Digital Commons Network^™

Visual Inquiry: A Tool For Presenting And Sharing Contextual Knowledge, Fredrik Sandberg

Nordes Conference Series

This article presents an inquiry method where the participants create a visual presentation of their experiential knowledge of working. As an example the article describes experiences from using the inquiry method together with small local food producers. The owners use the visual inquiry tool to present their small company's activities, the stakeholders involved, problems, strengths, changes and dreams for the future. Although the food producers never had described their knowledge as one picture before, they had no problem mapping out and visually presenting complex information about their production. The method uses sticky notes as mapping tools, which enables the participants …

Design For Co-Creation With Interactive Montage, Birgitta Cappelen, Anders-Petter Andersson

Nordes Conference Series

Montage in cinema means to mount images and sounds from different sources, that are interpreted together and whose oppositions drive the story further. In this article we develop the montage concept further for co-creation in interactive, tactile, spatial cross-media. As case we use the design of the interactive, tangible, cross-media installation ORFI. ORFI is developed to facilitate collaboration and co-creation between children with severe disabilities and their care persons. In this article we focus on how we have designed for interactive montage. We present two main types of interactive montage, close and shifted in three dimensions (spatial, temporal and actorial). …

Reflections Of A Wireless Ruminant, Andrew Morrison

Nordes Conference Series

‘Design matters’ is interpreted in this exploratory article via a narrative pastiche that concerns recent developments in ubiquitous computing and their implications for emerging techno-material culture. The article has two research aims: 1) to connect discourses on ubicomp with ones on design fiction, and 2) to motivate design research to expand styles of playful, reflective and interpretative modes, and genres of research writing. A first person narrative perspective is located in bio-cultural contexts of design fiction future use, referring to WiFi, RFID and GPS technologies also of today. The narrative is a ‘tongue in cheek’ critique of hidden voices of …

Integrating Sustainability With A Regional Design Sector, Simon O'Rafferty

Nordes Conference Series

Recent developments in European design policy are strengthening the links between design and sustainable development. Therefore, it increasingly important to understand evolving perspectives on sustainability and develop new approaches to building competencies amongst designers so they are in a position to respond and remain relevant. The potential mix of competencies is diverse and is challenging traditional perspectives on the role of the designer. This article discusses interventions to build sustainable competencies in the design sector. It does this by presenting some insights from the early stages of developing a knowledge exchange programme in a region that has no existing programmes …

Designing For Utilization: Putting Design Principles Into Practice, Paula Kassenaar, Katharina Bredies, Elise Van Den Hoven

Nordes Conference Series

Designers do not only create usable products for a predefined purpose, but also to explore new materials and technologies. In doing so, they should not restrict themselves to existing conventions, but develop new ones out of the medium at hand. These new interface forms should encourage users to appropriate an object for their own purposes – i.e. utilize it. In this article, we will describe the development of a fabric interface prototype that should exploit the material properties and encourage utilization of the artefact. First we present how our theoretical perspective was translated into a concrete design. Starting from rather …

Design At The Front, Otto Von Busch

Nordes Conference Series

Over the last year, fierce discussion have raged about the trend of socially engaged design, where such projects have been scolded as new forms of “design imperialism” (cf. Nussbaum 2010; Pilloton 2010; Sinclair 2010). Resonating with this discussion, the latest US Army Field Manual has included “design” as a central feature in the core battle doctrine. Are we seeing the birth of a “social design doctrine” employed to wage war? It is tempting to draw parallels between design and the developments of military thinking to reflect some of the issues at stake as design turns to address social, cultural and …

The Absorption Of Design Management Capabilities In Smes With Little Or No Prior Design Experience, Claudia Acklin

Nordes Conference Series

In the past, design support programmes for companies with little or no design experience have focused on match-making between designers and SMEs. In addition, it has been recognised that design support should be about the business and leadership role of design and about promoting design tools as well as design management methods. However, a sustainable introduction of new design knowledge involves a process of organisational learning on the side of the SME. How exactly companies absorb new design knowledge has been underinvestigated. There is also a lack of a tool to analyse or guide such a learning process. Based on …

Dart: New Teaching Methods For Organizing Intuition, Maria Mackinney-Valentin

Nordes Conference Series

DART (Driver Analysis – Reading Trends) is a new approach developed by the author to organizing and developing intuition in the research and development phase of a creative process within the field of fashion and design. At its current stage, the model has been targeted teaching at design schools. The method is based on the author’s Ph.D. dissertation (“On the Nature of Trends: A Study of Trend Mechanisms in Contemporary Fashion”, 2010), teaching experience at design schools and methods from fashion forecasting. DART is intended to support design students on two levels: 1. To qualify the students’ sensibility or hunch …

Blind And Fake: Exploring The Geography Of The Expanded Book, Maria Hellström Reimer, Milica Lapčević, Luca Simeone

Nordes Conference Series

It seems like we are now rapidly leaving the galaxy of printed matter. As screen-based media is making its entry into our everyday lives, it is pushing aside an object – the book - that has structured our forms of being together for almost six hundred years. This shift is not absolute but successive, and it raises a lot of questions. What kind of mediating practices are developing beyond printed media? And how do these practices structure and organize common spaces and publicities? Even though we are today far into the electronic age, we are still in way suspended in …

