Are we there yet? Insights to support the use of reflective practice methods for explorative practice-led doctoral research into real-world design problems

This paper concerns the use of design thinking in practice-led doctoral design research. It examines methodological appropriateness for research through design. Much practice-led design research begins with the aim of improving knowledge and understanding for design practitioners involved in real-world problem-solving. However this can be compromised in both its applicability and/or relevance as the context of the practice or the articulation of the theory/practice relationship becomes esoteric to those other than design theorists. It is our observation, as supervisors and examiners of Design PhD students, that practice-led design researchers often get caught up in a research paradigm and process that reduces their project to a post-hoc rationalisation of the problem, the methodology and resulting knowledge; creating an output that alienates the intended primary audience. This paper examines methodological appropriateness for practice-led design research. It is based on a correlation of critical literature and reflection on several practice-led doctoral design projects. It considers the theoretical frameworks and research processes to support exploratory practice-led design research by expert designers. It argues that for this type of research the research question(s) and research design should co-evolve in order to generate new insight and understanding of future design directions; documenting this evolution forms a vital element of the research content

PARTICIPATORY design for sustainable community development. Case Study; A dates-pack-house in the Egyptian Western Desert

Over recent years, participatory design processes have been gaining momentum in the architecture field. This research analyzes the past experiences of the participatory design processes from literature and case studies to apply it on an ongoing sustainable development initiative for creating a dates pack-house in the Western Desert Oasis of El-Heiz. The aim of the development project of the dates pack-house at El-Heiz is to help achieve a more sustainable community economy. The research is done through understanding past intervention in the area, mapping the whole participatory design process (while being a design participant) in its various stages, and finally analyzing the outcomes. The methodology for mapping the process entails qualitative and quantitative assessments by being a participant observer documenting the whole process through observation, interviews, participatory action research and gathering numerical data. The project applies a triple bottom line sustainability analysis, and a critical assessment of the practicality of the building design for the operational process. This includes users’ feedback, modifications performed on the building, and the community impact. The study specifically answers questions -and raises others- about participatory design approach in architecture, while analyzing the potential of architecture in creating sustainable community economies in Egypt, especially through participatory design processes. This thesis also seeks to offer some recommendations for participatory sustainable design of community based commercial facilities

Shybo. Design of a research artifact for human-robot interaction studies.

This article discusses the role of Design Research in the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Notably, the Research through Design (RtD) approach is proposed as a valuable method to develop HRI research artefacts due to the importance of having a physical artefact, a robot, that enables direct interaction. Moreover, there is a growing interest in HRI for design methodologies as methods for investigation. The article presents an example of a design process, focused on hands-on activities, namely sketching, 3D modelling, prototyping, and documenting. These making practices were applied to the development of Shybo, a small sound-reactive robot for children. Particular attention has been given to the five prototypes that led to the definition of the current solution. Morphological, behavioral, and interaction aspects were investigated throughout the whole process. Each phase of the design process was then documented with the intent of sharing potentially replicable practices and contributing to the understanding of the role that RtD can play in HRI

From Isotopes to TK Interviews: Towards Interdisciplinary Research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories

Evolving research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories, aims to improve understanding of how the natural ecosystem functions and responds to various environmental stressors, as well as to enhance the stewardship of natural resources and the capacity of local residents to respond to change. We seek to integrate approaches that span the natural and social sciences and traditional knowledge understandings of change, employing a research design developed in response to the concerns of a northern community. In doing so, we have strived for a research process that is collaborative, interdisciplinary, policy-oriented, and reflective of northern priorities. These elements characterize the new northern research paradigm increasingly promoted by various federal funding agencies, northern partners, and communities. They represent a holistic perspective in the pursuit of solutions to address complex environmental and socioeconomic concerns about impacts of climate change and resource development on northern societies. However, efforts to fulfill the objectives of this research paradigm are associated with a host of on-the-ground challenges. These challenges include (but are not restricted to) developing effective community partnerships and collaboration and documenting change through interdisciplinary approaches. Here we provide an overview of the components that comprise our interdisciplinary research program and offer an accounting of our formative experiences in confronting these challenges

Perancangan Sistem Informasi Akuntansi pada LAZIS Nurul Falah

Effective and efficient zakat management requires the support of a good accounting information system. To improve the effectiveness and efficiency in ZIS management, an integrated information system is needed that helps in documenting ZIS collection and distribution activities and is easy to understand by system users. So that with the integrated accounting information system between divisions can improve the performance, accountability, and transparency of financial statements. This research aims to design an accounting information system at LAZIS Nurul Falah. The Research method uses a case study approach. The data in the study were obtained through interviews with LAZIS Nurul Falah administrators who are directly related to research objects, observations, and documentation. Design an accounting information system using context diagrams, data flow diagrams, and flowcharts. The design of an integrated accounting information system using a client-server can improve the performance of administrators in managing data, accessing data, and speeding up the financial management process. Keywords:  Accounting Information System, Shari’ah Accounting, ZI

