Digital Commons Network^™

Longing For: Designing Activities To Break The Taboo Of Female Sexuality In Care Homes, Yoni Lefévre, Niels Hendriks, Heather Wilkinson, Andrea Wilkinson, Arno G. Verhoeven

DRS Biennial Conference Series

An effort to co-explore later life sexuality with older adults, this study critically reflects on a series of intentionally designed activities to discuss intimacy and sexual pleasure in a care context. Five activities were organised in a Belgian care home, involving four to six female residents, that gradually introduced a more explicit language about sexual health. The results highlight that: 1) taboos are difficult to discuss, therefore storytelling is crucial, 2) feeling vulnerable is confronting, but also enables genuine connections, and 3) co-exploring taboos through playfulness, while enabling self-expression. This paper provides a more in-depth understanding of designing collective dialogues …

Along The Line Of Emotional Support: Reimagining Ai Companions For Young Adults’ Wellbeing, Giulia Jiangxian Zhu, Xue Pei, Andrea Gaggioli

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Young adults increasingly face emotional stress, uncertainty, and a lack of accessible, non-judgmental support. While AI technologies are emerging as potential companions, many adopt anthropomorphic and chat-based models that risk emotional overdependence, blurred boundaries, and false intimacy. This research explores how AI systems might be reimagined to foster authentic and ethical forms of companionship that support young adults’ wellbeing. Grounded in Positive Technology and its focus on promoting human flourishing, this research adopts a research-through-design approach, integrating semi-structured interviews, co-design sessions, hands-on prototyping, and user feedback. The resulting prototype, ALONG is a calm, embodied AI companion designed to encourage personal …

Building Together(Ness): Exploring Constructive Play When Designing For Social–Emotional Learning (Sel) In Late Childhood., Mariagiulia Sardu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper investigates how constructive play can support social–emotional learning (SEL) in late childhood. As children approach adolescence, they increasingly seek emotional support from peers, develop stronger identities and need to engage in self-reflection and personal expression. Despite these needs, SEL programs targeting children aged 8 to 11 are limited. Research has shown that play can support SEL. This study explores how constructive play can foster social–emotional skills and help address this shortage. The project was conducted with a child-centred approach and a design-based research methodology, ensuring a strong link between theory and practice while prioritising children’s perspectives. The fieldwork …

Designing For Food System Transformation: Navigating Cultural Complexity In Cross-Regional Platform Design, Margherita Motta, Sebastian Baez-Lugo, Luis Rodriguez Aguayo, Laura Deschl, Nicolas Henchoz, Emily Groves

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines the design of a digital platform supporting sustainable food transformation across six European regional Hubs. Through multi-phase participatory evaluation involving contextual inquiry across culturally diverse contexts, responsive redesign, and formal usability testing, we identify a fundamental tension between technical standardization and cultural adaptation. While formal metrics demonstrated strong usability and aesthetic appeal of our platform design, Hub-based evaluation revealed that participants' requests for regional adaptation such as representing traditional production methods, biodiversity, and place-specific sustainability logics challenged fundamental platform assumptions about capturing food knowledge in standardized structures. We articulate emergent design principles including minimizing barriers while maintaining …

Problem–Solution Co-Evolution Research In The Drs Conference Community (2001-2025), Michael Mose Biskjaer, Kim Halskov, Alwin De Rooij

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The problem–solution co-evolution model proposed by Dorst and Cross (2001) remains highly influential for understanding design processes. This paper contributes a scoping review of DRS conference proceedings (2001–2025) revealing how the model has been adopted, developed, and critiqued. A thematic synthesis of a corpus of sixteen DRS papers shows how the model has been used to frame, connect, and extend foundational design theories by pointing to the crucial role of mutual adaptation of problem and solution. We find that problem and solution spaces are considered distinct and interdependent. Co-evolution is conceptualized and studied through several conceptual lenses, e.g., cognitive, social, …

Hacking As A Queering Design Practice. Insights From A Visual Analysis Of Product Hacking Scenes In Movies., Julia Carrasco Parodi, Massimo Menichinelli, Guim Espelt Estopà

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article examines hacking, understood as the alteration of an object’s function, as a queer and feminist design practice that disrupts normative relations between bodies and things. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s concept of the feminist snap as a moment of rupture and reconfiguration, we define hacking as an embodied act of refusal that reconfigures everyday things. Through "Función Rota", an audiovisual research project that gathers product hacking scenes in movies, we identify hacking as a form of both critique and speculation: it reveals the normative logics embedded in things, while opening up the possibility of re-prototyping from below. Through feminist …

