The Sum of Things - Sam Watson

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.4 Method 2: Worldbuilding
As my exploration into Research Questions 1 and
2 began to elicit results, they provided a reference point for
Research Question 3; the development of a methodology which
could formalise the process of encoding particular values within
products. In an attempt to involve more tangible design research
in a largely theoretical exploration, I introduced more practical
experimentation. Initially, this excluded design conceptualisation
or prototyping, instead seeking to experiment with the
development of models for creating imaginative Value Contexts.
This distracted from the core intent by pulling the process
toward an earlier vision for the project, one preceding the intent
established throughout this dissertation. This superceded vision
seemed to have connected with my earlier interest in product
properties to create a kind of a ‘red herring’ of research avenues.
Research Question 3.3
How can values be intentionally
encoded within products?
Thankfully, later conceptualisation, imbuing the
typologies analysed in Research Questions 1 and 2 with Value
Contexts developed through these models illustrated the
redundancy of this research method. While perfectly effective
in creating Value Contexts to which products could be adapted,
they did not aid in encoding values. Moreover, the designs into
which they were encoded proved irrelevantly speculative,
contradicting the intent to develop a tangible intersection of
design practice and futures thinking (as delineated in chapter 2).