10-12 July 2008
CHANGING THE CHANGE: DESIGN VISIONS, PROPOSALS AND TOOLS
An international conference on the role and potential of design
research in the transition towards sustainability
Torino, Italy
http://www.changingthechange.org
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Organised by Co-ordination of Italian Design Research Doctorates
in cooperation with the
Conference of Italian Design Faculty Deans and Programme Heads
In the framework of WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL TORINO 2008
An ICSID initiative of the IDA
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Endorsed by the Design Research Society
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The conference "Changing the Change" seeks to make a significant
contribution to a necessary transformation that involves changing the
direction of current changes toward a sustainable future. It
specifically intends to outline the state-of-the-art of design
research in terms of visions, proposals and tools with which design
can actively and positively take part in the wider social learning
process that will have to take place. At the heart of the conference,
design researchers will present concrete and documentable research
results. This will be complemented by invited keynote speaker
presentations that will help paint a clearer picture of the common
ground from which the conference will take off.
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AIMS
The conference seeks to make a significant contribution to the
twofold transformation underway. It specifically intends to outline
the state-of-the-art of design research in terms of vision, proposals
and tools with which design can actively and positively take part in
the wider social learning process that we refer to as "changing the
change." The conference has a double aim:
- to consolidate a design research culture and practice oriented
towards a constructive critical attitude able to reach all design
disciplines. The conference intends to focus on the way in which the
question of "changing the change" is present and widespread
throughout the research community and in relation to all design
fields: from product design to communication design; from interior
design to interaction, service and strategic design; from social
design to fashion design.
- to outline the state-of-the-art of contributions that design
research is today able to bring to social conversation about the
future. The conference seeks to bring visibility to significant
results. This with particular attention to visions of the future, to
feasible solutions and to tools to help bring them into being. It
will also enable us to make of the conference and its published
output a tool for communication with the outside world; a tool able
to demonstrate what design research can offer today to help
re-orientate the transformation underway.
In view of these aims, the conference will centre on the presentation
of research results that could make a positive contribution to
'changing the change'. It will welcome contributions that take as
their starting point transformations that have already taken place
and those underway, and the necessity to re-orient them towards more
sustainable outcomes. It hopes to present the widest range of
possible world visions, feasible proposals and the design tools that
could bring them into being.
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THEMES
The field of interest of the conference is vast and will be divided
into various specific themes within which more precise, focused
discussion will be possible. This organisation into specific themes
will be undertaken after contributions have been selected, so as to
take into account what will actually be proposed. For the moment we
only indicate an initial, general division into the three themes
already introduced: visions, proposals and tools. Visions: this
section will present research results that lead us to imagine
possible worlds, or parts of possible worlds. It includes the results
of activities in the field of scenario design and more general
visions produced by research into specific products, communications
and services. It also includes a comparative analysis of visions
emerging from design history and from a comparison of different
cultures.
Proposals: this section presents results of design research that give
rise to concrete solutions containing elements of systemic
innovation. They are also legible as concrete steps towards a new
generation of sustainable products, services and systems. So,
products, services and product and service systems are proposed along
with the communicative artefacts that link several actors and
artefacts together. It also proposes places for a new everyday life,
the activities that take place within them and the new production and
consumption networks that emerge from them. Tools: this section
presents the results of research that aims to redefine and develop
conceptual and operational tools which enable designers to operate
within change and influence its direction. Such tools enable them to
participate constructively in new design networks, and deal with
emerging problems. Tools may be proposed for conceptualisation and
representation, for calculation and appraisal of results or for
stimulation and prototype making.
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AUDIENCE
The conference will mainly be a meeting point for academics,
researchers and research students in the field of design theory and
practice. However, in uniting a high academic level with the effort
to present concrete results of activities carried out, it will also
be of considerable interest to the wider design community and to
those economic and social operators who recognise the potential of
design practice and design research.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Abstracts should be between 500 and 700 words long, excluding the
bibliography. The deadline for the reception of abstracts is January
21, 2008. Reception of abstracts will be acknowledged and notices of
acceptance or rejection will be sent by March 3, 2008. The abstracts
will be evaluated and selected by a blind peer review process. Full
papers are limited to 6000 words. The deadline for full papers is on
May 26, 2008.
Selection criteria
The abstracts will be evaluated and selected by a blind peer review
process. Coherently with the conference aims, the Peer Review
Committee will base its decisions on three major criteria: (1)
relevance to the topics of "Changing the change"? as outlined below
and in the website, (2) focalisation, in terms of clarity of the
vision, of the proposal or the design tool and theory they present,
and (3) reliability, in terms of the quality of the design research
on which the paper is based.
More precisely:
- abstracts must be clearly defined as visions, proposals or design
tools and theories (please select the proper option at the head of
the abstract template and delete the others) : visions refer to
scenarios of possible worlds, or parts of possible worlds; proposals
present specific solutions to specific problems; tools and theories
introduce conceptual and operational devices enabling designers to
operate in contemporary contexts.
- abstracts must clearly refer to the contemporary context and to its
on-going transformations (considering the different ways they are
taking place in different regions of the world). In this framework,
they should present design research results that, moving from a deep
understanding of these transformations, propose a design contribution
involving a re-orientation towards more sustainable directions.
- abstracts must present design research results and clearly indicate
the specific research programme they are based on (with its aims,
methodology and main actors). Given these three pre-requisites,
abstracts (and the papers that will follow) can deal with any topics
in any design fields: from product to communication; from interior to
interaction; from service to strategy; from social design to fashion.
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CALL FOR VISUALISATIONS
Special consideration will be dedicated to abstracts/papers
presenting design research projects with highly communicative visual
results.
Therefore, together with the abstract/paper, a visualisation can be
submitted as material for an exhibition that will be organized
parallel to the Conference.
The visualisations do not substitute the papers. To be accepted for
evaluation they have to refer to a paper that has to be selected by
the Peer review Committee.
The conference will host an exhibition based on the visualisations
proposed by selected papers. These visualisations are not the
traditional scientific posters. They are visual presentations of
design research results. They have to show visions of possible worlds
and proposals for sustainable solutions. Whoever intends to deliver a
visualisation must submit a first draft together with the abstract of
the paper presenting the research on which the visualization is
based. (Deadline: January 21, 2008)
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PUBLICATIONS
All selected and presented papers will be published on line, and
placed in the conference website in printable form.
A special peer review jury will adjudicate the best papers
submitted. The best papers and the presentations of the keynote
speakers will be published in book form.
http://www.changingthechange.org
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