Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Tool To Empower The Disempowered: The Components Of The Feeling Of Home, Eszter Hegymegi, Victoria Haines, Rebecca Cain, Antonia Liguori

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The rate of homelessness is rising, resulting in a need for better-designed services to support those affected. Building on the sector's acknowledgement that personalised support is needed to reverse this trend and based on the psychological concept of the emotional home, we propose a tool that helps those experiencing housing issues feel empowered to better express their housing needs to support teams. The tool breaks down the complex concept of 'home' into tangible components of the feeling of home, developed through qualitative studies. Here, we discuss the process of working in partnership with a local charitable service provider to refine …

Spatial Distribution, Characterization, And Policy Opportunities For Taiwan's Solo Elderly: A Big Data Approach, Yu-Ta Lin, Wei-Chu Chen, Hsuan-Ta Yu, I-Ting Cho

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As Taiwan approaches super-aging by 2025, this study uses the 2022 Ministry of the Interior database combined with geospatial analysis and machine learning to examine solo elderly demographical patterns and assess current "Community Care Stations." Findings: 1. Urban areas have higher aging and solo rates closer to city centers, while rural areas show the opposite pattern; 2. "Dual aging" (elderly and old houses) is common in metropolitan areas; 3. Solo elderly are predomi-nantly urban females, suburban males, often separated, widowed, or divorced, with fewer children or residing in different regions; 4. Both advantaged and dis-advantaged solo elderly are identified in …

Infrastructuring Sustainable Food Futures: A Case Study In Collaborative Innovation For Circular Seafood, Emmanuel Tsekleves, Serena Pollastri

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Transitioning to a circular economy requires transforming practices across the Ready-to-cook product value chains through shared knowledge. However, generalised solutions rarely succeed, but must be tailored to each context. This study explores using participatory design-informed “infrastructuring” to collaboratively develop novel methods tailored to stakeholders’ existing practices. The Seafood AGE project serves as a case study. We developed two remote, distributed facilitation methods using accessible digital platforms. These engage stakeholders in mapping current practices, analysing responses to speculative fish products, and exploring feasibility of prototypical circular approaches. Key findings demonstrate the potential of co-creative infrastructuring to bridge design research and industry. …

What Is Next For Civic Design?, Mike De Kreek, Ferry Ferry Van De Mosselaer, Katrina Newell, Martijn De Waal, Eric Gordon, Vasilis Vlachokyriakos, Andrea Hamm, Gabriele Ferri, Tomasz Jaskiewicz, Wina Smeenk, Jaz Hee-Jeong Choi

DRS Biennial Conference Series

No abstract provided.

Through The Megascope: Reimagining Design Education, Nekita Thomas, Lisa Mercer, Teressa Moses, Angelica Sibrian

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Addressing global challenges like racial tension and health inequalities, this paper urges a reimagining of design education's core principles. Four educators from diverse, often marginalized backgrounds collaboratively investigate design education's future, moving beyond mere reflection. Their insights fuel a broader initiative to envision inclusive design education. Drawing inspiration from W.E.B. Du Bois’ 'Megascope', this concept resists conventional paradigms, sheds light on overlooked narratives, and challenges ingrained epistemologies. The Megascope acts as a dynamic discourse tool, pushing the boundaries of design education. The educators, influenced by the Megascope's principles and their backgrounds, emphasize their dedication to anti-racist, equity-driven education, underscoring the …

Empowerment Through Participation? Three Case Studies Of Social Design Projects With Disadvantaged Female Communities In Hungary, Janka Csernák

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Participatory methods are widely used in design, but it’s important to take a critical stance towards how they impact vulnerable communities in the context of today's societal crisis (Juarez et al., 2008). This paper presents recent findings from the comparison of three social design research projects conducted in Hungary, which point towards evidence that empowerment by design can be beneficial for underprivileged women. This notion of empowerment is defined through developing embodied expertise, problem-solving skills, and agency in a design context. In order to understand how design can contribute to building such notions in participants, the author contextualizes the community’s …

Exploring More-Than-Human Worlds And Becoming With Living And Non-Living Entities Through Play, Filipe Pais

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In recent years, we have observed the emergence of a variety of video games that allow their players to temporarily exist entangled in more-than-human worlds, becoming with other species and things. Informed and inspired by posthuman philosophies, this article examines three video games: Everything (2017), Stray (2022), and Endling - Extinction is Forever (2022). This analysis focuses on three key questions: 1) How are these games enabling players to become with non-human characters representing real-life organisms? 2) What kinds of knowledge do players gain about these worlds? 3) How to define a more-than-human playful experience? The article concludes by introducing …

