75,825 research outputs found
Preserving Communication Context. Virtual workspace and interpersonal space in Japanese CSCW.
The past decade has seen the development of a perspective\ud
holding that technology is socially constructed (Mackenzie and Wacjman, 1985; Bijker, Hughes and Pinch, 1987; Bijker and Law, 1992). This paper examines the social construction of one group of technologies, systems for computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). It describes the design of CSCW in Japan, with particular attention to the influence of culture on the design process. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the argument that culture is an important factor in technology design, despite commonly held assumptions about the neutrality and objectivity of science and technology. The paper further argues that, by looking at\ud
CSCW systems as texts which reflect the context of their production and the society from which they come, we may be better able to understand the transformations that operate when these texts are âreadâ in the contexts of their implementation
Rituals, Our Past, Present & Future. Glimpses of Islamic Enrichment
A Muslim should be encouraged to comprehend the benefit
and value behind every aspect of Islamic practice and wisdom,
and not just practice their religion because they were told to do
so. The products proposed in this thesis aim to achieve this by
inviting and encouraging a Muslim to practice The Five Pillars
of Islam while comprehending their value through the use of
modern means such as Arduino technology, 3D printing and
visual computing programing.
I am provoked by the fact that the circle of Gulf-region Muslims
Iâm surrounded by, and have been exposed to since childhood,
belong to one of two stereotypes: those against or afraid of
change who force adherence to religious chapter and verse,
or those straying further and further away from our religionâs
rituals and traditions. Can the practice of religion, and the
values that it teaches us, be made more accessible and
engaging by incorporating the very technology that is often
accused of distracting us from its practice
Relative authenticity : abstraction and the digital domain
This paper intends to offer a preliminary investigation of what will be referred to as the notion of âabstractionâ in relation to Sigmund Freudâs ideas of âcondensationâ and âdisplacementâ, together with Ferdinand de Saussureâs theory of signification. Abstraction, then, shall be defined as one process through which a âsignifierâ is created. The argument shall aim to trace and retrace the cognitive process of abstraction by discussing its role across different facets and layers of contemporary society, with particular attention being paid to the effects of the digital on this role. Abstractions shall be discussed regarding how they occur both in principle and in practice, and in how they might be perceived. This shall lead to a series of hypotheses concerning reflections and reactions which the omnipresence of the digital domain in every-day life might be prompting in contemporary society. The paper shall also focus on the parallel phenomena of ârelative realityâ and ârelative authenticityâ, which can be understood as the hypothetical middle ground or gradient existing between ârealâ and âfakeâ, and which shall be argued to be direct implications of abstraction.peer-reviewe
Collaborative Practices that Support Creativity in Design
Design is a ubiquitous, collaborative and highly material activity. Because of the embodied nature of the design profession, designers apply certain collaborative practices to enhance creativity in their everyday work. Within the domain of industrial design, we studied two educational design departments over a period of eight months. Using examples from our fieldwork, we develop our results around three broad themes related to collaborative practices that support the creativity of design professionals: 1) externalization, 2) use of physical space, and 3) use of bodies. We believe that these themes of collaborative practices could provide new insights into designing technologies for supporting a varied set of design activities. We describe two conceptual collaborative systems derived from the results of our study
Innovative Education, President\u27s Progress Report 2017
How can academic leadership create a culture of INNOVATION?
How can faculty more effectively convey their KNOWLEDGE?
How can students learn the skills, traits, and process to become future INNOVATORS
An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form
How well can designers communicate qualities of touch?
This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makersâ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designersâ capabilities
Mirrors of the World - Supporting Situational Awareness with Computer Screens
In this paper we develop a notion of support for social and situational awareness. Our initial ideas are based on the metaphor of using a mirror to see what you are not looking at. We provide two studies that, for different contexts, apply the metaphor to develop design ideas that fit the context of use
Affordances, constraints and information flows as âleverage pointsâ in design for sustainable behaviour
Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology
Coffee maker patterns and the design of energy feedback artefacts
Smart electricity meters and home displays are being
installed in peopleâs homes with the assumption that
households will make the necessary efforts to reduce their
electricity consumption. However, present solutions do not
sufficiently account for the social implications of design.
There is a potential for greater savings if we can better
understand how such designs affect behaviour. In this
paper, we describe our design of an energy awareness
artefact â the Energy AWARE Clock â and discuss it in
relation to behavioural processes in the home. A user study
is carried out to study the deployment of the prototype in
real domestic contexts for three months. Results indicate
that the Energy AWARE Clock played a significant role in
drawing householdsâ attention to their electricity use. It
became a natural part of the household and conceptions of
electricity became naturalized into informantsâ everyday
language
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