||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| D R S _ N E W S The electronic newsletter of the Design Research Society Volume 4, Number 5 May 1999 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| CONTENTS o Editor's space o Obituary: E. F. O'Doherty o DRS Conference: How do you get a 5* rating? o DRS Conference: CoDesigning 2000 o ARIAD now online o Design Studies journal o Announcements & Calls for Papers o Cyber News o The Design Research Society: details of membership o Electronic Services of the DRS o Contributing to DRS_NEWS ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| EDITOR'S SPACE There is a DRS event coming up at Brunel University, from one of the highest rated research departments in design in the UK, and they are apparently going to tell us how it's done... There is also the announcement below of a major DRS sponsored conference next year on the subject of 'co' designing, interpreted as any development where design as a group process is explored. There is also yet another obituary, a celebration of the life of one of the DRS founders. ...and the ARIAD is online at last. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| E F O'Doherty 1918-1998 (a memoir written at the suggestion of Fionan de Barra and Conall O Cathain for DRS news) Monsignor Feichin O'Doherty, formerly professor of Logic and Psychology at University College Dublin, and one of the founders of the Design Research Society, died in Dublin on 9th September 1998 after a long illness. 'By over-using the word design we may have emptied it of all content ... the vagueness is due to a confusion between three different kinds of process: simple sensory-motor skills, phantasmal capacity... (...a capacity to form images...)... and conceptual capacity.' My memories of Feichin begin in the mid-fifties when I met him at an ergonomics conference in Zurich. There I discovered that he was not only a priest but a person of astonishing modernity and ability. He was at one time a member of a United Nations committee on mental health, an initiator of the Human Sciences Committee of Ireland, a former student of Frederic Bartlett at Cambridge (where he attended also the lectures of Ludwig Wittgenstein), a student of both the Russell-Whitehead and the Jan Lukasiewicz forms of symbolic logic, a practicing psycho-analyst, well-informed in both Freudian and Jungian theories, a psychological assessor of Aer Lingus pilots , an experimental psychologist notable for his studies of artistic skills and of bi-lingualism, an informed student of the works of James Joyce, and in his early days one of the modernisers of Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. Because his parents were active in the Irish republican movement the family had to flee to the USA during the period of political troubles. I also remember him telling me how he escaped from wartime Italy disguised as a deck hand on a cargo ship. On arrival in Dublin he was summoned by the Bishop. Expecting to be congratulated on his adventurous escape he was admonished for abandoning priestly dress and for acting outside his calling. In later life he developed a talent for administration, becoming for a period the registrar of his university. '...I am going to suggest that in respect of the creative act the conceptual break-through comes first ... we assume that the order of knowledge is from the particular to the general, from the sensory to the abstract .... The truth is even more startling. It is that the order of knowledge is from the general to the more determinate.' But what did he do in those early days of design research? Looking now at the transcription of what he said at the Conference on Design Methods, London 1962*, I am struck both by the range of his perceptions and the logic of his assertions. His talk was called 'Psychological aspects of the creative act': it is one of clearest and most informative statements I know on this supposedly irrational topic. '...the extent to which consciousness intervenes between the perceptual process and the skilled operation of driving a car is a measure of our lack of skill ... But ... conscious control is the essential thing in the creative act...' Having reached the end of what I am going to write about Feichin's work and his life I will now insert some abbreviated quotations, chosen by chance, between the paragraphs of this brief memoir. '...Learning a rote-repetitive type of response is well within the range of competence of many animals. But skill is an adaptive response, borne in the form of kinesthetic images ...' I am of course sad to think that Feichin has gone but I am very glad that he lived and I am aware of his continued presence, and his influence, in the work that we are still doing. I imagine that his own work in this field has yet to be fully appreciated. ------------------------------------------------- *E F O'Doherty, 'Psychological aspects of the creative act', in Conference on Design Methods, London 1962, edited by J Christopher Jones and D G Thornley, Pergamon