This organization has interests that overlap those of many xmca members.
There is a special topic involving games and play, ed research, adult
research, historical research.
etc.
for those with spare time to read!
mike
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Durling <intuitive@mac.com>
Date: Sep 9, 2005 12:35 PM
Subject: Design Research News, September 2005
To: DESIGN-RESEARCH@jiscmail.ac.uk
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DESIGN RESEARCH NEWS Volume 10 Number 9, Sep 2005 ISSN 1473-3862
DRS Digital Newsletter http://www.designresearchsociety.org
________________________________________________________________
Join DRS now via e-payment http://www.designresearchsociety.org
________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
o Editorial
o Report on DRS event 'Rising Stars' July 2005 London
o Futureground proceedings published
o Calls
o Announcements
o Web
o Books
o The Design Research Society: information
o Electronic Services of the DRS
o Contributing to Design Research News
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Editorial
Collating this material each month, I am often struck by the
diversity of events representing the various subject areas of
design and the increasing volume of research and investigative
practice in those subjects. This edition is no exception. My
thanks to our various contributors perhaps especially to
Sebastian and Ida for pounding the word processor keys so
copiously and expertly on our behalf.
If you haven't already booked, don't forget the upcoming
International Design Congress IASDR2005 to be held in Taiwan 1-4
November 2005. The Asian design conferences are of course well
established and excellent events to attend - this 2005 research
conference is a milestone event arising from the new
collaboration between DRS and the ASSD.
Incidentally, as several folks have asked, the papers presented
at the 'Rising Stars' event will appear on the DRS website in
due course.
David Durling
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Design research comes of age
Rising **** - Improving Quality in Design Research, DRS
Symposium, London, 15 July 2005
The Design Research Society was established in 1967, so
according to the calendar it's 38 years old. My own view,
though, is that it came of age in 2005 at this symposium. That
may seem an exaggerated claim, but this was the most mature and
reflective discussion of design research that I've had the
pleasure to witness. Of course, over the years a lot of
excellent research has been undertaken, we have our journals, we
have a growing knowledge base, we have individual researchers of
high calibre, we have conferences, and we have centres of
excellence. We have all the components of a maturing academic
domain. On the other hand, we sometimes find ourselves
reiterating the fundamentals: explaining what research is,
having to justify it, and engaging at a very elementary level in
the endless dispute whether design practice is a research
activity. Here instead, a huge amount was taken as read and we
started not as it were from base camp, but somewhere higher up -
indeed in that rarefied atmosphere quite near the summit.
The promise of the event was clear right from the opening
welcome by Richard Buchanan who set out, in his usual
charismatic way, a series of phases that research domains pass
through. Initially there is a recognition of the field of
endeavour and the identification of specific problems and
emerging hypotheses. Research questions are answered, phenomena
explained, discoveries made and theories propounded. Eventually
comes the need for qualitative assessment, in which the
community reflects on what constitutes research quality and how
it can be improved. Richard identified this event as the first
discussion of quality assessment in our field.
Design is a comparatively young university discipline and still
getting to grips with the implications of being part of
academia. As David Durling explained, in design practice
intuition is gradually being supplemented by evidence-based
working and applied research, so the skills imparted in academia
are increasingly needed. The notion of an academic discipline
with its own body of scholarship and knowledge underpinned by a
research culture is also new for design: PhDs in design go back
only a couple of decades. There has been an understandable
temptation within the discipline to re-define practice as
research, but this ignores the issue of research training. Those
who have received both know that learning how to design does not
equip you to undertake research. Design research is still
suffering from a shortage of those with research training, which
shows up as general weaknesses in the quality of conference and
journal papers, poor-quality peer reviews, and some weak PhDs.
The shortage of able PhD supervisors itself holds back growth in
numbers of trained researchers. However, there are several
positive developments, such as training in peer review being
offered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, a standing
conference to support design research in institutes of higher
education, and an international body linking national
associations globally. Design research is being increasingly
professionalised, just as design practice has been, and this
will have a positive impact on quality.
In Ken Friedman's wide-ranging overview, the first phase of
mankind's economic development was based on agriculture and
mineral extraction. In the second phase, most of society's value
was generated through making things and constructing buildings.
The third and current phase is typified by commerce and trade in
both goods and knowledge. Across the three phases is a move from
transforming resources into transforming information, and new
skills in relation to knowledge and information are needed. In
this third phase, research-based design practice is required -
not just knowing what, but knowing how and knowing why.
Research-based practice demands more active relations between
practice and research, and a research component within
undergraduate education. A lot of nonsense (these are Ken's
words) is talked about practice as research which has to be
confronted. Many of the arguments amount to no more than special
pleading, which lead in the opposite direction from research
quality.
A very detailed and thoughtful paper was then presented by
Michael Biggs. Indeed so detailed and thoughtful was it that I
cannot begin to capture it in a paragraph. It deserves to be
published in its entirety. Michael's paper deals with rigour and
what constitutes it, and with novelty and newness. Let me pick
on just one point among many he made. I presume many (all?) in
the design community cheer whenever the UK Research Assessment
Exercise definition of research is quoted (I certainly do) for
it includes within its definition - 'the invention and generation
of ideas, images, performances and artefacts including design,
where these lead to new or substantially improved insights; and
the use of existing knowledge in experimental development to
produce new or substantially improved materials, devices,
products and processes, including design and construction.