Within The Dialogue Box: Exploring Designer Activities And Linguistic Features In Collaboration With Textual Genai, Yulu Song, Ying Hu, Zihan Zhou, Wentao Deng, Xing Du, Yiming Bai

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Language functions as both a core element and the cognitive framework that supports the entire design process. However, the deep integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) is shifting the creative process from self- or human-to-human dialogue to human-AI conversation, requiring a careful examination of this emerging form of collaborative language. This study conducted an experiment on designer-AI collaboration. The goal was to explore the relationship between their collaborative activities, linguistic features, and co-creativity. By carefully coding activities and using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method, we identified conversational features linked to different levels of creativity. These findings not …

Crafting Semiotic Riddles: Materiality And Interpretive Play In Speculative Design, Jess Uhre Rahbek, Sofie Kinch

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper repositions speculative design artefacts as semiotic riddles, where materiality operates not merely as a carrier of speculation but as a vehicle for play. Drawing on Peircean semiotics and narrative theory, we extend Auger’s notion of the ‘perceptual bridge’ to show how speculative artefacts invite audiences into riddle-solving, assembling ‘fabula’ worlds from incomplete ‘syuzhet’ clues. Methodologically, we propose that speculative design can be understood as the crafting of riddles: designing with ambiguity, incompleteness, and interpretive openness. Through three design projects, we illustrate distinct ways in which designers structure the clues of semiotic riddles, whether singular artefacts, fragmented constellations or …

Pen-Palling Systems Change: A Collaborative Approach To Growing Individual Agency In Light Of Global Polycrises, Donna Maione, Mathilda Tham

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In a world of increasing complexity, designers working in transitional spaces face blockages imposed by the dominant, locked-in capitalist mindset. Frustrated by the impediments in the systems we try to change, we were prompted to go deeper into the conditions for our change agency, as researchers focused on sustainability and long-term straddlers of industry and academia. As we asked how we can navigate being change agents within complex systems, we turned to becoming systems change pen pals, following the steps of a metadesign tool, which takes us from the remit of personal feelings to future perspectives and new vantage points …

Reframing Narratives: Remedies For Improved Human Trafficking Coverage, Stefanie Henriques

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The global rise in human trafficking is not receiving adequate media attention. While newspaper coverage of the topic has increased, current research argues that the issue is framed with a lack of diversity, limiting audience understanding of its complexity. Some researchers also note that coverage disproportionately focuses on sex trafficking, with minimal attention directed to other forms of trafficking such as the labor or organ trade. This paper conducts a narrative literature analysis of media research on human trafficking, drawing on framing theory to identify dominant frames in media messaging and synthesize cross-cultural factors that impact how the issue is …

From Peril To Perseverance: Dr. Arthur C. Parker And The Seneca Arts Project, Brennan Ciccolone

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Like many Native people, the Haudenosaunee were subjected to culturcide and assimilation using residential schools like the Thomas Indian School in the late 19th and early 20th century. During this time, in 1925, the Seneca archaeologist Dr. Arthur C. Parker was hired as the director of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Parker used his museum position to uplift and preserve Haudenosaunee arts and culture. This paper focuses on his Seneca Arts Project (1935-1941), which gathered art and artifacts from both ancient and contemporary Haudenosaunee members. This project explores how Parker’s work was used to help revitalize and honor Native …

Seeing From Women’S Points Of View: The Female Sight And Body In Lilith, Ayumi Kumabe

North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies

No abstract provided.

Viewing Machines, Janos Cseh

Theses and Dissertations

By sifting through personal memories, the contemporary media landscape, and seeing the world through the lens of painting, Cseh asks what it means to understand information through images.  The artist unpacks the interwoven relationships between images and memory, feeling and seeing, and the difficulty of seeking truth through an analysis of his paintings.

Front Matter, Dewey Studies

Dewey Studies

No abstract provided.