Press, Oxford 1963. john chris jones, 24 April 1999 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| HOW DO YOU GET A 5A* RAE RATING? Department of Design, Brunel University Design Research Workshop and Open Day Tuesday 15th June 1999 - 25 UK pounds 10.00 - 15.30 Venue: Department of Design, Brunel University, Egham, Surrey Over the last 10 years the Department of Design at Brunel University has developed a successful portfolio of research activities. In the 1992 RAE the department achieved a 5A rating, in the 1996 RAE a 5A* rating was awarded. On Tuesday 15th June the Department of Design will be hosting a workshop and open day aimed at anyone interested in finding out more about these activities. A provisional agenda is detailed below. If you would like to attend this unique event please send your details and a cheque for 25 made payable to Brunel University to:- Lesley Jenkinson Design Research Centre Department of Design Brunel University Egham Surrey TW20 0JZ Tel: 01784-432111 Fax: 01784-432777 Email:[log in to unmask] If you would like further details please phone/fax/email Lesley at the contact numbers listed. AGENDA: TUESDAY 15TH JUNE 10.00 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE 10.30 CHAIRMAN DR TOM INNS, DESIGN RESEARCH CENTRE 10.35 INTRODUCTION PROFESSOR PETER ISHERWOOD, DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN 10.45 ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE DESIGN RESEARCH DR DAVID HARRISON 11.15 DESIGN FOR LIFE CENTRE RUSSELL MANOY 11.45 DESIGN RESEARCH CENTRE DR TOM INNS 12.15 LUNCH WITH AN OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT THE DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN 1999 DEGREE SHOW AND INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH CENTRES 13.45 CENTRE FOR NEURAL COMPUTING APPLICATIONS DR CHRIS KIRKHAM 14.15 DESIGN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH NAOMI GORNICK 14.45 INTERACTION DESIGN DR GEORGE SIMPSON/CHRISTINE FISHER 15.15 DISCUSSION 15.30 CLOSE (For non-UK readers, the Research Assessment Exercise is a national peer assessment of the quality of research conducted in university subject areas. A rating is given on a scale 1-5. The * means excellence on top of excellence - Ed.) ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| CoDesigning 2000 11 - 13 September 2000 An International Conference of the Design Research Society In recent years, the view of design as an essentially individual creative activity has come under increasing question. Instead, for a variety of reasons, design is being viewed, studied and developed as a collective, collaborative, even community process. At the same time, the role of computers and collaboration technology in supporting design has emerged as a major research topic. This conference aims to explore these diverse developments and hence the co in CoDesigning is intended to convey multiple meanings. It covers for example collaborative, cooperative, concurrent, user centred, participatory, socio-technical and community design. In other words, any development where design as a group process is explored. Papers are welcomed that present theories, report empirical studies, methods, tools and techniques of CoDesigning. Call for Papers A 200 word abstract of the proposed paper should sent to the Conference Administrator no later than January 14th 2000 one single printed copy in addition to an electronic copy, preferably in MS Word format. If possible this should be sent via email to [log in to unmask] where an acknowledgement will be returned to the sender. The conference referees will review the abstracts by the 18th February 2000 and successful authors will be asked to produce a full text of their paper in a standard format and preferred media, not later than 21st April 2000. The papers will be fully refereed and authors advised of the outcome by 16th June 2000. Subject Areas Submissions on all aspects of CoDesigning are welcome. A prize for the best CoDesigning 2000 paper will be awarded by the Design Research Society. CoDesigning is supported by the Design Research Society. Conference Chair Professor Stephen AR Scrivener Design Research Centre Colour and Imaging Institute University of Derby Kingsway House Kingsway Derby DE22 3HL, UK Tel: +44(0)1332 622222 x3101 Fax: +44(0)1332 622218 Email: [log in to unmask] Conference Administrator Linda Marshall LM Conferences 17 Nottingham Road Keyworth Nottingham NG12 5FB, UK Tel: +44(0)115 9376070 Fax: +44(0)115 9375271 Email: [log in to unmask] ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ARIAD ON-LINE The Design Research Society is pleased to announce that the Allison Research Index of Art and Design (ARIAD) database is now available on-line at <http://www.ariad.co.uk>. The ARIAD is supported by the Design Research Society, the Design Council, the Arts Council of England, the National Society for Education and Design and the Chartered Society of Designers in the UK as ARIAD Editorial Associates. The website includes the UK ARIAD second edition (1996), the ARIAD-Australia (1996) and the ARIAD Supervisors and Examiners (1995) database and provides free access to information about thousands of research projects and organisations for art and design in both the UK and Australia. The updating of all the databases will begin shortly and will be carried out on-line. It is planned for the databases to be updated continuously in the future. Information about the procedures for submitting new entries will be sent out as soon as they are finalised and it is hoped that all researchers will cooperate in ensuring that the databases continue to be a vital resource and source of research information. ARIAD is edited by DRS member Professor Brian Allison and is sponsored by Schoolart <http://www.schoolart.com>. You are invited to visit ARIAD at <http://www.ariad.co.uk> and comments and feedback on the site and services are welcomed. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DESIGN STUDIES CONTENTS OF VOLUME 20, NO. 3, MAY 1999 Product development process modelling RP Smith, JA Morrow Metrics for design projects: a review HA Bashir, V Thomson Analytical design planning technique: a model of the detailed building design process SA Austin, A Baldwin, B Li, P Waskett Effective design management for small business D Vazquez, R Cooper, M Bruce ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ANNOUNCEMENTS & CALLS FOR PAPERS * I would like to inform you about a project that is taking place in a few months which has been in production over the last 9 months and is ready to accept applications from design students anywhere in the world. Om'nium[vds] virtual design studio '99 this event is being hosted by the College of Fine Arts , University of New South Wales and will run for six weeks in July and August, 1999. The event will later be reported at a design education conference in Sydney in October and aims to involve students who participated in coming to Australia to share their experiences of design via the internet with the international conference delegates. the project will involve 50 students working in small collaborative groups across design and applied arts disciplines tackling a common conceptually based brief. Each student working on the project will be geographically distanced and work with a provided interface to allow technology to take a second place to the possibilities of internet based creative experimentation. Om'nium [vds] is calling for entries from design students any where in the world and has already attracted interest from students, practitioners and education institutions around the globe. The closing date for applications is June 30th 1999. If you could check out the details of the project and a related conference in Australia where the outcomes will be analysed this may give you further clarification of the project. www.omnium.unsw.edu.au A promotional CD-Rom presentation has been produced to indicate details of the project and this can be sent to you on request. i would love to hear from you with feedback to this proposal and hope that you can pass on details of the project to your respective students. Please contact me either by e-mail or via the message boards at he Om'nium website. I look forward to collaborating with you, your students and your institution in this exciting internet project. * CALL FOR PAPERS You may wish to note that an international conference addressing issues of tribology related to product environmental design is being organised in the UK for September 2000. Further details may be obtained from http://www.designforlifecycle.org/ted2000.htm Conference brochures may be obtained by emailing [log in to unmask] * information for the Student Design Competition - Creating Legible Environments - is now online at: http://www.adaptenv.org/21century/ student_design_competition.htm Your review, and any questions that you have will be very helpful. We will answer questions and post them on the site, so that other people will benefit from the information. * The SEGD web site, SEGDOnline, is now live at www.SEGD.org. The site is intended to be useful for anyone involved in environmental graphic design and I hope you will visit us. It features a gallery of the annual Design Awards Program winners, a Guest Chat room, a regularly updated Job Bank and a Marketplace section with information on products and Services. As well as finding out the latest information on the annual conference and expo, you can also register for both events online. In the Membership section, current members can renew and new members can join directly from the site. New areas are being added over the next few weeks, and many parts of the site will be updated frequently, so check back regularly. * 14-18 June 2000: CALL for Proposals, Designing for the 21st Century II, An International Conference on Universal Design. The CALL for Proposals, Designing for the 21st Century II is online at http://www.adaptenv.org/21century/. This includes the RFP for Pre-conference Intensive Sessions. Proposals must be received by