Michael questioned the term 'insight' in the definition, arguing
that insight implied a personal, rather than a shared,
understanding, whereas the whole emphasis of the RAE is on
producing and sharing new knowledge across a community. I've
quoted the RAE definition so many times without ever realising
that. Michael's paper warrants detailed study and I very much
hope it will be made widely available.
Linda Drew's presentation dealt with educational research in art
and design. She emphasised that educational research in the
sector shares, and must be seen to share, the same attributes as
research in any other domain - by being scholarly enquiry
supported by peer review, underpinned by awareness of the
literature, and based on established theory. Scholarship in
learning and teaching brings with it a spirit of enquiry and
discovery, and serves to enhance an institution's research
culture and research environment. The challenge for this sort of
scholarship in art and design is to extract, capture and convey
explicit knowledge from processes that are inherently non-verbal
and non-textual, and frequently implicit.
The last presenter was Bruce Brown, chair of the RAE Main Panel
O. Although the sub-panels' draft criteria and working methods
were embargoed until the day after the symposium, Bruce was
prepared to discuss the criteria being proposed by Panel 63 Art
and Design. The full text of the working methods is available at
http://www.rae.ac.uk/pubs/2005/04/docs/o63.doc. Three issues I
picked up were: first, that the panel is giving extensive
guidance about how to submit outputs that are not in a
conventional published form and is open to practice-led
research; second, that there is considerable emphasis on
research strategy within submitted units; third that the
sub-panel anticipates examining in detail no less than 50% of
the outputs in each submission and potentially up to 100%.
Richard Buchanan returned to sum up and identified several
indicators of quality. First, the subject of investigation and
the formulation of the problem - while problem solving is vital,
problem finding is equally important and can be a valuable
source of originality. Second, research methods must match the
problem but it is also possible to become obsessed by methods;
whereas their choice needs to be guided by a larger strategic
perspective. Finally comes the question of the significance and
impact of the research, and who is to judge; establishing the
terms that a community uses to assess significance takes time,
and is likely to be measured in decades.
The presentations were followed by a question and answer
session. Like some of the presentations, this moved too quickly
for me to capture properly. Suffice to say that with the range
of speakers and about 80 well-informed delegates (mostly from
the UK university sector, but including a sprinkling of those
from abroad) it was a lively and well-informed discussion. It
was, of course, a triumph of timing to have Bruce Brown
presenting information from the Research Assessment Exercise hot
off the press, but the combination of this official view with
the perceptive observations of leading thinkers in our community
and their responses to some challenging questions from delegates
all combined to make this a significant milestone in the history
of design research.
Reviewed by Sebastian Macmillan (chair of DRS 1990-1994)
email: s.macmillan@btconnect.com
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Futureground Conference 2004
The FUTUREGROUND Volume 2: Proceedings has been completed and
posted to all registered conference delegates.
If you are yet to receive your copy contact
denis.masseni@artdes.monash.edu.au
Similarly, if you would like to purchase the full set of
FUTUREGROUND publications; Volume 1: Abstracts and Volume 2:
Proceedings, please contact Denis Masseni at Monash University.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
CALLS
20 January 2006: MINDPLAY - Deadline extended to 30th September
2005
Call for Conference contributions for MINDPLAY - a conference on
the social, intellectual and experiential dimensions of play and
interaction in digital media environments
MINDPLAY is a one day conference on the social, intellectual and
experiential dimensions of play and interaction in digital media
environments. The conference focuses on mindful and playful
relationships with digital media environments including mobile
and ubiquitous media, new cinema, gameplay, wired performance
spaces and networked communities. We encourage submissions of
papers, practice-led research, poster presentations,
demonstrations and installations.
Mindplay will bring together a range of practitioners, artists
and scholars to encourage new discourses with which to talk
about play in digital media environments. It is intended as a
lively forum investigating current research issues and
practices, and engaging participants through juxtaposing a range
of diverse artistic and theoretical approaches to play in
digital media environments.
Selected papers may be published in a special issue of the
journal 'Digital Creativity'
(http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14626268.asp)
9-13 July 2007: XVIIth International Congress of Aesthetics.
Middle East Technical University, Ankara - Turkey
Theme: Aesthetics Bridging Cultures
The theme of the XVIIth International Congress of Aesthetics
will be 'Aesthetics Bridging Cultures'. The Congress is
organized by the Sanart Association of Aesthetics and Visual
Culture, in cooperation and with the support of the Middle East
Technical University and the Faculty of Architecture, under the
auspices of the International Association of Aesthetics.
The third millennium is proceeding with threatening
declarations, both in deed and in discourse as to the
possibility to reconcile differences. The partiality of
prevailing political and cultural attitudes jeopardizes dialogue
amongst cultures and convictions. Yet, culture as human nature
means diversity as well as synthesis. As aestheticians we can
ask whether it is possible to keep diversities alive as well as
to render them communicable, and to create new forms of
synergie, through art and aesthetics.
