Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Body, World And Affordance: Towards Engaging Technological Artefacts For Older Individuals, John Vines

Nordes Conference Series

This article addresses the problems older individuals have been observed to encounter when engaging with technological artefacts and how such difficulties may relate to the designers understanding of the normal cognitive ageing process of human beings. This article suggests that these problems may not be the result of limited cognitive abilities of certain older individuals but rather the manner in which designers understand the complex relationship between the mind and actions in the world. The article speculates that an alternative perspective on interactions as affordances that occur between the embodied individual and their ecology may benefit design methodologies deployed in …

Heterogeneous Materials And Variable Behaviour: Potentials For The Design Disciplines, Michael Ulrich Hensel

Nordes Conference Series

In the design and use of human-made artefacts materials play a central role with regards to appearance and functionality. The performative capacity of a design is actualised through materiality. However, while architecture is a material practice, highly specific materials with carefully defined characteristics and properties are often chosen late in the design process. Moreover, often a materials response to extrinsic stimuli is regarded as negative. All sorts of measures are taken to neutralise such responses. In contrast, however, there is a growing fascination with 'smart' materials that can respond in controlled ways to extrinsic stimuli. If the definition of smart …

Textopia: A Geo-Literary Browser, Anders Sundnes Løvlie

Nordes Conference Series

As scholars in the humanities and media studies take an increasing interest in spatial theory, location-based technology provides the opportunity to experiment with spatial media in practice. The textopia project aims to approach theory through practice, providing a system for experiencing place-bound literature in situ: A geo- literary browser.

Identity Tool Kit, Henriette Maria Koblanck

Nordes Conference Series

This is an explorative article detailing the development of a novel and comprehensive method to create a more inclusive and easily accessible design method applicable to a wide array of design projects, academic and professional. The purpose of this article is to introduce the “Identity Tool Kit” (ITK) - a method aimed at assisting designers and clients in the creation of visual platforms and identities in relation to product and service development. The formulation of the method began 10 years ago and it has been employed by approximately 600 university students within several disciplines and in numerous projects outside of …

Artifactual Relations In Ucd, Mads Bødker

Nordes Conference Series

This explorative article presents theoretical and methodological implications of User Centered Design (UCD) from a perspective of socio material-relations and a theory of performative artifacts. The process of “asking users” is rarely treated as a design artifact that can be interrogated in and of itself. The article introduces a perspective on UCD as a “material-relational activity”. Thus, through the lens of a failed workshop, the article takes a closer look at the shaping properties artifacts, and how artifacts interact and produce results.

Capturing Movements In A 3d Interactive Dynamic System, Flemming Tvede Hansen

Nordes Conference Series

This article discuss 3d digital dynamic systems as an interactive design tool for 3d physical form as an approach to the design process useful for the ceramic artist and related fields. The article is about an experiment based on the cooperation between the programmer and designer Marcin Ignac, and the author of this article, a ceramic artist. The experiment explores interactive 3d digital drawing, which responds visually to the movement of the hand in a virtual 3d space using a wii remote as a device. The captured movement forms the basis for a 3D physical model produced by the use …

“Made By” Vs. “Designed By”: Two Approaches In Sustainable Development Collaborations With Artisan Communities, Cynthia Lawson

Nordes Conference Series

Myriad organizations such as Aid to Artisans (Aid to Artisans 2009), individuals, and most recently, universities, have embarked on projects through which they hope to create a significant, and positive, impact on artisan communities in the areas of design, marketing, and business, with the principal goal for these communities to generate income via the sale of their artisan goods. This exploratory article discusses how the “Designed By” and “Made By” models can be used at different times, and with very different goals, and talks about the challenges and advantages of each.

Creation Of Artifacts As A Vehicle For Design Research, Nithikul Nimkulrat

Nordes Conference Series

Although material artifacts, with their forms and meanings, have manifested the significance of craft design practice, their role and the role of their creative productions in design research have rarely been discussed. This article aims to uncover how the creation of artifacts can serve as a vehicle of design research. My doctoral research, which explores the relationship between a physical material and artistic expression in the creation of textile art and design, is given as the example. The research emphasizes the utilization of the researcher’s design artifacts and their productions as a vehicle of theoretical inquiry. The study offers the …

Exploring The Interplay Between Emotions And Interaction, Sus Lundgren

Nordes Conference Series

There seems to be a Catch-22 involved in designing interaction; it’s very hard to do it without designing an artifact too. How can we keep our main focus away from purpose, function, form and material in order to put interaction first? This article presents two design exercises that in combination highlight how emotions and expressions affect each other in design, an how interaction in turn, can be used to strengthen or express an emotion.