September 1, 1999. The CALL extends the following invitation: "We invite you to present your work and demonstrate its contribution to making the world fit for all people. Please join us in this vital international dialogue. Our participants are leaders in universal design development, education and advocacy around the world, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience. They need and expect cutting edge information and practical solutions for Designing for the 21st Century. The 2000 conference will be a leap to the next developmental stage of universal design education and practice. We will showcase state of the art universal design solutions addressing the needs of people across the life span and worldwide innovations in environments, products and information technology. We will offer forums that consider universal design in the larger context of social justice, sustainable development and successful business practice. We welcome your responses on emerging issues such as universal design in developing nations; hidden disabilities including cognitive impairment and chemical sensitivity; affordability; workplace technology. Please submit proposals that illustrate real world experiences. Share your successes - even tell us what you've learned from what did'nt work - with colleagues from around the globe. We are especially interested in proposals that demonstrate the involvement of diverse users" * The Institute on Independent Living reports that TIME magazine recognises Adolf Ratzka, Director of the Institute. In its special Winter 98/99 edition, entitled "Visions of Europe", TIME magazine presents the political, social and economic experiments that will shape Europe in the 21st century. Among the key players working for social change in Europe, TIME distinguishes disabled activist Adolf D. Ratzka, Ph.D., one of the leaders in the European disability rights and Independent Living movement. "In the article, TIME recognises disability as a profoundly political issue in contrast to the still prevailing view of disabled people as objects of care, pity and humanitarian concerns. I am convinced that now, at the turn of the millennium, disabled people are at the threshold of a world-wide recognition of their human and civil rights", comments Adolf Ratzka. You can read the interview with Dr. Ratzka on the Institute for Independent Living website at: (http://www.independentliving.org/LibArt/Time.html). The article reviews his work, and the systemic changes that he has initiated. Ratzka notes that there are still obstacles to overcome. "I cannot go by ordinary bus," he says. "Is that because I had polio 37 years ago, or because the transport authority doesn't buy buses that will work for everybody?" Ratzka is not only an activist, he is a prolific writer. The website http://www.independentliving.org) has a huge collection of his writing and many other materials related to human rights, accessibility and some on universal design. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| CYBER NEWS: snippets from the networks * The Barcelona Design Website is now online, at http://www.bcndesign.org It has two areas, one presenting specific information about this year's Design in Spring events in Barcelona, another one (BCN Design) offering general design-related information. This includes a Search Engine cataloguing online design resources and websites. It is a gateway to design exhibitions, databases, research sources and utilities. * Edward Tufte, _Visual Explanations_ There is a review posted at http://www.mantex.co.uk/reviews/tufte-01.htm * Some of you will know that the Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative recently published an Evaluation Cookbook, giving descriptions of methods that can be used to evaluate the use of learning technology in higher education. This cookbook is now available online from http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/cookbook/ (you can choose whether you want to browse online or get a printout of the entire booklet) * The April issue of Educational Technology & Society, peer-reviewed online journal, is now available in HTML and PDF format. It is freely accessible at: http://ifets.gmd.de/periodical/ * This draws your attention to 'i-design' web site. Basically it's an attempt to progress the research project, which is named as 'Human Computer Interface Design and the Social Psychology of the Internet', through active participation on the Net. In addition, this web site is intended to be an active resource for understanding the various elements of the research area. At the moment it is going through a process of evaluation on the Net. Therefore, I would be delighted if you could have a look at, and join the process of the research and web site. You can access 'i-design' web site at: http://www.i-design.org Particularly, the web site has an online discussion site which is expecting to contribute the project some latest thoughts and information. Please visit the forum, and start a new thread with your particular