The XVIIth International Congress of Aesthetics, taking place in
Turkey, will approach art and culture in terms of historic
ruptures, continuities, tensions and hybridities. With
worldwide participation, it is expected that alternative
disciplinary attitudes within aesthetics and philosophy with
focuses on art, architecture, urbanism, landscape, music,
literature, film, etc., can contribute to the discussion of
'Bridging Cultures'. The exchange of ideas and experiences of
an aesthetic nature can also encourage relationships between
different cultures.
18-21 April 2006: EIGHTEENTH EUROPEAN MEETING
ON CYBERNETICS AND SYSTEMS RESEARCH (EMCSR 2006)
UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA
Organized by the Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies in
cooperation with the Institute of Medical Cybernetics and
Artificial Intelligence, Center for Brain Research, Medical
University of Vienna and the International Federation for
Systems Research
The international support of the European Meetings on
Cybernetics and Systems Research held in Austria in 1972, 1974,
1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994,
1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 (when 500 scientists from more
than 40 countries from all continents, except the Antarctica,
met to present, hear and discuss 137 papers) encouraged the
Council of the Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies (OSGK) to
organize a similar meeting in 2006 to keep pace with continued
rapid developments in related fields.
An electronic version of this CfP (and further information
whenever it becomes available) can be found at
Sessions
A Systems Science
G.J.Klir, USA, and P.Prautsch, Czech Republic
B Mathematical Methods in Cybernetics and Systems Theory
Y.Rav, France, and J.Scharinger, Austria
C The Cybernetics of Cybernetics: Cybernetics, Interaction
and Conversation
R. Glanville, UK
D Living Systems Theory
G.A.Swanson, USA
E Biocybernetics and Mathematical Biology
L.M.Ricciardi, Italy
F Systems Science in Medicine
F.Tretter, Germany, G. Ossimitz, Austria, and
G.Porenta, Austria
G Cultural Systems
M.Fischer, UK, and D.Read, USA
H Cognitive Rationality, Relativity and Clarity
P. Ballonoff, USA, I. Ezhkova, Belgium
I Management, Organizational Change and Innovation
M. Mulej, Slovenia
J Software Components and Product Lines: From Business to
Systems and Technology
G. Chroust, Austria, and C. Hoyer, Austria
K Soft Computing and Knowledge-Based Systems
C.Carlsson, Finland, and K.-P.Adlanig, Austria
L Artificial Neural Networks and Adaptive Systems
G.Dorffner, Austria
M AT2AI-5: From Agent Theory to Agent Implementation
J.Mueller, Germany, and P.Petta, Austria
N ACE 2006: Agent Construction and Emotions
J.Gratch, USA, and P.Petta, Austria
O Agent-Based Modeling & Simulation
S.Bandini, Italy, and G.Vizzari, Italy
P Theory and Applications of Artificial Intelligence
V.Marik, Czech Republic, and E.Buchberger, Austria
A special session will be held on the experiences with the 6th
and expectations on 7th Framework Programme of the European
Communities, with speakers from the European Commission and
national representatives. Time will be available to find
partners for potential future consortia for project proposals.
Submission Guidelines
Acceptance of contributions will be determined on the basis of
Draft Final Papers. Each paper must explain clearly
- what problem it is trying to address,
- what has been tried before and why it isn't good enough,
- WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND WHY IT IS BETTER,
- some proof that your method is sound (or reference to it),
- how it will help others/apply to other problems,
- some results/proof it works.
Scholarships
The International Federation for Systems Research is willing to
provide a limited number of scholarships covering the
registration fee for the conference for colleagues from weak
currency countries. Applications should be sent to the
Conference Secretariat ***before*** November 11, 2005 under all
circumstances.
4-6 April 2006: Ergonomics Society Annual Conference 2006, UK.
http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/events/AC2006call.htm
IDFORUM
Since it was established in February 1991, IDForum has grown to
become the largest international digital list specifically for
Product Design. Some of the most influential Product Designers,
design institutions and design researchers in the world are
subscribers. The membership has grown to a point where the
conversation is sustained and explores many relevant issues.
To subscribe send the one Line message:
Subscribe IDForum your name
IDForum is an open forum for 'news & views' from the world of
Product Design IDFORUM now reaches 772 subscribers in more than
39 countries. There is no charge for subscription or use.
If you have an interest in Product and Industrial Design as a
practitioner, researcher, educator or just an interested
bystander please connect and join in the conversations or start
a new conversation.
8 November 2005: 1st Quality Software Engineering (QSE) and
Usability Symposium
To promote closer collaboration between software engineers and
user interface designers, we invite your participation.
We are seeking high quality papers which will be reviewed in a
double blind full paper review and published in a special
book who-is-at ocg, Edited by A.Holzinger, K.-H.Weidmann & B. Thurnher,
which will appear ready for the Shneiderman-Software-Symposium
taking place on Tuesday, 8th NOVEMBER 2005 at Vienna University
of Technology. Accepted contributions will be presented during
the symposium as full paper, short paper or
poster/demonstration.
http://www.ocg.at/usab-symposium
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MOBILE COMPUTING & COMMERCE. CALL FOR SHORT
ARTICLES
Recent advances in wireless technology have led to mobile
computing, a new dimension in data communication and processing.
Mobility is perhaps the most important market and technological
trend in information and communication technology. With the
advent of new mobile infrastructures providing higher bandwidth
and constant connection to the network from virtually
everywhere, the way people use information resources for work
and business is being radically transformed.