The Road To Cooptation Is Paved With Good Intentions: An Anarchafeminist Critique Of Empowerment Ambiguity In Dsi, Valentina Volpi, Val Mitchell, Stuart Cockbill, Ksenija Kuzmina

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This theoretical paper critically examines the relationship between design for social innovation and the concept of empowerment. It questions to what extent current empowerment discourses in design genuinely amplify marginalized voices or rather reinforce and hide existing structural inequalities. With the aim of unveiling the emptiness of signifiers, such as empowerment, much like the contested concept of ‘social innovation’, this contribution aims to encourage a critical reflection on power dynamics through an anarchafeminist lens. Rather than striving for definite answers or providing blueprints, this lens aims to be an open and dynamic invitation to scholars and practitioners to continue exploring …

Generating User Personas With Ai: Reflecting On Its Implications For Design, Vanessa Sattele, Juan Carlos Ortiz

DRS Biennial Conference Series

The aim of this research is to analyze and expose risks associated with using AI tools such as Large Language Models and Text to Image Models to create user personas, and initiate a discussion about their application in design practice. First, a model is presented comparing the traditional user research approach with an AI persona generation method. Through a case study involving the creation of personas within the context of Mexico City, a critical analysis is conducted, revealing biases. Possible causes and risks for design practice and education are discussed, as well as potential benefits. Finally, a model for scalability …

Visioning And Managing Change: Analyzing Strategic Designers' Approaches In Salient Podcast Episodes, Ruchita Arvind Mandhre, G. Mauricio Mejía, Wenqi Zheng, Kendon Jung, Xueting Wu

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Strategic design considers strategy as the core deliverable of practice, where designers are intentional about creating change. However, there is limited research that reveals change as a deliverable in these projects. The purpose of this study is to understand how experienced practitioners do strategic design and to identify their approaches for behavioral, organizational, and social change intentionally. With many experienced strategic designers invited to podcast shows, we analyzed the content of salient podcast episodes. This qualitative study uncovers themes, methods and approaches that expert strategic designers use to implement intentional change. We found that strategic designers embed themselves in particular …

Making Space Online: Situating Complex, Intersectional Identities, Dori Griffin, Brooke Hull

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This co-authored visual essay explores our process of making space for ourselves online within the complexity of our intersectional identities. Individually, we’ve appropriated mainstream social media posts to share marginalized experiences, generate meaningful connections, and merge our personal and research identities. On Facebook, Griffin shares her experiences as a cis-female, invisibly disabled, neurodivergent design educator. On Instagram, Hull shares their experiences as fat, queer, trans non-binary design student. Together, using tools with low barriers to entry, we document how design educational praxis affords our marginalized voices access, or not, within physical and virtual design education spaces. As white authors, we …

Intergenerational Creative Spaces, Co-Living, Community: Design For Longevity, Diana Susan Nicholas, Tasha Singh, Tanaya Deshpande, Alisha Prabhakar, Rachel Wenrick, Ayana Allen-Handy

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Assisting our communities with design for longevity through creating opportunities to age in place requires multiple resources. Aging and longevity are essential emerging factors for many urban neighborhoods. In partnership with the Drexel University Writers Room and Second Story Collective, the Drexel Design Research for Health Lab is creating an innovative concept space and tool for inter-generational creativity through storytelling and artmaking. The interdisciplinary members of the project are developing a series of evidence-based urban spaces around Aging-in-Place. The group has received funding to conduct an age-friendly observational study of the central location for community writing activities. The current goal …

Three Challenges In Practising Research Through Design In The Context Of Phd Design Research, Marco C. Rozendaal, Patrizia D'Olivo, Elisa Giaccardi, Pieter Jan Stappers

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Research through Design (RtD) is a maturing research methodology in Design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), in which design actions are used as a means to conduct research. This way of doing research holds promise for creating transdisciplinary results but it comes with challenges. Research and design are similar in that both aim to create something new. However, depending on a project’s context, there may be different expectations about what that something new is, spanning from generalized knowledge to localized solutions. In this paper we discuss two PhD projects in the healthcare sector and reflect on three challenges encountered by the …

Reframing Design Maturity: A New Perspective On The Development Of Design In Public Organizations, Geert Brinkman, Ahmee Kim