Peeling Apples: Prototyping Design Experiments As Research, Tuuli Mattelmäki, Ben Matthews

Nordes Conference Series

Design research often includes design experiments. But the discourse generated by the idea of ‘research through design’ has not always been a helpful starting point for novice design researchers who intend to incorporate design as a component of their research inquiries. In this article we make two contributions. Firstly, we present a short analysis of six design research exemplars that involve design as a constituent part of the research. We do this in an effort to demonstrate that there is a multitude of ways that design can, and has, formed the basis for research contributions. Following from that observation, we …

Symbiots: Conceptual Interventions Into Urban Energy Systems, Jenny Bergström, Ramia Mazé, Johan Redström, Anna Vallgårda

Nordes Conference Series

Symbiots set out to examine values such as ease-of-use, comfort, and rationality assumed within conventions of ‘good design’, in order to expose issues related to energy consumption and current human- (versus eco-) centered design paradigms. Exploring re-interpretations of graphical patterns, architectural configura- tions and electrical infrastructure typical in Swedish cities, Symbiots takes the form of a photo series in the genre of contemporary hy- per-real art photography. Painting a vivid pic- ture of alternatives to current local priorities around energy consumption, the three design concepts depicted are strangely familiar, al- ternatively humorous and sinister.

Designing Dynamic Interfaces For Mobile Devices, Jon Olav Eikenes, Jørn Knutsen

Nordes Conference Series

Are you compelled by the rapid development of mobile devices and their graphically sophisticated screens? This full day workshop will introduce participants to theoretical concepts and design techniques for sketching and prototyping screen-based interfaces that make use of visual movement. Participants will work hands-on in groups, exploring techniques for developing simple video prototypes. The workshop ends with a general discussion in which we address theoretical as well as practical issues.

Design Experiments And Design Games In A Reflective Practicum, Thomas Binder, Eva Brandt, Pelle Ehn, Tuuli Mattelmaki, Ben Matthews

Nordes Conference Series

The idea of the workshop is to share examples and experiences of using design experiments and design games in an educational setting. A second aim is to discuss foundation, methodology and the theoretical framing of such activities in design education. Last, but not least the workshop invites participants to contribute to a resource book on design experiments and design games for design educators and their students.

Readings On Speech And Protest In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. Hu Jintao has made a trip to Xinjiang, his first since riots there in July. Xinjiang was in the news earlier this week as well, when international news organizations picked up a story, first reported in Monday’s China Daily, which announced that trials would begin shortly for more than 200 people arrested in connection with the riots. The regional government, however, quickly denied that any trials have been scheduled, and stated that only 83 people have been officially arrested to date. Over at the Wall Street Journal’s China blog, Sky Canaves writes on this story and what it reveals …

Reports On China Environment

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum has released two new research briefs, adding them to their growing archive of reports on issues ranging fromhealth challenges in Xinjiang to waste disposal in rural areas. Particularly notable is the collection of reports resulting from a collaboration with Western Kentucky University; the two newest reports are both part of this series.

The first report is “Electric Cars: The Drive for a Sustainable Solution in China,” by Peter Marsters:

The CEO of Chinese automaker BYD has recently taken to drinking vials of his company’s battery fluid. The fluid, designed for use in electric cars, …

Schroeder, Ralph Louis, 1885-1976 (Sc 1971), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1971. Letter, 14 February 1930, from Ralph Louis Schroeder, a physician, to Dorothy Blocher, Owensboro, Kentucky discussing details about automobiles and the furniture and equipment in his office. Also includes a brief biography of Schroeder.

Graham, Robert Duke, 1900-1984 (Sc 1972), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1972. Specifications from Ingram and Ingram, Architects and Engineers (Louisville, Kentucky) for a new residence to be built for Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Graham, 1716 Normal Drive, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Logan, Leland Hallowell, 1905-1980 (Sc 1974), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1974. Composition book containing thoughts and quotations kept by Leland Hallowell Logan, Bowling Green, Kentucky. He makes references to his father, U.S. Senator Marvel Mills Logan, his twenty-fifth birthday, and to his sweetheart.

Fuller, Don (Fa 464), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 464. Paper: "The Gathering" written by Don Fuller for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Sean Botkin, Piano, August 28, 2009 [Program], University Of Northern Iowa. School Of Music.

Music Recital Programs

Program of a music recital given by faculty, students, or guest artists from the School of Music at the University of Northern Iowa.

