GLIDE10: Make sure to read all these Abstracts

Make sure to read all the abstracts to share all of your comments, click this link it directs you to conference presenters for GLIDE10. It’s free to post your questions and experiences to further today’s dialog with each presenters.

8:45 AM Choices: Identifying potential pitfalls and windfalls in collaborative projects (keynote presentation) by Audra Buck-Coleman (Presenting from China).

Abstract: Colleges and universities today increasingly emphasize globalization and collaboration, and with good reason: Collaborative learning can improve students’ confidence and enthusiasm, it can offer a broader body of knowledge than is possible in a single classroom, and its (usually) increased diversity can generate heightened awareness for others as well as more complex thinking skills, especially when addressing multifaceted issues. However, collaborations with more partners do not always offer more rewards nor does diversity necessarily increase with the distance between students’ homes. Audra Buck-Coleman is a principal investigator and original co-author of Sticks + Stones, a multi-university collaboration of graphic design students. Through Sticks + Stones Audra has facilitated in-country (USA) and international pedagogical projects with more than 100 students. Based on research and personal experience, this presentation will address potential achievements and shortcomings of cross-university collaborations.

9:30 AM Design for Development: Participatory Design and Contextual Research with Indigenous Maya Communities by Maria Rogal (Presenting from USA).

Abstract: design for development (d4d) is an initiative where, I, along with my graphic design students, work together with people from marginalized indigenous communities— in the southern Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Yucatán—and other disciplinary experts to develop solutions to problems we mutually identify and research in context. A major part of this research process is to learn about the lives of our project partners, all marginalized Maya who are highly skilled but have historically lacked access to capital required to bring their projects to market. Learning about disciplines also involves learning about cultures and contexts, which we begin at the partner site in Mexico as part of a participatory and responsible research practice. Of significant focus is the fieldwork component that empowers all participants to connect, exchange, collaborate, innovate, and create. It is a learning opportunity for all project participants working to create a more equitable world.

10:00 AM Research on Signboard Communication in Asia under the Integration of Green Design and Visual Typography by Dr. Li-Hsun Peng and Chia-Hsin “Justine” Hsueh (Presenting from Taiwan).

Abstract: Due to the uprising attention to environmental protection issue, in recent year, the environmental consciousness was accepted by the general public, and gradually had become a trend. This study examines the environmental issues and green design concepts in the Post-Modern era in Asia. In many past situations, environmental effects were ignored during the design stage for new products and processes. We realize that signboards are one of the major components of a city landscape in most Asian countries. Visual typography of signboards becomes an inevitable task nowadays. However, there is a widespread phenomenon that signboards are very confusing and lack of planning as we can see today. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to integrate green design concept and visual communication into signboard designing by way of application. By researching and categorizing the formats and display of the signboards, the research will take Taiwan as the core case to investigate and document the unique landscape. By using the Bricolage as the main methodology, and the use of Phenomenography, Phenomenology as our research theories, through an analysis of papers and cases, we hope designers can learn to recognize and value the environmental criteria and guidelines for green materials, manufacturing, and quality. In fact, signboard communication is not defined in any absolute sense, but only in comparison with other alternatives of similar function.

10:30 AM Towards a Global Design Taxonomy by Susana Barreto (Presenting from Portugal).

Abstract: Global design is a recent phenomenon that can be understood as design targeted at a global audience, which aims to be exhibited and consumed by different cultures. Hence, a key question is: how can graphic designers globalize graphic design in an ethical manner without giving rise to breakdowns in communication and threatening cultural diversity? I conducted a pilot study to address this question in which I used an interpretative analysis of global design images, combined with interviews, questionnaires and statistical data. My pilot study addressed these issues through a cross-disciplinary approach, which was grounded in graphic design but embraced the subject areas of anthropology, marketing, philosophy, cultural studies and politics. Although some authors argue that it is just not possible to globalize graphic design, it is improbable that globalization and global design will vanish. Therefore, we are not facing a question of whether or not to produce global design, but of how we should carry out global design in a professional and ethical manner. Overall, this paper advances a conceptual understanding of global design and the different forms and categories it embodies: standard, multicultural and localization. Finally, it concludes by suggesting possible approaches graphic designers might pursue in acting globally, aiming to define future directions for more professional and ethical global graphic design practice.

11:00 AM Designing Collaborative Development: Lessons from interdisciplinary teaching and learning by Fabiola Berdiel and Cynthia Lawson (Presenting from NYC, USA).

