forms. If you need, please bring with you related materials to be able to go further with your individual task.
Participation in the summer school and fulfilment of assignments equals to 3 study points (3 ECTS).
Teachers: DA Maarit Mäkelä (Aalto University), Professor Kari Kuutti (University of Oulu) and PhD Päivi Soppela (Arctic Centre, University of Lapland).
Program:
SUNDAY 12
19. 26 Night train to Rovaniemi from Helsinki Railway station
As all of you will be travelling with student price, make sure that you have got your student card with you in the train!
MONDAY 13: THEORY DAY
07.48 arriving at Rovaniemi & breakfast at Rovaniemi railway station
08.30 bus to Pyhätunturi
10.00 visit at the Suvanto village, guided by Ilona
13.00 arriving at Pyhätunturi & lunch
14.00 opening lecture by Kari
16.30 introduction of the student cases 1-6
18.00 dinner
19.00 introduction of student cases 7-9
20.00 Sauna (bedsheets and towels are included – do not bring them)
TUESDAY 14: THEORY & WORKSHOP DAY
08.00 breakfast
09.00 introduction of student cases 10-18
11.00 introduction of the 2 day workshop by Maarit & Päivi of the task
13.00 lunch
14.00 individual assignment
18.00 dinner
19.00 individual assignment
20.00 Sauna
WEDNESDAY 15: WORKSHOP & TRIP DAY
08.00 breakfast
09.00 individual assignment
13.00 lunch
14.00 field trip to Pyhätunturi
17.00 Sauna
18.00 evening reception with food & wine
THURSDAY 16: SHARING & SUMMING UP
08.00 breakfast
09.00 sharing the results
13.00 lunch
14.00 summing up the summer school
17.00 dinne
18.00 bus from Pyhätunturi via Kemijärvi to Rovaniemi
21.08 train to Helsinki
FRIDAY 17
08.36 arriving at Helsinki railway station
Abstract of the opening lecture:
Kari Kuutti: “From audience to concepts, models & theories and back; or, where does the literature review & conceptual-theoretical framework part of my thesis come from?” (Slides can be downloaded with this link)
Every thesis has a literature review part that locates the work into a larger context of research. Every thesis has also some sort of conceptual-theoretical framework, the tools used in tackling the problem and discussing about it – either explicit or implicit. Quite often these two do not have much in common, and both are more or less haphazard efforts, residuals of a long and varied struggle to make sense to the subject at hand. In a good thesis the two parts should go instead hand in hand, and the conceptual-theoretical framework should be a carefully selected and honed tool, fit for the purpose and real help to the research.
Below, a few articles by Kari Kuutti:
Where are the Ionians of User Experience Research? (2010)
HCI and design: uncomfortable bedfellows? (2009)