Lansdown Lecture on 22 October: Alan Blackwell of Cambridge University on 
Interdisciplinary Design

Date: 22 October 2008
Location: Lansdown Centre, Middlesex University 
              Cat Hill, Barnet EN4 8HT, UK
When: 4:45pm
Admission: free
Further info: Stephen Boyd Davis <[log in to unmask]>
Web page:  http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/?location_id=85&item=21

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And a reminder for Wednesday 8 October...
"The Age of Electronic Art" Lansdown Lecture by Dianne Harris, Art Director, Kinetica 
Museum, London
Web page:  http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/?location_id=85&item=20
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The Art of Interdisciplinary Design - Academic Catalyst or Prion?

The Crucible network for research in interdisciplinary design has been subverting the 
structures and traditions of Cambridge University for seven years. At the end of this 
journeyman period, we're asking what it means to be a designer in a university. Is it wise 
for intellectuals to aspire to studios of thinking, workshops, apprenticeships, cultures of 
making, client briefs and reflective practices? Or might design innovators, like Steerpike, 
be the Machiavellian arsonists of a research Gormenghast? Current research policy 
strongly favours interdisciplinary design thinking - but is this a catalyst for innovation or 
a prion that destroys it? This talk will present numerous examples of Crucible research, 
and reflect on public policy and best practice for interdisciplinary design and innovation.


About the speaker

Alan Blackwell was recently appointed to a Readership in Interdisciplinary Design at the 
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, having prior qualifications in professional 
engineering, computing and experimental psychology. He has 20 years experience of 
designing industrial systems, electronic and software products. He has taught design 
courses and supervised postgraduate design research students in Computing, 
Architecture, Psychology, Languages, Music and Engineering. He is a fellow of Darwin 
College, a director of Living East, the cultural consortium for the East of England, and 
founding co-director of the Crucible network for research in interdisciplinary design.

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_____________________________________________________________
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts  EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
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The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/