The conversational self : integrating design drawing as research practice : an experiential case study of local bus transport

![CDATA[This paper draws on three theoretical perspectives from the social sciences to underpin the integration of drawing practice in design research. These three theories are Boisot’s I-space theory of data movement, flow and innovation; Baker, Jensen and Kolb’s learning conversations and Archer’s situated self and forms of agency. This paper describes how these analytical models working together can inform a way to re-situate design problems and highlight new possibilities and ways of knowing as reflection-in-action (Schön). The resulting methodology, called the ‘Conversational Self’ (CS), is demonstrated through its application in a case study of public transport usage in Sydney, Australia. The findings arise as the researcher engages with emerging themes from user interviews through design drawings. These drawings then inform perspectives about the overall design problem of local public transport experience, as dialogues between data-as-knowledge found in institutional settings – such as transport systems data, and gathered from individual, personal experiences of public transport journeys. With reference to this case study, the paper proposes the CS approach as a valuable means through which to improve one’s own awareness of the role of researcher-self through drawing practice, and also a useful methodological framework for structured and reflexive design research.]]