The conversational self : an approach for using personal journals in design research

As Goldschmidt's (1995) 'team of one', this research describes ways in which the designer, understood as agency, may conduct productive and creative internal conversations through a journal writing practice, as both participant, and as observer - as 'self', and 'self-as-other'. Conversation theory (Pask, 1975) is introduced as a theoretical frame for this approach to journal writing as a conversational practice, which works at multiple levels within the journal text. The designer (understood as self, actor, person, and 'other' agency) negotiates and describes the workings of a diversity of experiential details and social knowledge. As journal texts, these writings and sketches result in rich experiential knowledge narratives. In my application of this approach, shared agreements and new insights are documented as multiple inputs and insights about the particular design context. This paper introduces two social science theories about conversational learning and experiential knowledge to inform this design practice research methodology. Firstly, Baker, Jensen and Kolb's (2002) five dialectic pairings for learning conversations, and secondly, Archer's (2003) agential self which engages in internal dialogues as both a participant, and an observer. The paper describes the application of this methodology for design development of a visual photo-journalism project. Selected journal entries are described and analysed to show the workings of experiential knowledge and knowing in the journal text as a series of conversations with self. The experiences of the doing of design is thus introduced as a process of story-telling about the everyday, using this particular journal writing format as a means of talkback as part of the design process. In conclusion, this paper reflects on the value of this research methodology as a framework for exploring the workings of experiential knowledge in visual design contexts.