Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 4: Learning, Technology, Thinking

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 4 includes papers from Learning, Technology and Thinking tracks of the conference

Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice

A survey of a range of disciplines whose practitioners are venturing into the new field of digital rhetoric, examining the history of the ways digital and networked technologies inhabit and shape traditional rhetorical practices as well as considering new rhetorics made possible by current technologie

[DiaGram]; Rethinking Graphic Design Process

Central to any graphic design education is the teaching of a design (or creative) process as an aid to problem-solving. This study draws upon experimental workshops within design education, together with current thinking from the broader arts, emotional psychology and the brain sciences, to explore the idea of repositioning process as the ‘main event’ – rather than it being a means-to-an-end. The study sought to frame learning experiences that enabled students to consciously become the object of their own study; including themes that explored ‘personal identity’, ‘dualism’, ‘mind-wandering’ and ‘habit’ as mechanisms to enhance our creative capacity, and evidenced significant improvements in the students’ confidence, dexterity and working methodologies (including the elusive ‘risk’ and ‘play’). The emerging conclusions propose key anchors (‘dissociative creativity’, ‘process as the main event’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘immersion’) that we believe ought to be central to the development of any new teaching (esp. within graphic design). Keywords: Design, Education, Process, Creativity, Risk Full paper. Delivered 31 May 2017. Page 81–95 of attached document

