Send in the clowns : scoping non-representational theory as ally and method to foster inclusiveness in digital Iinnovation

Brueggemann, M J Hunter (2023) Send in the clowns : scoping non-representational theory as ally and method to foster inclusiveness in digital Iinnovation. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Send in the clowns is the account of a post-disciplinary, critical, creative practise that over the course of 6 years explored the subject of ‘digital innovation’ and ‘innovating in the digital’. The digital in this context is interpreted in the widest possible sense and includes any instance where cybertechnology relates to/with humans. This framing has put forward my proposed concept of the digiscape; a phenomenological interpretation of cyber-technology. In 3 distinct interventions (Ch.3,4,5) I have appropriated literatures on inventive methods, sustainable design and diffraction for my thinking. Through the lessons learned from each intervention I have constructed my own interpretation of non-representational theory and methods. I make the case that these can be a fertile ground for emancipatory politics concerning research and development in/on the digital. Seeking to test my claim that such approaches can be deemed valuable to practising innovators, I have submitted my hypothesis together with a non-representational experiment (‘Lickable Cities’) to CHI 2018 [a] (the pre-eminent journal in the field of Human-ComputerInteraction). The submission was accepted. Ch.6 discusses the implications of this on the scholarship of non-representational-theory and philosophy. Thus my conclusion is that non-representational approaches are indeed of value to innovators as a means to catalyse a type of awareness(es) that makes otherwise inutterable questions possible. I am claiming that through fostering alliances across methods, traditions, disciplines, writing styles, ethnicities, media and epistemologies - with the help of non-representational theory - more inclusive research is enabled and method itself can be invigorated (Ch.7). As my work is concerned with knowing about knowing, and knowing about ways of knowing, my work is firmly placed within Science and Technology Studies (STS) and is written for an STS audience.