Whilst technological developments and standardization processes
proceed at a rapid pace, many business challenges pertaining to
the deployment of value added services remain unresolved. The
Encyclopedia of Mobile Computing and Commerce presents current
trends in mobile computing, and their potential use in business
and commerce. It also includes research challenges and
innovative in mobile computing and commerce.
We are inviting papers to be included in this encyclopedia.
Further information can be found at:
http://users.monash.edu.au/~dtaniar/encyclopedia/
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENTS
An alternative theory of Intelligent Design
Following well established but possibly erroneous theories
around Darwinism, and more recent theories on 'intelligent
design', there is now evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster
created the universe. This may have profound implications for
evidence based design researchers.
Have you been touched by the Monster's Noodly Appendage?
Replies to phd-design please.
22-23 September 2005: Design Education Forum of Southern Africa
(DEFSA) Conference. Theme "Design Education in a creative
economy". Auditorium SA Reserve Bank Conference Centre cnr
Vermeulen & Van der Walt Street, Pretoria
Conference Programme Highlights
Prof Carlos Hinrichsen, Board Member of the International
Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) Study of
design and its impact as an economic factor
Michael Thomson, President Elect of the Bureau of European
Design Associations (BEDA) and an independent consultant
Importance of design for the creative economy Topical issues
Making the difference through design Seton Vermaak, Marketing
Manager: Woolworths Role of design education within the creative
economy Mohammed Jogie, Adobe SA and Design Evangelist Further
Education Training Design education teacher training for
secondary education
Workgroup discussions on:
Ceramic Design
Design Education Management
Fashion and Textile Design
Graphic Design
Industrial Design
Interior Design
Jewellery Design
Photography
Professional Practice Research
On 21 September, there will be a feedback session on Interdesign
2005. DEFSA's Annual General Meeting will also take place during
the 2005 Conference.
12-15 October 2005: 3rd International Conference on Design
Research Brazil 2005
http://www.anpedesign.org.br/congresso/ing/ingles.htm
13-15 October 2005: 1st International Design Congress of ESTAL
Students: The State of Art in Design
CIDAE is the 1st international Congress about The State of Art
in Design, an initiative from Escola Superior de Tecnologias e
Artes de Lisboa (ESTAL) Students. CIDAE has has the objective of
promoting the epistemological rupture concerning the State of
Art in Design, and its relation with relative sciences.
The 'self councious' universe of Design sustains a duality:
- What is Design?
- Is Design Art?
To render this problematical questions is CIDAE's core of
purposes,that will be reflected in the communications already
received.
26-28 October 2005: Design Perspectives - Envisioning design
for the XXI century. MX Design Conference 2005
This international design conference will be held at the
University Iberoamericana (Campus Mexico City). Esta conferencia
internacional de Diseno, se llevar a cabo en la Universidad
Iberoamericana (Campus Ciudad de Mexico). Its aim is to bring
together ideas from the entire design community (professionals,
researchers, educators, graduate students, etc.) in order to
explore, visualize, argue and draw the possible future of
design. Su objetivo es reunir las ideas de toda la comunidad de
diseno (profesionales, investigadores, academicos, estudiantes
de posgrado, etc.) para explorar, visualizar, discutir y dibujar
el futuro del diseno. It is an open forum for designers from all
disciplines (industrial, textile, graphic, new media). Es un
foro abierto para los disenadores de todas las disciplinas
(industrial, textil, grafico y nuevos medios).
We invite all designers to attend the Conference!. Invitamos a
todos los disenadores a asitir a la Conferencia!.
http://www.dis.uia.mx/conference/mxdc2005.html
3 October 2005: Research Symposium, Design as Research
RIBA's Research and Development department would like to invite
you and your colleagues to its 2005 Research Symposium, Design
as Research, on Monday 3 October 2005 at the RIBA. This is the
first of a new series of annual events to help promote and
disseminate architectural research work, and to encourage
relationships between practice and academic research.
The event will showcase the benefits of pioneering new models of
research and design work that extend beyond traditional forms of
practice and teaching. Presentations will focus on advanced
geometries, construction and new materials, user simulations,
facilities management and digital design systems.
The one-day event, convened by Brett Steele, the new Director of
the Architectural Association School of Architecture, will
feature presentations from Charles Walker, Arup AGU; Frank
Duffy, DEGW; Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Farshid Moussavi, Foreign
Office Architects ; Hugh Whitehead, Foster & Partners; Alan
Penn, UCL Space Syntax; and Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid
Architects.
Paul Finch, Editor of the Architectural Review, will chair a
roundtable discussion at the end of the day.
During the symposium, RIBA President Jack Pringle will announce
the launch of the RIBA Research Award. Given annually, the award
will alternate yearly between academic and practice-based
research.
http://www.riba.org/go/RIBA/News/Press_4943.html
Scanning Rights for Higher Education
CLA and Universities UK / SCOP are pleased to announce agreement
on a trial licence that allows member universities and colleges
of Higher Education (HE) to photocopy and scan extracts from
books, journals and magazines, should they wish to participate
in the trial.