Quiet Hills, Restless Hearts: An Intersectional Exploration Of Lgbtq+ Religious Journeys In Appalachia, Allison S. Monroe, Stacey L. Williams

McNair Culminating Research Projects

Many researchers have utilized Meyer’s (2003) minority stress model to examine the social factors influencing the daily lives of LGBTQ+ individuals. Previous research has looked at negative mental health outcomes for LGBTQ+ individuals (McGraw et al., 2023), the presence of religious stress for this community (Page et al., 2013), and religious journeys of these individuals (Halkitis et al, 2009).  However, few studies have examined the intersection of religion, LGBTQ+ identity, social support, and the overarching values of Appalachian culture. The proposed study seeks to add to the literature and understand the breadth of these experiences by employing qualitative semi-structured interviews. …

Antigone And Oedipus In The Early American Theater, Lauren Mceldowney

McNair Culminating Research Projects

The first production of a Greek drama in North America has been a subject of scholarly debate for at least the last century. Some reference late eighteenth-century theater productions of Medea as the origin of the trend, some the Bowery’s 1834 Oedipus, some the 1845 Philadelphia Antigone, and many Harvard University’s 1881 Oedipus Tyrannus. Due to the large number of sources claiming Harvard’s Oedipus as the kickoff production, likely in part because of its massive success and subsequent inspired productions and news articles, there lacks sufficient discussion on what earlier North American stagings of Greek plays can …

Wounded Domestic Ecologies: Ecofeminist Readings Of Gendered Trauma In Purple Hibiscus, Erere Victory Iwhi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus through an ecofeminist and postcolonial ecocritical lens, developing the concept of "wounded domestic ecology" to analyze how gendered violence operates within domestic space. Drawing on trauma studies, particularly J. R. Kurtz and Rob Nixon's concept of slow violence, it argues that harm in the novel is accumulative, produced through repetition, surveillance, ritual, and spatial regulation. Eugene's household functions as an environment that disciplines bodies, governs language, and embeds fear into everyday life. In contrast, Aunt Ifeoma's home in Nsukka offers a counter-ecology structured by sound, shared labor, and dialogic authority, interrupting the …

Foundations' Deep, Emily Williams, Morgan Williams

University Honors Theses

Most historic buildings do not survive as they were built, yet preservation frameworks still tend to evaluate them as if they did.

Foundations' Deep begins with a structure located in Helena, Montana 59602, a building that sits uneasily within the categories it has been asked to meet. Built in the early twentieth century, it has persisted through alteration, abandonment, and use. What remains is not a stable artifact but a record of accumulated decisions, some careful and many indifferent, now embedded in the fabric of the building itself.

The thesis grows from this condition and from the limits of the …

Ambivalence, Foremourning, And Displacement In The German Translation Of Marie Bonaparte's Topsy, Kooper Wilson

University Honors Theses

This paper offers a reading of Sigmund Freud’s German translation of Marie Bonaparte’s book, Topsy: The Golden-Haired Chow, in which the author attempts to both delay the death of her dog and mourn it in advance through what I call foremourning. I argue that the manifest subject matter of Topsy should not be interpreted away as a projection of merely human concerns, but rather that close attention to Freud’s translation introduces themes from his analytic experience which engender an appreciation of Topsy’s atopia (intractability). I draw from recent psychoanalytic theory, literary criticism, and deconstruction, especially Jacques Derrida’s seminars …

Stories That Stretch Us: Jury Duty As Anti-Rage Bait, Howard Schaap

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Today’s naturalism, today’s manipulative authors, are the creators of the maze of social media that lead us toward very specific ends, and it’s tearing at our national fabric."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the effect of story styles on our thinking from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Stories that Stretch Us

Unheard Voices: Language And Humanity In Memoirs Of Immigration From Latin America To The United States, Aj Setala

Honors Projects

At the time of writing this project, aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) raids and mass deportations are being carried out across the U.S. The need to recognize the humanity of those targeted grows with every deportation. In this project, I address the question - What does it mean to be human? - by considering how language impacts the ways in which others affirm or deny the humanity of immigrants. To do this, I examine the role language plays in memoirs of undocumented Latin American immigrants. My analysis is grounded in Gloria Anzaldúa’s borderlands theory and César Miguel R. Vega …

The Pragmatics Of Emoji: A Multimodal Investigation Of Politeness And Sarcasm In Student Interactions On Facebook, Twitter, And Reddit, Wesam Khairy Morsi

English Language and Literature

This study investigates the pragmatic functions of emojis as multimodal resources in students' interactions on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Reddit, with a focused distinction between politeness and sarcasm. Drawing on a corpus of 4000 naturally occurring student-generated posts (Facebook: 1200; Twitter/X: 1500; Reddit: 1300), the study applies a qualitative-quantitative coding framework grounded in Brown and Levinson's politeness theory and Gricean pragmatic models. Emojis are analyzed as components of semiotic bundles rather than isolated affective markers. Statistical analysis reveals significant gendered patterns (χ2 (1, N = 420) = 89.2, p < 0.001), with female students demonstrating greater use of emojis for politeness and solidarity functions (70.0%) compared to male students (35.0%), while male students show higher utilization for sarcasm and irony (65.0%) versus female students (30.0%). Platform-specific affordances significantly shape these pragmatic functions, with Facebook favoring politeness strategies, Reddit enabling ironic communication through anonymity, and Twitter facilitating compressed evaluative expressions. The findings suggest that emoji competence constitutes a fundamental component of digital pragmatic literacy requiring integration into higher education curricula.

