InformDesign (http://www.informedesign.org/) is an online database of research on people and environments. With substantial funding from the American Society of Interior Designers, and based in the University of Minnesota Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, the database emphasizes research at the building and component level. However, there is enough other work to make it worth a visit, even for urban planning scale investigations.
The site is basically a database of research summaries in a standard format: introduction, design issue or topic, design criteria or implications, key concepts or central ideas, research methods, limitations identified by the authors of the piece, commentaries on limitations noticed by the InformeDesign reviewers as well as additional information, and a full citation.
The site offers several navigation and search options though not all are obvious. A simple search window is on the home page. There is also an advanced search engine that I found to be well designed though results are listed by URL only and one has to click on the link to the summary to get more information such as titles. Also on the home page are buttons titled “space,” “issues,” and “occupants” that link to lists of subtopics that are further subdivided on later pages. When a user clicks on a subtopic, or a sub-subtopic, articles are listed by name and author and have check boxes to add to a personalized list.
For those interested in more general information about the project, a main menu links to useful information about the site, its sponsors, and the database. An online tutorial on Research 101 provides a refresher on research vocabulary and concepts.
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