The trial licence represents a significant step in the
collective licensing of rights within HE: for the first time
institutions can scan under a licence on terms similar to those
that currently apply to making photocopies. The new scanning
rights will help HE institutions to meet the demand for
electronic based learning and teaching material.
A full list of documents relating to the licence is available on
the CLA website at
For a press release regarding the recent FrontierSPACE
competition and urban installation in Vancouver, BC by
SpaceAgency: making space for knowledge and discussion of
architecture in the public realm
22-24 September 2005: JOINING FORCES
Design Research, Industries and a New Interface for
Competitiveness University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland
http://www2.uiah.fi/joiningforces/program.html
13 October 2005: Design Documents symposium: mapping
communication in interdisciplinary and anti-disciplinary work
with media, software and society. V2, Eendrachtstraat 10,
Rotterdam
How do interdisciplinary teams communicate in media design and
electronic art? If they do communicate well, what are the ways
that artists, designs, programmers, engineers, and those they
work with, such as users, discuss their ideas, clarify problems,
and find results that enhance their work?
In the developing area of social software for instance, how
could a social network draw up a brief? How does media design
itself create tools and materials for such work? Are there new
opportunities for the creation of design documents that come out
of networked and computational digital media? How do the
cultures of open and distributed creativity and production
experienced in Free Software and other areas allow us to see
other forms of collaboration?
Key to the theme of the symposium is the discussion of boundary
objects within projects, devices, documents, sketches, plans,
briefs, models, prototypes, mock-ups, experiential accounts and
so on. Under the magnifying glass: examining existing design
documents; creating typologies; vocabularies, in-project
vernaculars; boundary or shared objects such as drawings,
diagrams; in-code comments; divisions of labour; designing
speculative research; mapping interactions; resisting or working
with multiple economies of time and resources.
This event is organized by: Media Design Research, Piet Zwart
Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy Hogeschool Rotterdam
http://
http://www.pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/ http://www.wdka.hro.nl/
and V2_organisation: institute for the unstable media
http://www.v2.nl/
10-11 November 2005: CHArt 2005 CONFERENCE, The British Academy
ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION at the Institute for Contemporary Art
(ICA) Cinema, 4.00pm - 6.00pm, Thursday 10 November 2005.
DEMOCRATIZING THE IMAGE: CREATING A GLOBAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
The widespread use of digital technology in the field of art
history has the potential to help forge an international
learning community in which the widest range of students,
educators, and researchers share unprecedented access to the
world's cultural heritage. Indeed, the capability to connect
individual databases worldwide has existed for some time. In
practice, however, institutions have pursued an assortment of
individual solutions. One of the greatest ironies of attempting
to make cultural property widely accessible is that the
guardians of this material (museums, archives, etc.) are
frequently and unknowingly at odds with the community of end
users (educators, researchers, students). While museums view
their primary role as safeguarding precious resources, the
academic community demands ever freer on-line access to cultural
artefacts. The other overriding issue here is that of
copyright, and any comprehensive effort of this sort has to take
an active role in defining a new global understanding of
'educational fair use.' After brief statements from a diverse
range of experts (artists, educators, curators), this session
will function as open forum on the possiblities and challenges
of creating an international digital image database. Focusing
on efforts currently underway in the UK, the panel will also
consider how these initiatives could be linked with
corresponding efforts in Germany and in the United States.
The ICA, the Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH (http://www.ica.org.uk) is
located behind the British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace,
London SW1Y 5AH (http://www.britac.ac.uk)
The booking form for this event and the CHArt conference is
available on the CHArt website (http://www.chart.ac.uk).
30 November - 2 December 2005: THIRD ITERATION third
international conference on generative systems in the electronic
arts Melbourne, Australia
THIRD ITERATION is the third international conference on
generative systems in the electronic arts. It investigates three
major themes human-computer creativity, generative meaning
systems, and the computational sublime. Following on from First
Iteration (1999) and Second Iteration (2001), this year's
conference will be held in Melbourne, Australia.
The call for papers and artworks is now open. We are seeking the
submission of papers, technical & artist talks, software art,
animation, audio and installation works that address the three
conference themes:
:: HUMAN-COMPUTER CREATIVITY The relationship of the creative
process to generative systems is fundamentally different than
that of other modes of design and production. Rather than being
engaged with the construction of an artefact, the designer
specifies the rules of production for a system that constructs
artefacts. What types of generative systems are suited to the
new methodologies of generative design and creative evolution?
How are artists and designers collaborating with these systems
to produce creative human-machine hybrids? Can the computer play
a more significant role in the creative process through new
developments such as 'creative emergence'? Are new network
technologies or hardware systems enabling alternative
experiences of generative art?
:: GENERATIVE MEANING SYSTEMS Generative systems may be coupled
with ontological and semiotic models for the expression of what
may be described as 'generative meaning systems'. Can generative
systems be used to evolve language via feedback that interprets
the meaning of their output? In what ways have generative
systems been applied to semiotic and cognitive spaces - such as
in the world of digital games? How are generative systems being
used to model the growth of language, social and cultural
networks? What role does audience interaction and cognitive
process play in generating meaning?
