Quasi-design: Breaching presentations in academia Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Goldsmiths, University of London, Department of Design Tim Miller 2021 1 Declaration I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is clearly stated. Tim Miller 2 Acknowledgements I would first like to thank Dr. Alex Wilkie and Dr. Michael Guggenheim, the two people who supervised this thesis and with whom the journey of this research was undertaken. It has, for many reasons, been a pleasure working with you and I have learnt a great deal from you during this time. I also would like to thank the Department of Design and the Centre for Invention and Social Process (CISP) in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths for supporting this work – and the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Design Star Centre for Doctoral Training for funding a large portion of it. Due to this opportunity, conversations have taken place with many other people including my transfer of registration examiners Dr. Tobie Kerridge and Dr. Nina Wakeford, and with Dr. Martin Tironi and Dr. Lucy Kimbell. There are, of course, those who kindly participated in this research: Dr. Bop; Dr. Carey; Dr. Dementia; Dr. Hip; Dr. Innovation; Dr. Interdisciplinary; Dr. Measurable; Dr. Medieval; Dr. Space-age; Dr. Tech. I’d also like to thank Alastair Jones, Marta Puchala and Adam Wright for applying their interaction and graphic design and web development skills to the project’s website. I’d like to extend my thanks to my numerous doctoral peers in and around “number thirteen” and my other colleagues in the design departments at Goldsmiths and the University of the Arts. I’d also like to thank my parents for encouraging my foundational interest in design. 3 Contents Acknowledgements 3 Figures 5 Glossary 7 Abstract 12 1: Introduction: Design in organisations 13 2: Literature review: Design and presentations in academia 42 3: Methodology: Quasi-design and presentations in academia 68 4: Technical difficulties: Atmospheres in conference presentations 79 5: Old school: Expectations in university lectures 102 6: Changing rooms: Personae in mock research interviews 132 7: Conclusion: Quasi-design in academia 155 Afterword 164 Bibliography 170 4 Figures 1.1: PowerPoint presentation caricature by Simon Elinas 13 1.2: A vehicle trailer used as a shopping mall trolley as part of the project Trailers 21 1.3: A vehicle trailer used as a supermarket trolley as part of the project Trailers 21 1.4: Photographic portraits as part of the project Meeting People 22 1.5: An attempt to order a pizza as part of the project Order 23 1.6: Stills taken from the digital video Covers 24 1.7: Stills taken from the digital video Interview in Progress 25 1.8: Stills taken from the digital video Power Point 26 4.1: The sets of slides I designed for the Technical Difficulties workshop 91 4.2: Screenshot of Slides 3. Diagrams used by Dr. Innovation 94 4.3: Screenshot of Slides 1. Emojis used by Dr. Dementia 95 4.4: Screenshot of Slides 4. Frankenstein used by Dr. Space-age 96 4.5: Screenshot of Slides 8. Random used by Dr. Interdisciplinary 97 5.1: Page one of the first text sent in an e-mail to Dr. Measurable 113 5.2: Page two of the first text sent in an e-mail to Dr. Measurable 114 5.3: Sketch of a mobile board as discussed with Dr. Medieval 115 5.4: Page one of the second text sent in an e-mail to Dr. Measurable 117 5.5: Page two of the second text sent in an e-mail to Dr. Measurable 118 5 5.6: The third text sent in an e-mail to Dr. Measurable 119 5.7: Sketch of a business-style flipchart as discussed with Dr. Medieval 121 5.8: Sketch of an overhead projector as discussed with Dr. Medieval 122 6.1: Poster sketch I did not use to discuss the workshop Changing Rooms 149 A.1: The website www.bequasi.com 165 A.2: Beyond presentation on the website www.bequasi.com 166 A.3: Picture perfect on the website www.bequasi.com 167 A.4: Preparing presentations on the website www.bequasi.com 168 A.5: Self-presentation on the website www.bequasi.com 169 6 Glossary Affect The notion of affect derives from philosophy and is taken up by scholars in social and cultural theory and social psychology to explore people’s being affected and thereafter feeling emotions. Affects are therefore imposed intensities that are thereafter processed and responded to by people. Affects can be understood by way of the traffic jam. In some cases, people, perhaps on their way to work, find that the road is full of traffic and that their journey is delayed. To some people, and for various reasons, this situation might cause a great deal of stress and, as a result, they might become angry and start irrationally pressing their car horn. Affirmative design This type of design represents what we typically expect of graphic, product, industrial or other similar types of design. Affirmative design is often