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Although design is a core activity of public organizations, the dominant perspective to this day is that public organizations are void of design. Existing design maturity models based on this perspective thus do not reflect, nor do justice to the practice of design in public organizations. In this conceptual paper we therefore propose to reframe design maturity as a matter of versatility and alignment - i.e. as an organization’s ability to tailor their design activities to the different design tasks it faces, while establishing productive interactions with other concurrent design activities. This offers a new perspective on how design can …

Power Signifiers: The Subtle Forms Of Power In Design Practice With Marginalized Craft Communities, Seher Tabasum Mirza

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper discusses how craft practice may offer empowerment strategies for critically reflective spaces, that allow for social transformation, using the case of traditional textile communities of women in rural Pakistan where development opportunities are limited. It uses the reflective practice of its design researcher, to explore established power relations, and search for new dialogues that build meaningful relationships for creating new forms of power in interrelated social, development and design contexts. This practice-based discussion contends with the embedded layers of power arising from social constructs and those extending beyond. A combined methodology, ‘Power Signifiers’ is presented as a critically …

"Small” Blended Practices In The Campus-Based Architectural Design Studio: Examining Student And Instructor Experiences And Pedagogical Implications, Manju Aishwarya Adikesavan

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper reflects on the increasingly blended (online and in-person) nature of the traditional campus-based design studio and its pedagogical implications. Despite the widespread digitalization of learning and architectural design and construction practices and the post-COVID intensification of remote and hybrid operations, the architectural design studio is taught in predominantly in-person or campus-based mode. Post-COVID interviews of undergraduate and graduate students (N=27) and instructors (N=32) of US architecture programs indicate a continuing preference for in-person or campus-based studio teaching and learning to maximize tactile, social, and vicarious learning experiences. However, the participants also favored small but meaningful blending of online …

A Humanistic Approach To Politics: Ahp's Call For An "Authentic" Politics Of Truth And Accountability, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

As human beings on this tiny planet in the cosmos we call Earth, we live as ‘citizens’ in a variety of people-determined land demarcations that we call countries, each with its own unique version of politics. Citizens in the United States and people in the world, therefore, are engaged in a variety of political dramas. It is fair to say that in the United States and globally, the current political climate is very divisive. In the United States and globally, humanity is at an inflection point in the evolution of its consciousness at individual and collective levels. Out of fear, …

2024-06-20 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

Message sent on June 20, 2024 by the President to the campus community regarding upcoming dates of importance, additional paid days off, congratulatory recognitions, and highlights from the recent Board of Regents meeting.

Mass Incarceration: Racial Disparities Within The U.S. Criminal Justice System, Crystal Nichole Pugh

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The United States incarceration rate has remained steady at over two million people incarcerated within their criminal justice facilities. Among the U.S. criminal justice system incarcerated populations, African Americans are disproportionately represented contributing to its overwhelming numbers and overcrowded facilities nationwide. Studies have shown racial disparities experienced within the correctional system have been credited as a direct result of decision-making at various points throughout the criminal justice process. Previous and even current research on racial disparities within the criminal justice system have attributed much of its data to disproportionate minority contacts in the juvenile population and a heavy police presence …

A History Of The Afro-American Life Insurance Company, Afro-American Life Insurance Company

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Brochure: A history of the Afro-American Insurance Company. See page 2 Disaster Strikes section for information on Eartha White's role in the company. Circa 1970-1979.

Culturally Responsive Coaching: Supervision With A Cultural Lens, Jouanna Crossland-Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Culturally Responsive Practices (CRP) are a focal point for many districts across the country. The emphasis of CRP is on how the institution enacts policies and practices for the benefit of the students they serve. This study views CRP from a different lens. The focus of this study is to 1.) center the voice of Black teachers and 2.) explore culturally responsive practices for the support and edification of the teacher from their coach/supervisor. The eight Black teacher participants and their instructional coaches engaged in interviews discussing current coaching models and the dynamics of their coaching relationships.