Bad Mothers In Translation: Early Motherhood In Contemporary Turkish Editions, Merve Sevtap Süren

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article examines how three recent Anglophone novels of early motherhood, namely, Szilvia Molnar’s The Nursery (as Süt Lekesi), Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch (as Gece Kancığı), and Claire Kilroy’s Soldier Sailor (as Asker ile Denizci), circulate in Turkish translation in a context shaped by pronatalist moral economies. Pairing peritextual analysis (covers, back-cover copy, blurbs, and bio notes) with close readings of selected key scenes of postpartum crisis, feral transformation, and toddler-year burnout, I show how Turkish editions both render and manage maternal negativity: translation choices modulate voice, affect, and register, while peritexts frame these mothers for local readability …

Performing Nefertiti: Feminist Afterlives Across Museum, Digital, And Cosmetic Cultures, Zaryab Khan

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article examines the afterlives of Nefertiti’s bust as performances that stage the intersections of gender, empire, and visual culture. Moving beyond biographical reconstruction, it argues that the bust operates as a repertoire of performances continually re-scripted across cultural sites. Three case studies structure the analysis: the staging of Nefertiti in Berlin’s Neues Museum, which performs colonial possession and the aestheticization of feminine beauty; the digital intervention The Other Nefertiti (2015), which performs resistance through the circulation of unauthorized 3D scans; and the cosmetic “Nefertiti lift,” which performs the queen’s visage through contemporary bodies, inscribing antiquity as a template for …

Getting Close, Sadie Laufe Mccarthy

Dissertations and Theses

"Getting Close" is a collection of short pieces, some fiction and some memoir. It's not important which is which.

I'm interested in the barriers we face when it comes to connection, and how aloneness can often be more sensual than togetherness. I'm interested in the places we find respite from the pain of existing within societal pressures.

I'm not interested in acceptability. I write toward a world in which we do not have to be anything other than ourselves.

Tel Shor: Jewelry, Dress And Cosmetic Articles From Three Persian Burials, Amir Golani, Eli Yannai

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The excavation northwest of Tel Shor exposed the partial remains of a Persian-period cemetery. Within the burial site were three intact tombs, two belonging to adult females and one to a child of undetermined sex. The burial goods include a rich corpus of jewelry, comprising earrings and finger rings, pendants, beads for necklaces and a few dress and cosmetic articles. The good state of preservation of the tombs allowed the funerary items to be studied in their archaeological context. Two of the tombs were exceptionally rich in finds, indicating the high social status of the deceased.

Wrack Lines Spring-Summer 2026 Volume Number 1, Margaret Cozens, Johann Heupel, Owen Placido, Paul Salopek, Judy Benson

Wrack Lines

“Building community around the places we love,” is the theme of the Spring-Summer 2026 issue of Wrack Lines magazine. Learn about the work of the Six Lakes Park coalition in Hamden, Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, MyCoast in southeastern Connecticut and the statewide land conservation conference. Additional stories tell about the artistry and mission of photographer-videographer Tomas Koeck, and National Geographic explorer Paul Salopek, who is traveling the world on foot.

Jesus-Centered Preaching: A Christocentric Approach Based On The Hermeneutical Implications Of The Gospels As Βίοι., Mark Palmer

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover the implied hermeneutic of the Gospels as βίοι and to propose a congruent homiletic. The study addressed the following research questions: What is the genre of the Gospels and the resulting hermeneutic? Does current Christ-centered preaching account for his hermeneutic? Does Christological research account for intrinsic characteristics? What is the intrinsic Christology of Mark’s Gospel? What homiletical process is needed to align with the genre-based hermeneutic of the Gospels? The methodology of this study followed a four-step process: Genre research confirming the Gospels as βίοι, Christological research including the development of an …

Personas Issue 4, 2026, Jonathan Maiullo

Personas: Multilingual Creative Writing Journal

No abstract provided.

Jubilación, Janet Munoz

Writing Waves

No abstract provided.