Open Source Architecture Johannesburg, South Africa

Open source architecture is an emerging phenomenon, at the moment still looking for its exact definition and practices. In this master’s thesis open source refers to the bazaar organization model of innovation and operation, fi rst practiced by software developers as Linus Torvalds. Open source organization model collects the input of individual agents to emergent behavior and to collective intelligence. The accumulation of inputs becomes visible in upper organizational levels. Different versions of open source organization model or reactions to it are appearing everywhere in our society. In this context, the notion of architecture does not primarily demonstrate the actualized physic buildings but is seen more as a complex system that puts the stress on the action of production of space. Open source architecture is therefore seen as a culture of architecture that is reacting to the open source organization model. It is becoming visible in new tools, practices, concepts and implementations to our built environment. This master’s thesis is a continuum to a four-week practice-oriented workshop in the townships and slums of Johannesburg, South Africa. The exchange program was organized by Global Studio (GS) in the summer 2007. GS is based on the initiatives of UN Millennium Project. Questions arisen during the workshop and my interest to look into the relation of architecture and development, led this thesis later on to the themes of open source. Open source architecture could be studied concentrating only on the developed countries but to my concern the notion reaches its full meaning when dealing with global questions. In the context of development co-operation, open source architecture becomes enchanting, especially, because of its potential as a catalyst for three themes: information, practices and income. To gain development, there is the need for information on the actual reality. This data has to be fi rst collected, processed and then shared. We are also looking for new, more functional and inclusive practices for the production of cities. In addition, we need new models for generating income. The core idea of open source is in its functionality. The concept is not to be oversimplify ed by looking too much into its idealistic aspects. Open source can be misinterpreted if we concentrate to examine it only as charity or non-profi t work. The case study of Johannesburg proved the irrelevancy of traditional planning. Firstly, there is not yet reliable information of the situation to base a plan on. The grass-root knowledge and the formal information are controversial. Secondly, no conventional plan would be realisable, as the operators are dispersed and polyphone. The execution possibilities are scattered to small units. This makes big scale investments diffi cult. Simultaneously, the small-scale actors do not usually hold resources to put up any projects. Nothing is more prominent than the knowledge of what yet is not but what could be. The approach of this thesis is based on research of the future. Futurology is a pragmatic science looking for development possibilities characteristic to each era. It emphasizes the visions that are desirable and achievable. This includes the search for and interpretation of weak signals. Open source is one. Dominant conceptual model of a city guides strongly the work of an architect. New social and physical structures in society lead to reconfi gurations in the city concepts. The principles of these new structures and the new organizational capacity are mostly generated by innovations in information and communication technologies. At the moment, we conceptualize city as a complex rhizomic ecosystem driven by individuated urban actors. This is diversifying the profession of architects. We face tasks such as designing evolutionary processes. Open source proposes a model for evolutionary design. The aim of this theory emphasized thesis is to draft what open source architecture could be about and to stimulate the discussion on the themes around it. This study is to be seen as an opening for further investigation.Avoimen koodin arkkitehtuuri on yleistyvä ilmiö, joka tällä hetkellä vielä etsii käytäntöjään ja tarkkaa määritelmäänsä. Tässä diplomityössä avoimella koodilla viittaan basaarin järjestäytymistapaa noudattavaan innovaatio- ja toimintamalliin, jonka ensimmäisiä käyttäjiä olivat ohjelmistojen kehittäjät kuten Linus Torvalds. Avoimen koodin järjestäytymismalli kerää yksilöityneiden toimijoiden panoksen emergentiksi käyttäytymiseksi ja kollektiiviseksi älyksi. Panosten kerääntyminen tulee näkyväksi ylemmillä järjestäytymisen tasoilla. Avoimen koodin järjestäytymismallin eri versioita ja reaktioita tähän järjestäytymisen tapaan on yhä enemmän havaittavissa yhteiskunnassamme. Avoimen koodin yhteydessä arkkitehtuurin käsite ei ensisijaisesti viittaa toteutuneisiin fyysisiin rakennuksiin vaan nähdään enemmänkin kompleksina systeeminä, mikä painottaa toimintaa ja tilan tuottamista. Avoimen koodi arkkitehtuuri viittaa täten siihen arkkitehtuurin kulttuuriin joka reagoi avoimen koodin järjestäytymismalliin. Tämä on tulossa näkyviin uusina välineinä, käytäntöinä, konsepteina ja toteutuksina rakennetussa ympäristössämme. Diplomityöni jatkaa kuukauden mittaista käytäntöä painottanutta Etelä-Afrikan Johannesburgin slummeissa toteutettua työpajaa. Vaihtoohjelman järjesti Global Studio (GS) kesällä 2007. GS perustuu YK:n vuosituhattavoitteisiin. Työpajan aikana esiin nousseet kysymykset sekä kiinnostukseni tutkia arkkitehtuurin suhdetta kehitykseen, johdattivat lopputyöni avoimen koodin teemoihin. Avoimen koodin arkkitehtuuria voisi tutkia keskittymällä kehittyneisiin maihin, mutta mielestäni käsite saavuttaa täyden merkityksensä, kun se on tekemisissä maailmanlaajuisten kysymysten kanssa. Avoimen koodin arkkitehtuuri sovellettuna kehitysyhteistyöhön tulee kiehtovaksi etenkin, koska se sisältää piileviä mahdollisuuksia kolmessa teemassa: liittyen tietoon, käytäntöihin ja toimeentuloon. Kehitys vaatii tietoa todellisuudesta. Tämä tieto tulee ensin kerätä, käsitellä ja sitten jakaa. Me etsimme uusia toimivampia ja sallivampia käytäntöjä kaupunkiemme rakentamiseen. Lisäksi tarvitsemme uusia tapoja synnyttää elinkeinoja. Avoimen koodin ajatuksen ydin piilee sen toimivuudessa. Käsitettä ei tulisi yksinkertaistaa keskittymällä liikaa sen idealistisiin näkökulmiin. Avoin koodi saattaa tulla väärin tulkituksi, mikäli tutkimme sitä vain hyväntekeväisyytenä tai yleishyödyllisenä palkattomana työnä. Johannesburgin esimerkki osoitti, että perinteinen suunnittelu ei ole olennaista sen yhteydessä. Ensinnäkin, toistaiseksi ei ole olemassa luotettavaa tietoa, jolle suunnitelman voisi perustaa. Ruohonjuuritason kokemukset ja virallinen tieto ovat ristiriitaisia. Toiseksi, mitään tavanomaista suunnitelmaa ei voisi toteuttaa, koska toimijat ovat hajaantuneita ja moniäänisiä. Toteutusmahdollisuudet ovat siroteltuina pieniin yksiköihin. Tämä tekee ison mittakaavan panostuksista vaikeita. Samanaikaisesti pienen mittakaavan toimijoilla ei yleensä ole voimavaroja projektien aloittamiseen. Mikään ei ole merkittävämpää, kuin tieto siitä mitä ei vielä ole olemassa, mutta voisi olla. Lopputyöni näkökulma on tulevaisuuden tutkimuksessa. Se on käytännön läheinen tiede, joka etsii jokaiselle aikakaudelle ominaisia mahdollisuuksia kehitykseen. Tulevaisuuden tutkimus painottaa näkymiä, jotka ovat haluttavia ja mahdollisia saavuttaa. Tämä sisältää heikkojen signaalien etsimistä ja tulkitsemista. Avoin koodi on yksi heikko signaali. Vallitseva käsitemalli kaupungista ohjaa voimakkaasti arkkitehdin työtä. Uusi sosiaalinen ja fyysinen rakenne yhteiskunnassa muokkaa uudelleen näitä tieteemme sisäisiä peruskysymyksiä. Uusien rakenteiden periaatteet ja lisääntyvät järjestäytymisen voimavarat syntyvät etenkin kommunikaatio- ja tietoteknologisten innovaatioiden kautta. Tällä hetkellä käsitämme kaupungin kompleksina rihmastoisena ekosysteeminä, jota yksilöityneet urbaanit toimijat muokkaavat. Tämä monipuolistaa arkkitehtien ammatinkuvaa. Tehtäväkenttäämme tulee kuulumaan evolutionaaristen prosessien suunnittelu. Avoin koodi tarjoaa yhden mallin evolutionistiselle suunnittelulle. Teoriapainotteisen opinnäytetyöni tavoitteena on luonnostella avoimen koodin arkkitehtuurin käsitettä ja herättää keskustelua siihen liittyvistä teemoista. Tämä työ tulee nähdä avauksena myöhemmälle tutkimukselle. /Kir0

