Jeremy Myerson is a London-based design writer, editor and broadcaster. A
graduate of the Royal College of Art and a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Arts, he is affiliated to De Montfort University where he is Professor of
Contemporary Design and engaged in research into creative workplaces.
Founder-Editor of DesignWeek and former Managing Editor of World
Architecture, he is a well-known commentator on design and the author of a
number of books, including New Public Architecture, Design Renaissance,
Gordon Russell:Designer of Furniture, and International Interiors 6.
His exhibitions as curator include Doing A Dyson at the Design Museum, the
Look Inside international touring show for the British Council, and the
British Design and Art Direction Awards shows in Glasgow, Singapore and
London. He broadcasts regularly as design correspondent on BBC News 24.
'to scatter about, sow in various places....'
- Oxford English Dictionary
This presentation looks at how to get the widest and most advantageous
coverage for the outcomes of contracted research - using the media to reach
relevant professional, academic or industrial networks and opinion formers.
Its starting point is the belief that organisations which commission
research will want the findings made as accessible as possible to as many
people as possible - they will not want the research to gather dust on a
shelf.
Effective dissemination is therefore essential and, as the literal
definition of 'disseminate' is 'to scatter about, sow in various
places',an agricultural metaphor is appropriate because research findings
need to
be treated and tended, harvested and distributed as any crop, if contract
research is to have its desired impact in the wider world.
Extending this agricultural metaphor, it is possible to see three distinct
aspects to the art of dissemination:
* Climate
This concerns the prevailing ideas and preoccupations around at the time
the research is being published. Is the climate right and receptive to what
you might have to say ? Are people already focusing on the issues you raise
? Given the current climate of Government interest in innovation, design
and technology in the light of the Millennium Dome, New Brand for Britain
and other initiatives, the climate for design research is currently a
favourable one - although there is little evidence as yet that design
researchers in universities have actively tapped into this positive mood.
While scientific, medical, health and social behavioural research findings
regularly make the headlines, design research remains largely locked out of
the media discourse - despite growing general interest in the subject.
* Cultivation
This concerns tending and nurturing your research findings, applying the
right treatments, involving the right people with the right expertise, and
accessing the right channels of knowledge distribution. As your research
takes shape, how are you going to communicate its message and to whom ? How
will you approach the media ? What mechanisms will you adopt to bring the
findings to a professional audience? At the cultivation stage, you should
consider whether an exhibition or a short report or a video is the best
form of dissemination. You should make strategic use of your research
steering group, and brief interested journalists. You should collaborate
with your sponsors' public affairs team. You should develop a media plan.
All these elements may seem outside the conventional academic researcher
role, but design research has suffered from lack of cultivation in the past
and it needs to be tended carefully if you want to disseminate the findings
effectively.
* Reaping the benefits
This is the stage where you reap what you sow. By taking advantage of
afavourable climate and carefully cultivating your research findings, you
can influence the debate in your field of enquiry and set agendas for the
future. In mastering the mechanics of media coverage, academic researchers
can build on the platform of the refereed paper and formal full-length
report with a range of non-traditional 'publications'. A strategy for
reaping the benefits should be in place 'from scientific journal to radio
soundbite'. A good test is to ask yourself the 'pub question' - can you
explain what your research mission and outcomes are about in one simple
sentence to a bloke in a pub ? Demystifying and simplifying your research
is not dumbing down - it is being smart because it allows you to get the
key points across.
This presentation goes on to discuss a number of research projects in which
there has been a concerted attempt to disseminate the findings widely.
These include 'The Changing Government Workplace' (De Montfort University
1997), a design management study of 40 Government offices in the UK jointly
undertaken with HMSO Furniture. This built apon a favourable climate in
terms of an incoming government looking to reinvent its public institutions
and an office sector openly debating new ways of working. It cultivated
itsmessage through a seminar, short report, carefully placed magazine
articles, and undergraduate projects generating further publicity. The
benefits of this approach in terms of influencing the current agenda in
public sector office design are beginning to emerge.
In conclusion, much of this presentation may seem to be more about the spin
doctor than the serious, researcher, social scientist or statistician. We
can all be mindful of GK Chesterton's famous put-down: 'Journalism largely
consists of saying "Lord Jones Dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones
was alive...!' But unless you tell people about your research - and unless
you disseminate its findings far and wide - then there appears little
point in doing it in the first place.
Contract research: dissemination of results
|
to disseminate
to scatter about, sow in various
places.....
- Oxford English Dictionary
|
to disseminate
Climate
Cultivation
Reaping the benefits
|
media coverage
Scientific research - 'discovery'
Medical and health issues
Media and social observation
What about design research?
|
media coverage
Europe's identity
Europa
l'Europe
Eurooppa
Europe
|
climate
Ideas in the wind
Current professional preoccupations
Pre-Millennial tension
A positive climate for design research
|
cultivation
The right treatment
The right people
The right distribution channels
Design research needs careful cultivation to make the story grow
|
reaping the benefits
The mechanics of media coverage
'From scientific journal to soundbite'
Publication and the 'pub question'
Design research benefits from a 'mission to explain'
|
JWT TEST FOR TRAINEE COPYWRITERS>
In not more than 25 words, describe a piece of toast to a martian...
ANSWER: HUBBALOB BBALLOB NICCOPODUA HIPTAP WHIMBONG AKKINAFU FLIBLOB
SKILLONDIN HOTNING NIFADVABAB WHITSLE FFANGLAND
|
The Changing Government Workplace
A study of 40 Government offices in the UK
The Monolith
The Makeshift
The Moderniser
The Mould-breaker
|
The Changing Government Workplace
Climate: change of Government, reinventing our institutions
Cultivation: seminar, report, magazine articles, undergraduate project
Reaping the benefits: setting the agenda, media coverage,
more work
|
Technological
change and industrial design education
A review of changing practices in UK higher education
Climate: rapid and frightening technological change
Cultivation: presentations, employer report steering network
Reaping the benefits: take-up of research tools
|
The Work Aesthetic
The impact of cultural change on office furniture
Climate: new ways of working emerging
Cultivation: report, seminar, magazine articles
Reaping the benefits: influencing the agenda in education and industry
|
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For another article by Jeremy Myerson click on the title. CRUCIAL TIMING by Jeremy Myerson
Please use the following to cite material from Design Design Research 2.
Author(s), "Title of Paper", in Designing Design Research 2:The Design
Research Publication, Cyberbridge-4D Design
/drs2.html, Editor- Alec
Robertson, De Montfort University, Leicester. 26 February 1998.
Click for otherSPEAKERS
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