Examining interdisciplinary prototyping in the context of cultural communication

  • Authors:

  • Michael Heidt

  • Affiliations:

  • Research Training Group crossWorlds, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany

  • Venue:
  • DUXU'13 Proceedings of the Second international conference on Design, User Experience, and Usability: health, learning, playing, cultural, and cross-cultural user experience - Volume Part II
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Designers typically have to operate in the environment of highly interdisciplinary teams. However, at the same time mindsets of project participants frequently remain framed within disciplinary and professional boundaries. We argue that interdisciplinary communication processes can be improved upon by further theorising the differences between disciplinary cultures. Prototyping offers unique opportunities concerning these situational configurations. It allows to make differences productive on the level of practice whose incommensurabilities often preclude integration within the realm of theory and conviction. We thus provide a tentative set of communicative and methodological tools aimed at improving the communicative process in these scenarios. Instead of trying to establish a common language or common toolset, we try to render the dynamic friction between disparate perspectives productive. Our positions are illustrated by discussing them in the context of a case study in the domain of cultural education.