Speaking shortly after her former student Anthony Dunne, the grand dame of interaction design (at least in Europe she is) stated the importance of the discipline and the great potential coming with it – even comparing it with historic shifts prompted by the Bauhaus in the twenties (maybe prompted by the closeness of Weimar). But swiftly she got down to the nitty gritty, by giving a good overview what efforts had been undertaken in order to define the discipline and how the very base of the discipline, how research can be defined.

In her very skilful manner she did not let herself be pinpointed on one approach but made very clear at the same time how important it is to constantly revisit ones approach to design and establish patterns which can be at least the base of an critical discourse and at best lead to theoretical statements which prove valid in their practical use.

Regine from WMMNA collected the key points made by Gillian Crampton-Smith and has far better pictures than my shaky ones – so check her blog for further details.
Important to state, that beyond the quoting of various references and approaches taken, she prompted me to think that it is extremely important to try to formulate and express the process taken for every project in words – in its entirety.
To articulate an entire project in practical terms is hard of course, but it is a very good way of isolating fields of further exploration. For you as a designer, your colleagues, your business and for the discipline interaction design as such.