Moving Circles: mobile media and playful identities

The mobile phone has become part of our everyday lives with astonishing speed. Over four billion people now have access to mobile phones, and this number keeps increasing. Mobile media technologies shape how we communicate with each other, and relate to the world. This raises questions about their influence on identity. Medium-specific properties and user-practices challenge the idea that we understand ourselves through stories. It is proposed that the notion of play sheds new light on how technologies shape identities. The mobile phone mediates identities on four play levels: we play on the mobile, with the mobile, through the mobile, and at the same time we are played by the mobile. Mobile media bring new freedom of movement. Yet at the same time they constrict us. In this dialectic we become moving circles

JPEG: the quadruple object

The thesis, together with its practice-research works, presents an object-oriented perspective on the JPEG standard. Using the object-oriented philosophy of Graham Harman as a theoretical and also practical starting point, the thesis looks to provide an account of the JPEG digital object and its enfolding within the governmental scopic regime. The thesis looks to move beyond accounts of digital objects and protocols within software studies that position the object in terms of issues of relationality, processuality and potentiality. From an object-oriented point of view, the digital object must be seen as exceeding its relations, as actual, present and holding nothing in reserve. The thesis presents an account of JPEG starting from that position as well as an object-oriented account of JPEG’s position within the distributed, governmental scopic regime via an analysis of Facebook’s Timeline, tagging and Haystack systems. As part of a practice-research project, the author looked to use that perspective within photographic and broader imaging practices as a spur to new work and also as a “laboratory” to explore Harman’s framework. The thesis presents the findings of those “experiments” in the form of a report alongside practice-research eBooks. These works were not designed to be illustrations of the theory, nor works to be “analysed”. Rather, following the lead of Ian Bogost and Mark Amerika, they were designed to be “philosophical works” in the sense of works that “did” philosophy

JPEG: the quadruple object

The thesis, together with its practice-research works, presents an object-oriented perspective on the JPEG standard. Using the object-oriented philosophy of Graham Harman as a theoretical and also practical starting point, the thesis looks to provide an account of the JPEG digital object and its enfolding within the governmental scopic regime. The thesis looks to move beyond accounts of digital objects and protocols within software studies that position the object in terms of issues of relationality, processuality and potentiality. From an object-oriented point of view, the digital object must be seen as exceeding its relations, as actual, present and holding nothing in reserve. The thesis presents an account of JPEG starting from that position as well as an object-oriented account of JPEG’s position within the distributed, governmental scopic regime via an analysis of Facebook’s Timeline, tagging and Haystack systems. As part of a practice-research project, the author looked to use that perspective within photographic and broader imaging practices as a spur to new work and also as a “laboratory” to explore Harman’s framework. The thesis presents the findings of those “experiments” in the form of a report alongside practice-research eBooks. These works were not designed to be illustrations of the theory, nor works to be “analysed”. Rather, following the lead of Ian Bogost and Mark Amerika, they were designed to be “philosophical works” in the sense of works that “did” philosophy