Cognitive Systems Engineering – Academic Enterprise or Field of Practice?? See John Flach’s Linkedin Post.
Note Don Norman‘s reply and insights: The best disciplines are both Academic and practice. The academic side provides the in-depth analyses and deep understanding, helping advances both understanding and practice. But academics do not always understand what happens to their ideas in the real, unpredictable world, with many more constraints, competing stakeholders, etc.
Practitioners have to develop appropriate methods and skills to deal with these issues. The best practitioners keep up to date with academic findings, which helps them advance their own work. And the best academics go out into the field and discover the practical problems facing implementation of their ideas. This improves their ability to train students and to refine their academic advice and theoretical work.
Both fields are necessary, but they are distinct. One example is what degree is relevant. A practitioner needs a BS or MS degree. A PhD can actually be a hindrance. An academic needs the PhD.