Abstract

Anything that is open to difference is open to design. While this functional definition of design seems to be broad enough to allow for everything from the drawings of a church to the everyday decisions that we make when we go shopping, it is still not complete: there is still somethinq more basic about the function of difference that relates in particular to design. Difference is shared by many of the sciences. Locating the differences of design on a continuum allows for the discernment of design as a radical endeavour amongst a range of radical endeavours. This analytical and critical inquiry explores the location of design differences between communication differences and the differences of information technology. Where communication seeks to locate difference in the common, and information technology seeks to articulate difference in its purest logical (appositional and oppositional) forms, design determines difference as the play of material possibilities. In this play, the objects of design maintain a tension between the pure logical possibility, the material potential and the common that can be sustained. The University of Newcastle, Australia, has recently established a School of Design, Communication and Information Technology. This paper explores the grounds for this connection. Objectives of research: establish fundamental logical characteristics of design as a human activity. Approach or method: analytical/critical inquiry. Findings or outcomes: differentiation of difference in desiqn, communication and information technology