Abstract: The faculties of international affairs and design of a university in New York have been working together since 2007 on the international program DEED: Development through Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, and Design. The course “Designing Collaborative Development” prepares students to complete summer fieldwork in collaboration with communities in need. This paper focuses on this course and an international program in Guatemala as a central case study and argues that for a valuable and responsible immersive experience to occur there needs to be a lot of beforehand preparation with each student. Such preparation focuses on particular practitioner skills, but most importantly, students need to prepare for unexpected challenges and to be resourceful and reflective of their practice. The paper includes the history of the class and the program; the course’s pedagogical methodology, and the successes and challenges of a multi-disciplinary classroom (for both students & faculty), where social sciences and design frameworks are explored side by side, resulting in innovative multidisciplinary approaches to project design, needs assessment, program development, project implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

11:30 AM Technologies of Research and Teaching in the Pacific by Dr. Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul and Dale Fitchett (Presenting from New Zealand).

Abstract: This paper engages in a series of questions arising from the potentials and pitfalls of using digital technologies in teaching and research in Pacific communities. As will become clear, we were unable to answer these questions during our recent projects in the Cook Islands (Dale) and Samoa (Tina). We are colleagues working together in the Department of Postgraduate Studies of the School of Art and Design, AUT University, and our projects were framed by the conditions driving university strategies in Aotearoa/New Zealand: the imperatives of the knowledge economy and the increasing globalisation in the Pacific. Technologies, be they the specific practices involved in distance learning and teaching, or those driving design collaborations or research through digital means, always correspond to “technologies of the self” (Foucault). These technologies’ formation is significantly influenced by lasting discrepancies in the global flows of information, technologies, people and capital. Research and teaching are inevitably caught up in this predicament. Two case studies (of a Master of Art and Design programme delivered in the Cook Islands and a research project in Samoa/Germany about traditional art and architecture in the globalised leisure industries) provide tangible contexts for this paper. They will propel a wider discussion of cross-cultural collaborations in indigenous and economically disadvantaged communities in the Pacific.

12:00 PM Designing Educational Media that Support Indigenous and Vernacular
Knowledge Systems (Keynote presentation)
by Ron Eglash.

Abstract: The term “indigenous communities” refers to traditional societies; typically those that had the bad luck of being at home when European colonists arrived. Their knowledge systems include sophisticated adaptations to challenging ecosystems, and can be modeled by computer simulations, such as fractal models for African architecture. Vernacular knowledge systems include the practices that low-income urban groups develop, such as graffiti and breakdance. These too can be simulated by
computing. Such simulations of indigenous and vernacular knowledge systems can be profound educational tools for the children of these communities, and may even offer professional design opportunities. However a great deal of caution must be used by designers working with these groups, since this process can exploit their cultural capital or violate their cultural norms. This talk will describe the work we have carried out with these groups and the efforts we have made to ensure that the outcome is beneficial to them and guided by their own priorities.

An African Bicycle for Women: A design task in a multicultural, interactional context (a keynote poster paper) by Qassim Saad (Presenting from New Zealand).

Abstract: Interdesign-2005 in South Africa addressed “Sustainable Rural Transportation, Technology for Developing Countries,” a challenging problem for developing countries, especially their rural communities. The mainstream of design practices now addresses sustainability and seeks ways to use design knowledge and practice to achieve optimal sustainable solutions. In line with this direction, Interdesign-2005 initiated practices to incorporate the active participation of rural village people to understand their needs and desires and then fulfill these by creating sustainable solutions. These practices seek solutions to the needs of sustainable rural transport, while also promoting job creation, with the aim of improving the quality of life for those in rural communities in Africa. This practical example has continued to progress. In 2006 the new designs for vehicles were built and tested, the goal now is to construct the first workshop for production. This study examines these cooperative efforts between national and international designers in advancing this practical example, demonstrating the role of design and cultural practices in sustainable development. It is also a reflection on how my involvement in this context has contributed to my practice as a designer and researcher.

Designing Socially Inclusive Educational Resources by Gloria Gomez (Presenting from New Zealand)

Abstract: Only in recent years I have started to critically analyze the work I do as a design practitioner and researcher. No matter how large or small is the project we contribute our design skills to, what we design impact people’s lives at cognitive, motor and social levels.

By applying user-centred design principles to the development of an educational product, I stumbled at the doors of the concept “inclusive design”. A designed product becomes inclusive, if a design process considers the common functional capabilities of all the people who will be interacting with such product. By analysing an educational product using gender-and-identity concepts, I found out that my design process was informed by feminist design thinking. The literature says this type of thinking has more to do with the sensibility that women bring to design than a 60’s feminist perspective. That sensibility is reflected in a design process that considers 1) the softer aspects of design (e.g. ergonomic, ease and balance in-use) and 2) the social aspects of the impact of design.

This poster summarises the concepts above described and explains how and why the features of my educational product impacted the science and literacy educational experiences of children and teachers in three preschool classrooms in Australia and the United States. The user-centred shift in the research and development of design products can be useful to those interested in approaches to implement socially inclusive learning environments.

About The Author

Michele Washington

I am a designer, design critic and educator, I love doodling and tinkering with objects that I collect from my global travels.

Other posts by

Author his web sitehttp://officeofmichelewashington.com

27

10 2010

Your Comment

Fill me in *