ARGUMENTATION DESIGN

Taking a design perspective on argumentation means seeing the actual practice of arguing and its expression in language as technical. Argumentation's “techniques” are methods of disagreement management, some entirely natural and intuitive, some carefully theorized to improve on the natural and intuitive. Various ways of configuring claims and reasons are among these techniques, along with much else such as participation formats. Design inquiry involves careful empirical study of argumentation practices in their ordinary contexts of occurrence, critical scrutiny of designs proposed as improvements, and (when possible) interventions that follow from identified gaps between normative ideals and actual practices.