Narrating the past: virtual environments and narrative

This paper explores how traditional narrative language used in film and theatre can be adapted to create interactivity and a greater sense of presence in the virtual heritage environment. It focuses on the fundamental principles of narrative required to create immersion and presence and investigates methods of embedding intangible social histories into these environments. These issues are explored in a case study of Greens Mill in the 1830’s, interweaving the story of the reform bill riots in Nottingham with the life of George Green, mathematician and proprietor of the Mill

Toward a more accessible cultural heritage. Experiences, methodologies and tools.

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

RE-FRAME FASHION Report. Innovation in Fashion Education

RE-FRAME FASHION is a two-year Strategic Partnerships project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. Its aim is to understand the needs of fashion industry stakeholders and provide students with the right tool set to meet these needs. The transnational project is designed and executed by three European universities - Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL), Université ParisDauphine - PSL (FR), Gda?sk University of Technology (PL) - together with fashion industry partners. This report provides an overview of the final project results. With the international collaboration, the following three high quality courses were developed and piloted in three HEIs in close collaboration with non-academic fashion partners: 1. “Sustainability in Fashion” developed and piloted by Université ParisDauphine - PSL, 2. “Entrepreneurship and Creativity in Fashion” developed and piloted by Gda?sk University of Technology, 3. “Heritage and Fashion” developed and piloted by the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Furthemore, the report delves into the methodology behind the courses and discusses the methods used to foster students’ engagement, critical thinking and the involvement of stakeholders. The course “Sustainability in Fashion” was developed together with key industry partner Le Coq Sportif. The course delved into the current debates in the fashion industry concerning sustainability, and was organized along six themes: the consumption of clothes, the production of clothes, the design of clothes, the choice of materials, the role and impact of communication, and the work environment (local and global). Field trips were a key aspect of the course, which encouraged students to interact with industry experts and keeping logbooks of these interactions. The course was well received and will be continued in three curriculum: it is renewed in the Master Marketing & Strategy but adapted to two different tracks, Communication and Luxury, and proposed in the Master Fashion & Materials of Paris Fashion School by PSL (École Nationale de Mode et Matière, EnaMoMa) as a core course on sustainability. The course “Entrepreneurship and Creativity in Fashion” was developed with key industry partner You’ll, a marketing agency. The aim was to familiarize students with the concept of entrepreneurship, introducing the fashion industry and sensitising students to sustainability issues and cultural aspects of fashion. Due to the highly interactive character of the course, it was well received and will be continued in the curriculum of the master programme International Management (IM) at Gda?sk University of Technology. “Heritage in Fashion” was developed with a key fashion partner, the European Fashion Heritage Association (EFHA). During the course students developed case studies related to the various challenges faced by the EFHA. Case-based learning was at the centre of the teaching method employed throughout the course. In the reflection upon the course, students mentioned they felt challenged and were very satisfied with the course overall. The course is continued in the next academic year as part of the curriculum of the Master in History, track GLOCAL, Global Markets Local Markets. RE-FRAME FASHION Strategic Partnerships project allowed for a deep reflection by the project team of its own practices and approaches, accounting for a variety of geographic, economic and sociocultural contexts, in a critical period where academia, industry and society are deeply changing. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that all courses developed in this project were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the courses relied heavily on field trips and interaction with students and fashion industry stakeholders, some parts of the courses had to be readapted to a digital learning environment. Nevertheless, the project team used all the tools to ensure the best learning experience for the students, and with all adaptations the courses were well received by both students and fashion industry partners. In conclusion, RE-FRAME FASHION managed to contribute to the acquisition of sustainability skills, cognitive and emotional attitudes, interdisciplinary knowledge, community and social learning, aspects that are highly valued by the European Commission. The three new courses are the steppingstones towards an International Master in Fashion Industry (IMFI) that is international, transdisciplinary, and inclusive. The team is looking forward to continuing working together, enlarging the network of partners, building on the new courses and methods and inspiring other academics, professionals and students to engage in innovative education

Mobile heritage practices. Implications for scholarly research, user experience design, and evaluation methods using mobile apps.

Mobile heritage apps have become one of the most popular means for audience engagement and curation of museum collections and heritage contexts. This raises practical and ethical questions for both researchers and practitioners, such as: what kind of audience engagement can be built using mobile apps? what are the current approaches? how can audience engagement with these experience be evaluated? how can those experiences be made more resilient, and in turn sustainable? In this thesis I explore experience design scholarships together with personal professional insights to analyse digital heritage practices with a view to accelerating thinking about and critique of mobile apps in particular. As a result, the chapters that follow here look at the evolution of digital heritage practices, examining the cultural, societal, and technological contexts in which mobile heritage apps are developed by the creative media industry, the academic institutions, and how these forces are shaping the user experience design methods. Drawing from studies in digital (critical) heritage, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and design thinking, this thesis provides a critical analysis of the development and use of mobile practices for the heritage. Furthermore, through an empirical and embedded approach to research, the thesis also presents auto-ethnographic case studies in order to show evidence that mobile experiences conceptualised by more organic design approaches, can result in more resilient and sustainable heritage practices. By doing so, this thesis encourages a renewed understanding of the pivotal role of these practices in the broader sociocultural, political and environmental changes.AHRC REAC

Storytelling as Design Methodology: Reclaiming Little Manila\u27s Urban Landscape Identity

My thesis explores how landscape design can improve its methods of reclaiming lost cultural stories in the urban landscape, using the example of the Filipino American neighborhood known as Little Manila in Stockton, California. Through interpreting both stories and narratives that surround the neighborhood, I propose a basis for landscape design inspiration that focuses on oral history and lived experience. Using this understanding I propose to design a landscape within in the Little Manila Historic Site that celebrates the community’s history while providing public space for continued community use. My work focuses on the area of Downtown Stockton that earned the name “Little Manila” in the early twentieth century. By the 1920s, the enclave was known as the largest Filipino population outside of the Philippines. Violence and racist policies from police, farmers, governmental institutions, and external communities drove the creation of a Filipino-American identity, despite many immigrants arriving from different ethnic groups within the country. Little Manila was primarily active beginning in the 1920s when many Filipino immigrants arrived in the Delta seeking educational opportunities and jobs. A need for services, restaurants, and recreation drove the self-creation of a distinctive neighborhood through the mid-twentieth century, up until 1970 when the construction of the California 4 (CA-4) highway demolished the vibrant neighborhood. Beyond its everyday importance to the Filipino community, Stockton became the setting for significant labor movements including many agricultural strikes that united different communities of workers. This thesis asserts that the act of storytelling evokes key memories surrounding the everyday and eventful happenings within the Little Manila cultural neighborhood. As few physical remnants of the enclave remain, this thesis asserts that the collection and use of stories to inspire landscape design is a powerful methodology that reinvigorates a social connection to space, as well as a sense of place