Hi all,
Thanks Ken for sparking my first reply to this list, having been a quiet observer for many years. I email from a place of privilege, where most of my work interruptions and frustrations stem from my partners squeaky office chair and the leaf blower of my neighbour.
My research is largely concerned with the role and value of communication design within Aboriginal communities in Australia. I’m three months in to my first role in the ‘academy’ as an early career development fellow and communication design lecturer at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. It’s been an interesting introduction 😊
Things I’m working on and thinking about:
* My thesis Ntaria Design: A Western Arrarnta Imagining of Digital Drawing and Communication Design<https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/items/9b43eb8c-c32b-4e92-8c96-6d1c3cb9f349/1/> was recently awarded. Completed at Swinburne University under the supervision of Dr Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek and Prof Karel van der Waarde. The thesis investigated the introduction, meaning, and value of digital drawing and communication design education to Aboriginal young adults from Ntaria, a small community in the Central Desert of Australia. I’d love to hear from others exploring local cultural imaginings of design outside Eurocentric perspectives.
* I’m working on publishing parts of the thesis into digestible journal articles – continuing to explore how Aboriginal youth are imagining design from their own perspectives<http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/list/author_id/1337059>.
* My current research interests largely stem from opportunities presented from the thesis – drawing on participatory action and strength-based approaches to explore pathways for Indigenous access, participation, and representation in commercial design practices, design history, and design education in Australia
* I’m currently teaching and developing a course on communication design ethics with my ‘woke’ student cohort. I draw on the work of Paul Nini, Mike Monteiro, and Sasha Costanza-Chock (among others) with a particular focus on the ethical obligations of designers to the people who will use/see/engage with their designs. Would love any resource suggestions and happy to share experiences with other educators working within this space.
* With my colleagues at RMIT, we are thinking about ways to foster belonging within our communication design student cohort during isolation, in particular how to encourage and support student-led initiatives throughout our upcoming semester break.
Hope all are safe and well - I appreciate the opportunity to engage with a digital community during these isolating times.
Cheers,
Nicola
Dr Nicola St John
Lecturer, Communication Design - Early Career Development Fellow
School of Design, College of Design and Social Context
RMIT University, Australia
Tel: +61 424 417 529
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their ancestors and elders, past and present.
RMIT also acknowledges the traditional custodians and their ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
RMIT University ranked 5 ★, 1st in Southern Hemisphere and 12th in the world for Art and Design. (World University Rankings 2019)
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