:: THE COMPUTATIONAL SUBLIME The output of generative systems is
characterised by scale, complexity and behaviour that transcend
the limits of human perception that can be described as the
computational sublime. This idea suggests processes that we
cannot comprehend directly, yet can experience through
computational machines. How is the theory of the computational
sublime placed in relation to other theories of the sublime in
nature and art? Although a fundamental understanding of
emergence itself remains elusive, it is a defining
characteristic of the nature of generative systems. What is the
relationship of emergence to the computational sublime?
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~iterate/TI/ or contact us via
email at iterate@csse.monash.edu.au
9-12 October 2005: ASSETS 2005, The Seventh International ACM
SIGACCESS= Conference on Computers and Accessibility, Baltimore,
MD.
http://www.acm.org/sigaccess/assets05/
14-18 November 2005: European Conference on Complex Systems
2005 (ECCS'05) PARIS (Cite Internationale Universitaire)
11 SATELLITE WORKSHOPS AND 7 AFTERNOON TRACKS NOW ONLINE AT
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design: 1 Full-time PhD
studentship
'Past, Present and Future Craft Practice: exploration of the
relation between skill, intent and culture'
We have an exciting opportunity in the field of design. Based in
the University of Dundee, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
and Design, you will be investigating historical and
contemporary craft practice to address how craft knowledge
relates to innovative cultural development.
The post would ideally suit someone with an MA in a design
related disciplines, for example, furniture, architecture,
textiles and jewellery, with applicants from other design
backgrounds being equally considered. You must be an excellent
communicator, with an interest in the cultural aspects of craft
and design, and be able to demonstrate the commitment and
aptitude required for postgraduate research.
For further details please email: c.peters@dundee.ac.uk or phone
01382 345 290
1-10 December 2005: Exhibition Design Korea 2005 Seoul, Korea
Design Issues Table of Contents 21:3 Summer 2005
Introduction
Rob J.F.M. van Veggel
Where the Two Sides of Ethnography Collide
Alex Coles
On Art's Romance with Design
Birgit Helene Jevnaker
<I>Vita Activa<P>: On Relationships Between Design(ers?)
and Business
Sherwin Simmons
Ernst Neumann's "New Values of Visual Art": Design Theory
and Practice in Germany at the Turn-of-the-Century
Loe Feijs and Frithjof Meinel (10.26.04) 14 pages
A Formal Approach to Product Semantics with an Application
to Sustainable Design
Owain Pedgley
DDR4 (Designing Design Research 4) Event Review
and Reflections
Books Received
14-16 September 2005: Designs on eLearning, the international
conference in the use of technology for teaching and learning in
art, design and communication will be held at the University of
the Arts, London.
http://www.arts.ac.uk/itrdu/conference/programme.htm
18 November 2005: Chartered Institute of Architectural
Technologists fortieth anniversary conference, entitled
'Designing for Life: technological innovation in the design
process for whole life use', Birmingham UK.
This conference will facilitate discussion on and raise
awareness of the concept of designing the built environment for
the life of its users. It will include sustainable communities
and the whole of life use of structures and buildings.
Discussion will encompass new acts, regulations and policies
affecting design, development and construction in the built
environment.
http://www.ciat.org.uk/publications/index.jsp?pid=59
Academic Commons <http://academiccommons.org/> offers a forum
for investigating and defining the role that technology can play
in liberal arts education.
Sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash
College <http://liberalarts.wabash.edu/>, Academic Commons
publishes essays, reviews, interviews, showcases of innovative
uses of technology, and vignettes that critically examine
technology uses in the classroom. Academic Commons aims to share
knowledge, develop collaborations, and evaluate and disseminate
digital tools and innovative practices for teaching and learning
with technology. We want this site to advance opportunities for
collaborative design, open development, and rigorous peer
critique of such resources.
Academic Commons also provides a forum for academic technology
projects and groups (the Developer's Kit) and a link to a new
learning object referatory (LoLa). Our library archives all
materials we have published and also provides links to allied
organizations, mailing lists, blogs, and journals through a
Professional Development Center.
http://www.academiccommons.org/
Victoria Gantala writes: It's our final year of Interior
Architecture at Monash University, Melbourne. We will be holding
an exhibition during November/December this year that will
exhibit our final-year works.
The opening night will be held on Wednesday 30 November 2005 at
the Concourse of the Art & Design Building at Monash
University, Caulfield, Victoria. Opening night guest speakers
include Directors of Lab Architecture, Mr. Peter Davidson and
Mr. Donald Bates. The exhibition will run for one week and
features honours design thesis projects.
Further details from Victoria <vgantala@hotmail.com>
The latest issue of Design Philosophy Papers has just been
posted. Its theme is 'Homelessness'.
DPP 3/2005: CONTENTS Anne-Marie Willis, Editorial: homelessness
Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos, Design, waste and
homelessness
Ranjana Mital, Not homeless, but houseless in Delhi
Tiiu Poldma, Teaching design by confronting homelessness
Anne Edwards, A lack of design: homelessness policy
Tony Fry, Homelessness: a philosophical architecture
Ken Straiton, Images of homeless settlements in Tokyo
Go to:
http://www.desphilosophy.com/dpp/dpp_journal/journal.html
Or go to
http://www.desphilosophy.com and click on 'current issue'.
