In response to Nicola,
A main thread of our program here is addressing issues of awareness in our
students to expanded uses of their design education. This includes application
of design methodology to a humanitarian problem in the 4th year. This year it
was design for learning environments for disabled children. It is interesting
that you bring this up and mention Peter Butenschon's keynote address. As I
mentioned in my previous email the ICSID Congress picked up the humanitarian
thread most strongly. So as our profession matures it is also logical that what
was once one or two voices in the wilderness has become a stated ideal by
ICSID. Do we then create an entity called Designers for Social Responsibility
or some such? A colleague here and myself had this conversation in the hall and
I mentioned the work of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and another
organisation comes to mind, The American Civil Liberties Union, which Americans
may know devote their time to the protection of the human rights stated in the
Bill of Rights, such as the right to free speech, etc. What do you think?
Jan
Jan Coker
Lecturer in Industrial Design
Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design
City West Campus, North Terrace
Adelaide, South Australia 5000
Telephone: +61 8 8302 6919
Facsimile: +61 8 8302 0211
email: [log in to unmask]
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