Academic prototyping as a method of knowledge production: The case of the dynamic table of contexts

Academic prototyping, like ethnography or bench studies, is a way of producing new knowledge about an idea. It can result in a kind of evidence that can be used to strengthen or weaken an argument. A prototype is an artifact, but it is not just an artifact; it may be a phase in product development, but it is not necessarily so. It is also, and perhaps more importantly, a phase in a critical process. In fact, it is perhaps better to speak of academic prototyping, rather than of academic prototypes. In this article, as an example, we discuss the Dynamic Table of Contexts, an academic prototyping project that has served for more than 10 years as a focus of ideas about what it means to remediate and improve on a venerable print tradition.