applied to solve business or other problems in commercial organisational contexts. Affirmative design might be used to design a poster to advertise an event, a component of a jet engine allowing an airplane to fly more efficiently or an apparently more environmentally friendly shopping bag using renewable or other types of materials. Affirmative design is therefore design produced in support of commerciality, or, a commercial status quo. Atmosphere The idea of atmosphere is explored in the philosophy of phenomenology and is taken up by scholars in cultural geography and social psychology in conjunction with the notion of affect. This notion of atmosphere refers to the qualities of spaces that are generated when humans and the objects constituting them interact. For instance, some spaces, including a courtroom in a court of law, may be designed to mediate particular interactions that are associated with conduct we might understand as formal. Due to this, one might conclude that this space contains an atmosphere of formality. Breaching experiment The breaching experiment is a form of ethnomethodological research. In these experiments, taken-for-granted social orders are unexpectedly altered and through this “breached”. This might involve one person conversing with someone else or conducting every day or otherwise routine workplace activities in unexpected ways that breach other people’s expectations. Breaching experiments are conducted to observe how people respond to or “repair” alterations to expected forms of social order. Through this, people’s expectations of and how they maintain social orders are observed and described. 7 Critical design The people who practice critical design claim to avoid producing work in support of industrial production and the commercial marketplace. Often, critical design is humorous and uses satire to provoke discussion of new technologies. In other cases, critical design is used to present an alternative idea of technologies by producing films, photographs, object-based installations or events. Due to positioning itself in opposition to commercialism, critical design is often shown in or supported by cultural organisations including art galleries or museums. Due to this, critical design is often confused with art. Design In this research, I consider design as an overarching category for different types of design. This includes graphic, product, user-experience, building, typographic, branding, user- interface, affirmative, critical, speculative, critical-speculative, participatory, socio-technical, joint application design or design thinking. In this research, I consider the specific types of design that are active in particular organisational contexts. Affirmative design in commercial, critical design in cultural and speculative design in academic organisations – as well as the notion of quasi-design – are most important to this research. Future breaching experiment Future breaching experiments are breaching experiments that are imagined by people that may or may not be subject to them. They are possible breaches to the social order that the people potentially subject to them imagine. For instance, those potentially subject to particular breaching experiments might imagine how they or other people might feel if subject to them. They might also imagine what they or other people might do in response, or what they might become, when a part of these breaching experiments. This informs whether the people potentially subject to these breaching experiments choose to participate in them. Future script A future script is a script that is imagined, and which may or may not be enacted at a future date. They are possible human-non-human relations pertaining to the possible identities and subsequent interactions constituted within them. Future scripts are useful as a form of speculation. For instance, innovations researchers may choose to imagine different types of possible future scripts to explore how people might perceive or interact with new technological innovations. They may also be developed to explore how environmental changes affect people as well as non-humans. 8 Gender script Feminist science and technology scholars build on the notion of script by taking into account both the interactions and identities constituted in them. Specifically, the notion of gender script is used to understand how the design of scripts enforces, in some cases, stereotypical gender identities or particular gender roles. For instance, a mobile phone designed for women might include fashion accessories that can be attached to the phone. The design of this telephone therefore includes the design of interactions associated with mobile telephone customisation and suggests female identity involves being fashion-conscious. Loose script A loose script is an arrangement of people and non-humans that is designed to be open to adaptation.