Keep Working Amid COVID-19: Innovation in the Design of Art by Junior High School Students

This study is a recording of students’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic in the National Art Competition Festival event for Junior High School Students (FLS2N) held by the Ministry of Education and Culture’s National Achievement Center (Puspresnas). Students representing 34 provinces in Indonesia attended this prestigious event. The research was limited to the local dance art, local music art, and design fields, from which three winners were taken respectively. Interviews were conducted with judges, committees, and officials of Puspresnas about the innovation of the work. Observational data documenting the process of the art design were required for validity purposes. Data were analzed using Cougar, Huggins & Mcintyre’s innovation theory, which states that art can be designed through invention, duplication, development, and synthesis. The results were beyond expectations: during the COVID-19 pandemic, local students created beautiful and harmonious dance art, music art, and poster designs that can be enjoyed virtually by people through social media.   Keywords: innovation, exploration, art-design, virtual medi

Visualizing the design process–an educational approach for the synthesis of design diaries

There have been a lot of efforts in the research community for describing the design process and visualizing it in general roadmaps. But when it comes to designers, they have difficulties in explaining how they work and what they do. Since designers draw upon their personal experiences, through time they develop a more or less individual process. The ability to explain and reflect on the design process will not only facilitate self-evaluation for the designers, but also would assist them in communicating with other stakeholders in the product development process. While there are various educational approaches for teaching different design skills, design literature has not provided many examples of approaches for familiarizing the designstudents with reflecting on, and communicating their individual processes. This article reports on such an approach, which aimed to provide the design students with the ability to communicate their design process through documenting self-reflective comments in form generation diaries and synthesizing their self-reflections by visualizing their process

Rotoscoping Design for Bodily Technique and Interdisciplinary Research on Animation as Embodied Practice.

My research was framing traditional animation as a design tool for documenting embodied knowledge but also as an embodied practice in itself. Through the process of frame by frame sequential interpretation, as an animator I was able to analyze real pre-filmed motion and bodily work of various practitioners engaged in embodied research through their practice of kung fu and latin dance. Using my own performance in Phases of Dance, I manually rendered movement at 12 frames per second and approached rotoscoping as design process that allowed me to analyze, document and communicate aspects of visual expression, performance and technique in my bachata dance practice. Through reflecting on the interdisciplinary connections in modes of learning my three bodily practices of animation, dancing and martial arts, the thesis furthered research on the role of embodiment in the production of knowledge

A study of information & knowledge generated during engineering design meetings

During the design process, there is a wealth of information generated, and although it may not be obvious at the time, this information can be extremely useful at a later instance when it may be no longer available. Many information capture solutions utilise tools such as video and media capture, incorporating the idea that if you capture all information then you will not miss anything. However, this creates another problem. Not all the information captured will be useful, therefore how can you distinguish the information that is useful from information that is not? The challenge many organisations face is how to capture and store valuable informal information in a way that is both simple and efficient, whilst remaining unobtrusive to the designers involved and without inhibiting the design activities. Through the undertaking of a series of case studies and test scenarios, it is possible to observe, identify and evaluate the various degrees of information and knowledge being generated and passed amongst design engineering teams whilst performing design activities in meeting situations. Using multi-media recording equipment and observation techniques, insight can be gained into the decision making process design engineering teams encounter during the course of a design project, and thus it is possible to evaluate where improved techniques can be applied to enhance the recording of information for re-use

CHANGING STUDENTS PERCEPTION REGARDING SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION

Being aware to the important role of proper software documentation on one hand and being acquainted with the students\u27 views regarding this issue on the other, we decided to examine the effects of facing the students with bad documentation or the lack of it on their views, as represented by a software project they have to design, develop and test.. This research was performed within a software engineering workshop for Computer Science students. For addressing the soft skills issues required by the industry, the course was delivered as a workshop with various (inter and intra) team based activities. The objective of outlining the importance of software maintainability issues was achieved through a hybrid team-based role play. The workshop consists of three assignments, following a typical software design and development process, in which each team had to continue the work performed by another team, thus creating a dependency between the team members as well as between the teams as might happen during real life maintenance. The main research study objective was to examine the effect of employing this kind of a hybrid team-based role-play and peer-review on the students\u27 learning process regarding product documentation for future maintainability. Data referring to the students\u27 perceptions is presented and analyzed in addition to student reflections on the workshop which demonstrate their expanded understanding of documenting the design and application process