Accounts Of A Critical Artefacts Approach To Design Anthropology, Tau Ulv Lenskjold

Nordes Conference Series

This article aims to contribute to a discussion of what design anthropology brings to the deployment of critical modes of engagement and artefacts in design. And, conversely, discuss how this specific framing of design anthropology may add to its disciplinary potential. I propose to do this by discussing how design provocations and critical artefacts, as transitional devices, and at different stages in a design process, can evoke a critical stance or render intrinsic controversies visible, while turning the artefacts into objects of mediation between heterogeneous assemblages of stakeholders, contexts and concerns. By framing design anthropology within a distinctly speculative and …

Design Of Design Tools: The Creation Of Tools As A Part Of A Personal Theory-Building Process, Tero Juhani Heikkinen

Nordes Conference Series

This article is a first-hand account of creating one’s own design tools in an art and design context. This practice-led research project investigates the intertwining of a design drawing process and the making of a software artifact for sketching spatial form out of tiles. This approach is compared with other practice-led research into design tools. The premises of the software, which emerge from design drawing, are explained as a part of the author's process of building a personal theory of space. These premises become materialized in the design tool artifact, which again in turn brings new elements to the design …

Giga-Mapping: Visualisation For Complexity And Systems Thinking In Design, Birger Sevaldson

Nordes Conference Series

Designers and design is facing ever growing challenges from an increasingly complex world. Making design matter means to cope with these challenges and to be able to enter new important design fields where design can play a crucial role. To achieve this we need to become better at coping with super-complexity. Systems Oriented Design is a new version of systems thinking and systems practice that is developed from within design thinking and design practice. It is systems thinking and systems practice tailored by and for designers. It draws from designerly ways of dealing with super-complexity derived from supreme existing design …

Living The (Co-Design) Lab, Thomas Binder, Eva Brandt, Joachim Halse, Maria Foverskov, Sissel Olander, Signe Yndigegn

Nordes Conference Series

Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design schools, in companies and in public organizations. What most of them have in common is a commitment to the exploration of the possible rather than the factual.

A Framework For Digital Emotions, Meghan Rosatelli

Theses and Dissertations

As new media become more ubiquitous, our emotional experiences in digital space are increasing exponentially as well. While there is much talk of “affective” computing and “affective” new media art, a disconnect exists between networked emotions and the popular media that they inhabit. This research presents a theoretical framework for assessing “digital emotions”—a term that describes the feedback process between digital technologies and the body with respect to short, networked inscriptions of emotion and the (re)experience of those inscriptions within the body and through digital space. Digital emotions display five basic characteristics that can be applied to a variety of …

Stray: Paintings, Drawings, And Sculpture., Stephanie Streeter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The artist discusses her Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, Stray, held at Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, from April 4th to April 8th. The show exhibit consists largely of self-portraits derived from the artist’s dreams, in an array of media including mixed media on paper, oil on canvas, and wire frame sculpture, all completed in the Spring of 2011, with the exception of one sculpture.

Ideas explored include the influence of dreams, representation of the self, masking, disguising, the loss of home, and the tendency of memory to fade. Influences discussed include the written work of Milan Kundera, as …

Ascension: A Fine And Performing Art Scholar Thesis., Joe Singleton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ascension discusses multiple subjects concerning the art of the author, including death, religion, and painting.

Fossil Peonies And Birds Master Of Arts In Studio Art Thesis., Jing Jing

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because of influences of Chinese flower-and-bird paintings, I created a series of fossil peonies and birds paintings. This paper describes the concept of this series, materials, creative process, cultural and contextual influences, and the artists who inspired my works. Several problems I encountered during the creative process were addressed and have been solved to my satisfaction. My concept was influenced by my desire to combine Western painting techniques with Eastern topic and style.

All State Art Symposium 2011, Diana Gregory, Shane Mcdonald

Art and Design Creative Works

Now in its third year, the All-State Art Symposium (ASAS) experienced a tremendous surge in participation. The number of ASAS artworks submitted doubled in size this year. The outstanding growth in participation is a testament to the importance of visual arts as a vital part of the school curriculum. This year over 1,230 individual artworks were submitted for regional judging. From this group, 485 artworks were selected as regional winners by the regional coordinators for state judging (see page 42 for details.) Finally, the two state judges selected 146 artworks representing 49 art teachers from 36 high schools for the …

Street Art: Inside Out And Outside In, Madeleine Coultrip

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

When artists choose to create art in the streets, they are moving away from the idea that art belongs in museums for the elite. They bring art to people instead of waiting for people to come to art. In this way, they are challenging the traditional idea that art is sacred and exclusive. Street art, therefore, presents a new kind of creative outlet. Street art seems to depend on raw mass communication that only the street can provide, but it is also rapidly morphing and constantly changing to fit new definitions and purposes. This study attempt to define street art …