The relevant findings …

The Role Of Care Practices, Mutual Aid, And Racial Formation In Black Newcomer Practitioners’ Lived Experience Within Organizations: A Critical Qualitative Inquiry, Annie Zean Dunbar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black newcomers, defined as people who have migrated to the United States regardless of legal status, are one of the fastest-growing immigrant groups. (Morgan-Trostle et al., 2016). Within this population, a small percentage work within the social service sector with other migrants. Using critical qualitative methods, a critical phenomenological methodology and semi-structured interviews, a sample of 17 participants were asked about their experiences of living and working in the U.S. social service sector. The study uses racial formation theory (Omi & Winant, 2014) to conceptualize how participants experienced their racial identity formation and how racism shapes their personal and professional …

Exploring Cultural, Health, And Technology Intersections: A Focus On Migrant Experiences, Merna Mina, Sahij Gill

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Despite the plethora of theories and frameworks addressing culture, health, and technology adoption, there remains a notable absence of a unifying theory that comprehensively encompasses all three aspects, particularly concerning newcomers. The Health Belief Model, for example, underscores individual perceptions and attitudes toward health yet fails to consider the intricate interplay between cultural factors and technology adoption among immigrant populations. The Healthy Immigrant Effect, which posits that immigrants often exhibit better health outcomes than native-born individuals, does not mention the role of technology on health outcomes. Acculturation theories, while shedding light on the adaptation process, often fall short of explaining …

The Origin And Lifespan Of Food Assistance Programs During The Great Depression, Vincet Gottfried Wisehoon

Chronos

No abstract provided.

Girl Power: Feminism And Class Stratification In The British Eugenics Movement, Luke Foley

Chronos

No abstract provided.

Forced Family Separation: U.S. Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples, Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, David W. Barillas Chón

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Forced family separation under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy is not only a crime against humanity, but also a crime against Indigenous Peoples, which includes the Maya. Rooted in white supremacist ideologies and settler colonialism, contemporary forced family separation continues historical violence inflicted upon Maya Peoples by the U.S. government. Submitted to the International Criminal Court, this amicus brief contends that the Court should investigate and hold the U.S. accountable for crimes against Indigenous Peoples under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy. The amicus brief begins with an overview of Maya Peoples in present-day Guatemala and the meanings and practices of …

Making Room, Rachel Strompf

Masters Theses

Massachusetts is the only state in the United States with a right-to-shelter law which guarantees shelter for families with children and pregnant women.¹ As of February 2024, 3,500 homeless families with children are being sheltered in a motel or hotel with an average length of stay of 14 months, because traditional family shelters have reached capacity.^2,3 While these families are provided temporary shelter, these shelters do not allow for the development of a true sense of “home.” While a motel meets the needs of rudimentary shelter, motels were never designed as long-term accommodations and certainly not with a …

Community Awareness Of Domestic Violence In Arumeru District, Arusha, Tanzania, Rehema John Magesa

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Domestic violence continues to be prominent among many communities worldwide despite different efforts and strategies geared towards eradicating it. Women and girls are among the main victims of this violence. Lack of or limited awareness of the problem perpetuates the problem. However, much of the levels of awareness of the problem are lacking. This study aimed to establish community awareness of domestic violence and the levels of awareness and determine the association between respondents' characteristics and the level of awareness of gender-based violence. The study employed both probability and non-probability sampling techniques to acquire the respondents. One hundred women and …

Determining Factors For Improved Uptake Of Harm Reduction Services In The United States: A Study Of Inclusive, Culturally Sensitive Messaging, Lauretta Ekanem Omale

Dissertations

Harm reduction refers to public health policies and programs aimed at decreasing the adverse consequences associated with drug use. While harm reduction services (e.g., syringe exchange programs) can mitigate health risks, marginalized groups face barriers to service access and utilization, partially due to ineffective messaging approaches that fail to align with cultural values and experiences. A one-size-fits-all approach to messaging can negatively impact service utilization, health outcomes, and health disparities. Ineffective communication can lead to poor adherence to treatment, poorer health outcomes, and increased adverse events.

Culturally insensitive communication contributes to stigma, mistrust, and lack of perceived relevance, discouraging service …

Poetry In Teaching & Learning Qualitative Research, Amber Mullens, Audra Skukauskaite, Megan K. Mitchell

The Qualitative Report

This article stems from a workshop presented at the 15th TQR conference on poetry in teaching and learning qualitative research. Over the last few decades, scholars have argued for the use of poetry and other arts-based techniques in qualitative research. Most of the research, however, focuses on using poetry for data analysis and representation. In this article, we shift the conversation to the use of poetry for teaching and learning qualitative research. Starting with a poem in three voices of educator, student, and researcher, we provide an overview of poetry use in qualitative inquiry. We then offer brief overviews of …