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D R S _ N E W S
The electronic newsletter of the Design Research Society
Volume 4, Number 5
May 1999
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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
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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.
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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
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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.)
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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]
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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.
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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
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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.
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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/
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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]
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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>
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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]
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