Faculty Perceptions About Attributes And Barriers Impacting The Diffusion Of Online Education In Two Saudi Universities, Mohammed Mfarij Alhawiti

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing that faculty are an essential part of the success of any distance education program, this study sought to examine faculty perceptions of attributes and barriers impacting diffusion of online education at two Saudi universities: Taif University and Tabuk University. More specifically, the study intended to (a) give an overview of faculty members’ current stage in the innovation-decision process in regards to online education, (b) examine faculty perceptions about attributes (motivating factors) and barriers (inhibiting factors) impacting diffusion of online education, (c) investigate the relationship between faculty members’ selected personal characteristics (including age, years of teaching, DE experience, gender, academic …

A Liberating Intent: The American Civics Curriculum In Illinois High Schools And The Development Of A Critically Constructive Citizenry, Gustavo David Albear

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Civics education and constructive criticality are not usually found within the same curriculum. In America the two concepts tend to be considered as antithetical in content and practice. Students and teachers do not approach education about the citizen‘s responsibilities with great necessity or urgency, and when they do approach the subject it is from the perspective of inherent rights that should not be questioned, since they are by birth granted, albeit only to some. The idea of criticality is also not considered to be part of the developmental need of a citizen, since the overall sentiment associated with it is …

Beatrix Potter's Mice, Mary Chirichella

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This paper explores the visual imagery in the mice illustrations of Beatrix Potter (British, 1866-1943), author and illustrator of children’s books. The research focuses primarily on the mouse tales Potter created in the early part of the twentieth century. It takes into account her personal life - including her artistic background, youthful training, and naturalist studies which informs her art. Revelatory evidence sheds light on historical background information and the significant sources that inspired and influenced her work.

Several analytical techniques are utilized -including biographical, formal/stylistic, iconographical, cultural and social history - to explore and find meaning in Potter’s mice …

Salt, A Web-Based Ipad Magazine, Caitlin Dewey

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not included.

Darken The Beauty Spots, Jillian Ellis

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Darken the Beauty Spots uses images gathered from sources such as Vogue, Good Housekeeping, and action movies to discuss whether images of truly empowered women exist in the media. The project examines six different and specific patterns of imagery found in the media that could potentially be seen as either empowering or repressive. Each pattern occupies its own 35” x 40” canvas that contains between four and eight found images taken out of their original contexts, cropped into fragments, and strategically placed on the canvas in order to create relationships between the images. The work is meant to remain …

What The Health Magazine Redesign, Sarah Glaser

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

I was art director for the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 issues of What the Health magazine, a student-run publication on campus at Syracuse University. To put together the issues I oversaw an entire design department consisting of photographers and graphic artists. Photography assignments often came in late leaving little time for design work, and I did not feel satisfied with the ultimate layout design of the magazine. For my capstone project I took on the challenge creating a final book combining the strongest pieces from both original issues in a redesigned layout. I wanted to overcome the inconsistency that …

Fox Fire, Emily Watanabe

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

“Fox Fire” is an independent animated short. Its plot is centered on a young boy, a mysterious girl, and their adventures at a Japanese summer festival. The purpose of this project was to create a short and fun animation to stir the imagination of its viewers while incorporating elements of Japanese culture and experimenting with unique aesthetic choices.

During the initial brainstorming stages of this capstone, I decided that I wanted to somehow incorporate pieces of Japanese culture and mythology into the project. Not only is the folklore fascinating, I often enjoy expressing my Japanese heritage through artwork. The choice …

The Fourth Dimension, Elkana O. Ong'esa

Artists-in-Residence Programme : Exhibition Catalogues

Exhibition of Recent Stone and Wood Sculptures by Elkana O. Ong'esa

The Fourth Dimension, a concept that I have been working on for many years with the objective of assisting people with visual disabilities to appreciate sculpture more. The use of stone, wood and metal allows me to create forms and surface finishes that address the issue of tactile vision or perception that I try to apply in achieving communication in the fourth dimension.

Dotphotozine, Issue 1, May 2011, Students Of The Csusb Art Department, Thomas Mcgovern

Dotphotozine

No abstract provided.

The Locational Determinants Of Internet Usage In Asia And Nepal, Smriti Chand

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between internet development and various socio-economic factors that are assumed to affect internet infrastructure development decision. The data collected for 35 Asian countries is secondary data collected from various sources. This study tests six hypotheses about the impact of various socio-economic factors and economic freedom indicators on Internet Penetration Rate (IPR) and Internet Service Providers (ISP). The findings show that the IPR can be statistically explained by one independent variable: GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The study models also include Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), literacy rate, fertility rate, the percentage of urban population, the country‟s status …

Willi Red Buhay Interview, Lauren Todd

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Willi Red Buhay was a graduate of San Beda College and the University of Sto. Tomas. He was the first artistic director for design of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Folk Arts Theater, a position he held for fifteen years. He also held a teaching post at the University of the Philippines and his alma mater.

One of Manila’s celebrated design-artist-painters, Willi had staged over 300 productions from theater and cinema to gallery exhibitions. In 1970, he won the prestigious design competition for the Philippine Center in New York. It was the start of numerous design …