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WEB
New Zealand - Design Heroes
http://www.designindustry.co.nz/News.htm
Three recent publications may be of interest from the
Communication Research Institute of Australia
The introductory text to our new course for designing medicine
information for people
http://www.communication.org.au/cria_publications/
publication_id_96_1593902868.html
an overview of testing methods in information design
http://www.communication.org.au/cria_publications/
publication_id_94_2114333509.html
A reissue of our stakeholder forum on labelling regulation
http://www.communication.org.au/cria_publications/
publication_id_97_90626019.pdf
Also, we have just announced our new course on medicine
information design
http://www.communication.org.au/html/courses.html
http://www.communication.org.au
'Cities for All' Published in English
The complete publication is available in PDF format at:
http://www.nsh.se/publikationer/cities_for_all.htm
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BOOKS
David Raizman: History of Modern Design. Graphics and products
since the Industrial Revolution. Laurence King Publishing.
Design history is a rapidly evolving discipline. This was not
always the case. In fact, as late as the 1980s, this discipline
lived a quiet existence, where knowledge about design history
was being documented in catalogues and monographs, but where big
academic debates were largely absent. Design history led a
humble life under the protective wings of the older and more
academically consolidated discipline of art history. Nicolaus
Pevsner, who is considered the founding father of design
history, wrote his famous Pioneers of Modern Design in 1936
based on an art history template, and founded a long tradition
in universities and museums for applying traditional art history
concepts such as style, historical positioning and biographical
interpretation in design analyses and design communication.
It was not until the mid-1980s that critical observers began to
question the traditional view of 'design history as art
history'. The criticism was mainly expressed as a rejection of
biographism and what was considered a lack of methodological
reflection and a one-sided, exclusive focus on canonised
designers and works. Underlying the critical ideas was an
expanded view of design as more than aesthetics and form and an
increased interest in the complex technological, social,
cultural and user-related contexts that design springs from. The
critical approach drew most of its inspiration from the mindsets
that had spread so rapidly throughout the humanities, from
structuralism and semiotics to post-colonialism, institutional
criticism, phenomenology, and perception and cognition theory.
One important critical contribution from this period is John A.
Walker's 'Design History and the History of Design' from 1989.
The perspective is cultural history, and the goal is a
proclamatory expansion of the traditional subject area through a
focus on process, production, use and consumption as aspects of
design. This book entered into the context of everyday culture
analysis and institutional critique and was also a first attempt
at initiating a large-scale historiographic discussion about the
self-image, methodological practices, tasks and issues of the
discipline. In the following years, other publications and
debates, partly under the auspices of the Design History Society
and the Journal of Design History, helped establish design
history as an independent field.
The benefits to research are obvious. Today, the field is
characterised by many voices and positions, the most dominant
among them viewing design history as cultural history, and new
influences from visual culture and material culture studies
based on insights from ethnology, anthropology and other
disciplines. Interesting contributions also come from the field
of art history, springing from the so-called New Art History
movement, which has introduced new views and methods also into
the design history approach that builds on art history.
The publication reviewed here springs from this line of
thinking. David Raizman's extensive and distinct History of
Modern Design combines methods of formal aesthetic analysis, as
familiar from traditional art history, with a focus on the
socio-cultural and reception-related contexts of aesthetic
objects that are currently the receiving growing interest in new
art and design history.
The book is a thorough and richly illustrated review of the past
250 years of design history. In thematic, chronologically
progressing chapters Raizman reviews developments within
decorative arts, industrial design, furniture, household
objects, and graphic design etc. from the eighteenth through the
twentieth century. We are introduced to the main trends,
schools, events and personalities. From the beginnings of
industrialisation and mass-production with distinct figures such
as Wedgwood and Chippendale to critical reform movements in the
second half of the 1800s and the early 1900s, Arts & Crafts and
Art Nouveau through Taylorism, Fordism and functionalism to the
heroic utopias of the time between the wars such as De Stijl,
Bauhaus over streamline and commercial modernism, international
modernism, organicism, new materials, and the mass culture of
the post-war era to todays post-modernism, deconstructionism and
digital technologies.
The thematic structure and the insightful descriptions of the
historical and cultural contexts of the objects and processes
are a refreshing change from the traditional art history
chronicles of changing styles. On several levels, the book
contributes to a broader understanding of the meaning of design
practice in relation to technological, economic and social
aspects, and of all the aspects concerning industrialisation,
production, reforms, industrial capitalism, mechanised
mass-production, user-adaptation, popular culture and mass
culture that influence our understanding of design today.
An important and positive feature of the book is its balanced
portrayal of the many different individuals and trends in design
history. The old Nicolaus Pevsner school has traditionally
celebrated 'the modernist project' in a one-sided promotion of
the designers and schools that lived up to the ascetic form
vocabulary of ideological functionalism and the International
Style. Raizman talks about Sullivan and Riemerschmid as well as
the Herter Brothers and Robert Adam. Raymond Loewy is portrayed
on equal terms with Mies van der Rohe, and the organic trends of
the post-war years, which are traditionally considered
'deviant', receive the same amount of attention as the
International Style.
An important strength in Raizman's book is its
cross-disciplinary description of design areas. The text moves
effortlessly between typography, graphic design, fashion,
furniture design, architecture and transport design. Throughout
the book, Raizman also offers insightful perspectives based on
contemporary art movements and works. In his introduction
Raizman points to the increasingly blurred distinction between
art and design. The text, however, does maintain this
distinction, and mainly chooses well-known classic works of art
to be compared with similar objects created in a design context.