subject. You can directly access 'i-design forum' at: http://www.i-design.org/discussion/ * The CAAD Futures foundation, which has initiated an authoritative series of conferences on CAAD, now has a website. The url is: http://www.caadfutures.arch.tue.nl The website is in its first phase of completion, and features a database of article-titles, authors, etc. and other documentation of the foundation. In the second phase, abstracts of all papers will become available online. * An article tells how Lunar Design (Palo Alto, California) is changing the way of doing business in industrial design by taking equity in their clients' businesses. You can also get the article online: http://www.inc.com/issue/april99/ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY The Design Research Society was established in 1967, reflecting a belief among academics and professionals from different design communities that the essence of the activity called design was common to many disciplines. The Society has facilitated an international design research network in 35 countries comprising members who maintain contact through the publications and activities of the Society. Members are drawn from diverse backgrounds, not only from the traditional areas of design, ranging from fine art to engineering, but also from subjects like psychology and computer science. The goals of the Society are to: o promote communication across the boundaries of all design disciplines o provide a forum to exchange and communicate ideas, experience and research findings o promote the improvement of practical design performance in all its aspects o contribute to the development of a coherent body of scholarship and knowledge in design Membership is open to individuals and costs only UK pounds 15 per year. Members are entitled to the following: o Newsletter of the Society o Reduced rate subscription to the journal 'Design Studies', published in association with the Society by Elsevier- Butterworth-Heinemann o Occasional mailings to members o Invitations and reduced admission charges to seminars and conferences organised by the Society For further details and an application form, contact the membership secretary: Professor Robert Jerrard, School of Design Research, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, University of Central England, Corporation Street, Birmingham, UK B4 7DX tel: +44 (0)121 331 7807 fax: +44 (0)121 333 5569 email <[log in to unmask] ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ELECTRONIC SERVICES OF THE DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY The full range of services available are: DRS ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER DRS_NEWS is the electronic newsletter of the Design Research Society. It communicates news about research throughout the world. It is mailed automatically at the beginning of each month. To have monthly copies of DRS_NEWS emailed to you automatically, it is necessary to join the 'Design-Research' mailing list. Send an email message to: [log in to unmask] (leave the 'subject' line blank ie. press 'return') Type a message which reads: JOIN DESIGN-RESEARCH yourFirstName yourLastName Past copies of DRS_NEWS can also be found at <http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/design-research listed by month. DRS DISCUSSION LIST DRS is a discussion list open for unmoderated discussion on all matters related to design research. To monitor and/or join discussions on design research emailed to you automatically it is necessary to join the 'DRS' mailing list. Send an email message to: [log in to unmask] (leave the 'subject' line blank ie. press 'return') Type a message which reads: JOIN DRS yourFirstName yourLastName Archived copies of these discussions can also be found at <http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/drs listed by month. PhD IN DESIGN DISCUSSION LIST PHD-DESIGN is a discussion list open for unmoderated discussion on all matters related to the PhD in design. To monitor and/or join discussions on the PhD in design emailed to you automatically it is necessary to join the 'PHD-DESIGN' mailing list. Send an email message to: [log in to unmask] (leave the 'subject' line blank ie. press 'return') Type a message which reads: JOIN PHD-DESIGN yourFirstName yourLastName Archived copies of these discussions can also be found at <http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/phd-design listed by month. GENERAL INFORMATION Further information about the Design Research Society can be found at: <http://www.drs.org.uk> ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| CONTRIBUTIONS ...and finally - for inclusion in future DRS_NEWS please send any contributions to the editor. Email is preferred. Send to DRS_NEWS editor: Dr. David Durling, Director of Research, School of Art & Design, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2XN, UK. Tel: +44(0)1782 294556 [direct, 24 hr.] Fax: +44(0)1782 294873 Email: <[log in to unmask] ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%