Tales From Taiwan: Mourning, Paul Katz

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Siaolin’s survivors are in the midst of grappling with three main issues: mourning the dead, coping with current difficulties, and planning for the future (see the online chats about these issues on Siaolin’s own website, the 甲仙鄉小林社區入口網). On August 21, I attended two meetings with Professor Chien Wen-min 簡文敏 and his colleagues (林清財, 吳旭峰, 段洪坤, 張東炯, 黃智慧, 潘英海, 簡炯仁, 謝世憲). The first meeting focused on the needs of Siaolin’s villagers, who were preparing a petition to present to President Ma when he attended mourning rituals the next day. Consensus was reached on three main points, namely requesting the government allow …

Nimby Comes To China Revisited

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Many things have happened in the PRC this year that echo phenomena discussed in China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance, including the recent renewal of Shanghai protests relating to train lines. As Associated Press reporter Elaine Kurtenbach notes in her valuable dispatch on the subject, the latest demonstrations have been on a smaller scale than the early 2008 ones discussed in our book. They have also been directed toward a more convetional kind of railway (albeit one that moves very fast) rather than a Magnetic levitation (Maglev) one.

Nevertheless, Kurtenbach’s summary of the situation (in this case regarding …

Bowling Green, Kentucky - City Council (Mss 276), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 276. Minute books of Bowling Green, Kentucky Board of Councilmen (1948-1967), Board of Aldermen (1952-1967), and Board of Commissioners (1967-1987).

A Randomized Trial Of A Dissonance-Induction Intervention To Decrease Tanning Behaviors Among College Females, Sari R. Chait

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sun exposure is implicated in the majority of skin cancer cases so it is important to identify interventions that successfully decrease young people's tanning behaviors and increase their sun protection behaviors. Research suggests that interventions that focus on the more immediate appearance related effects of tanning, rather than on future health risks, may be more effective in altering UV-related behaviors. Dissonance induction is a strategy that has been used to successfully alter other health-related behaviors. This study sought to determine if a dissonance induction intervention might be similarly successful in changing UV-related behaviors. The study yielded mixed findings. Relative to …

Baird, Thomas Henry, 1933-2009 (Sc 2007), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2007. Narratives written by Thomas Henry Baird, a Bowling Green, Kentucky physician, describing hunting trips to Mozambique and northern New Mexico, and fishing trips to Quetico Provincial Park in northern Ontario, Canada.

Resource: Images Of 1972 China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I received a note on the H-Asia listserv last week from the Asian Studies WWW Monitor (which provides regular summaries of online teaching resources on Asia). The note flagged a fabulous archive of photographs of daily life taken by Wellesley Political Science Professor William A. Joseph in 1972. Below, a few images from this intriguing resource.

Broadsheet Of Koheles Shlomo: Beney Israel Rahmanim Vegomley Hasadim (1738), Shalhevet Dotan-Ofir

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This is a translation of a 1738 Broadsheet of Koheles Shlomo "Beney Israel rahmanim vegomley hasadim"

The Hebrew Library Of A Renaissance Humanist: The Bibliography To Andreas Masius' Edition Of The Book Of Joshua (Antwerp: Christopher Plantin 1574), Theodor Dunkelgrün

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Andreas Masius' 1574 polyglot edition of the book of Joshua with copious annotations and commentaries is a monument of Renaissance biblical scholarship. In an appendix - the text presented here - Masius recorded the Hebrew and Aramaic books he consulted in preparing his edition. In spite of the brevity of its descriptions, this bibliography has much to tell us about Christian readership of the Hebrew book in the 16th century. It reveals the depth, breadth, and sophistication of Masius' grasp of Jewish literature. It is a snapshot of his own library, but at the same time also a panorama of …

Sefer Or Le-Et Erev: A History Of A Misunderstanding, Pawel Maciejko

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation explores the boundaries of the concept of the ‘Jewish book’ on the basis of Yiddish and Hebrew texts distributed by Protestant missionaries among the Jews in 18th-century East Central Europe. Such texts were not always recognised as Christian by their Jewish readers. The case in point is the brochure Or le-Et Erev circulated by the Halle Pietists. The Yiddish text does not give the name of the author or the place of publication; it does not refer explicitly to Jesus’s identity with the Jewish Messiah until the final pages; and it bases much of its argument on Jewish …

Early Modern Yiddish Readers: Immoderately Addicted To Rhyme?, Ruth Von Bernuth

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Roughly one third of Old Yiddish literature is based on traceable European literary sources, mainly German. Given how close Old Yiddish is to Early New High German, some of these Old Yiddish texts with European sources feel like mere transcriptions, others more like legitimate translations and yet others more like free adaptations. From the Yiddish reader's perspective, the texts become accessible through transcription into Hebrew characters and more accessible the more that the translator engages the text as representative Jewish reader. A large proportion of these Yiddish books with German sources are prose novels–a genre newly popular with German readers …