It might have been interesting to see more radical examples of
the way that contemporary art increasingly integrates with and
influences our life practices, as much as everyday design does
or examples from advertising and fashion, sectors with lifestyle
aesthetics that not only trumps much contemporary art, but which
is also close to conquering an actual metaphysical dimension,
which has otherwise been the exclusive domain of art.
In his focus on the impact of social and cultural trends on our
visual and material culture, Raizman is in line with Adrian
Forty's influential 'Objects of Desire: Objects and Society
Since 1750' (1986). In its thematic structure and thorough
introductions to production methods the book resembles Philips
Megg's influential 'History of Graphic Design' (1983) in some
cases perhaps a bit too closely.
The foundation, traditional art history, however, cannot be
denied. The ideological need to emphasise, once again, the
connoisseur community's canonised 'exemplary' designers and
objects seems undiminished. Although the discussion of the
well-known persons and events is more balanced and offers more
perspective than previous treatises, it is still a small and,
from a normative perspective, exemplary segment of design
history that is being portrayed. We are dealing here with
relatively little anonymous design and everyday culture and a
very limited geographical area. Here are no MacDonald's
restaurants, tattoos, theme parks, ear plugs, biotech products
or sewage pipes; phenomena that are an essential part of today's
design culture, and which occupy designers and people in related
professions the world over. Design is present in every sector of
our society. Design is practised in all industries, as Raizman
also points out in his introduction. In light of the development
that has taken place within the study design history within
recent years, where insights from material culture studies,
ethnology and anthropology have been incorporated into and
expanded the subject field and geographic orientation, Raizman's
book does seem to be a relatively traditional canonical design
history. As such, however, it is exemplary because of its
balanced prioritisation of historical events and factors and its
rich contextualisation. It will make an excellent textbook for
teachers and students in universities, academies and design
schools and a fine introduction for readers with an interest in
design, with whom it has already, deservedly, found an audience.
>From a commercial point of view, the book not only offers a
competent introduction to design history; the reader also gets a
hefty and beautifully produced coffee table book.
-- Reviewed by Ida Engholm
Ida Englholm is associate professor at the Center for Design
Research of the Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
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DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY
The Design Research Society is the multi-disciplinary
international learned society for the design research community.
DRS was founded in 1967, and since then has established a
record of significant achievements in contributing to design
knowledge.
DRS has facilitated an international design research network in
40 countries comprising members who maintain contact through the
publications and activities of the Society. Members are drawn
from diverse backgrounds, not only from the traditional areas of
design, ranging from fine art to engineering, but also from
subjects like psychology and computer science.
Our interests include:
o recognising design as a creative act common to many
disciplines
o understanding research and its relationship with education
and practice
o advancing the theory and practice of design
We realise these by:
o encouraging the development of scholarship and knowledge in
design
o contributing to the development of doctoral education and
research training
o sharing knowledge across the boundaries of design disciplines
o facilitating networks to exchange and communicate ideas,
experience and research findings among members
o disseminating research findings
o promoting awareness of design research
o organising and sponsoring conferences, and publishing
proceedings
o encouraging communications between members internationally
o responding to consultative documents
o collaborating with other bodies
o lobbying on behalf of members' research interests
o recognising excellence in design research through awards
o sponsoring email discussion groups and a monthly emailed
newsletter
Membership of DRS provides:
o regular communications about research activities worldwide
o reduced subscription to a range of research journals
o reduced fees to DRS sponsored events
o representation of the design research community and members'
interests
o a means of identifying and contacting other members
o an opportunity to contribute to the international design
research community
For further details and to join online:
http://designresearchsociety.org
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SERVICES OF THE DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY
o Design Research News is the digital newsletter of the
Design Research Society. It communicates news about
research throughout the world. It is mailed automatically
at the beginning of each month and is free. You may
subscribe and unsubscribe at the following site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/design-research.html
o PHD-DESIGN is a discussion list open for unmoderated
discussion on all matters related to the PhD in design.
Topics include philosophies and theories of design, research
methods, curriculum development, and relations between
theory and practice. You may subscribe and unsubscribe at
the following site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/phd-design.html
o DRS is a discussion list open for unmoderated discussion
on all matters related to design research. You may
subscribe and unsubscribe at the following site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/drs.html
o Design Studies is the International Journal for Design
Research in Engineering, Architecture, Products and Systems,
which is published in co-operation with the Design Research
Society.
DRS members can subscribe to the journal at special rates.
http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/inca/30409/
o The DRS QCR - quarterly council report is sent via
email to full members of the Design Research Society. It
includes a selection of edited reports from international
Council members and Council Officers received from time to
time.
o Full information about the Design Research Society may
be found at:
http://www.designresearchsociety.org
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CONTRIBUTIONS
Information to the editor, Professor David Durling, Middlesex
University UK. <intuitive@mac.com>
Book information and suggestions for reviews should be sent to
the book review editor Professor Ken Friedman, Norwegian School
of Management, Oslo, and Denmark's Design School.
<ken.friedman@bi.no>
________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
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xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
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