The liminality of trajectory shifts in institutional entrepreneurship

In this paper, we develop a process model of trajectory shifts in institutional entrepreneurship. We focus on the liminal periods experienced by institutional entrepreneurs when they, unlike the rest of the organization, recognize limits in the present and seek to shift a familiar past into an unfamiliar and uncertain future. Such periods involve a situation where the new possible future, not yet fully formed, exists side-by-side with established innovation trajectories. Trajectory shifts are moments of truth for institutional entrepreneurs, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms of how entrepreneurs reflectively deal with liminality to conceive and bring forth new innovation trajectories. Our in-depth case study research at CarCorp traces three such mechanisms (reflective dissension, imaginative projection, and eliminatory exploration) and builds the basis for understanding the liminality of trajectory shifts. The paper offers theoretical implications for the institutional entrepreneurship literature

Cosmotic, Aquatic. Exploring the potential of computational design in the preservation of aquatic ecotones

This paper looks at the possible role of computational design ecologically in the fight against the loss of the aquatic Ecotone. As climate change keeps altering all the natural aspects of our planet, and as our kind continues to sabotage its ecologies, coral reefs come in focus. Aquatically, coral reefs count as a fertile zone for biodiversity. Usually being the Ecotone between land and sea, these barriers host many species and riches. However, due to the excessive abuse caused by human activity be it world-wide pollution or direct human contact, these reefs are constantly bleaching and breaking. In 2016, the Architecture Association gathered a group of international architecture students and professionals in a visiting school in Jordan titled “Hyperbolic Reefs” looking at the possibility of recruiting new computational methods to preserve and possibly regenerate the Ecotone. It was considered that new simulation techniques along with parametric design could contribute into the assessment and prevention of the catastrophic results. The two-week event was divided into chapters and was initiated by a series of lectures and discussions conducted by worldwide leading architects and experts who presented an important material to build upon. Then, the participants underwent a site visit to the coral reef of Al-Aqaba, collecting data, samples and media and recording insights and local testimonies. The third step of the experience was to assimilate the material and data and discuss openly the ways that computation could lead to a better coral life. Several software and tools were assigned to produce a design that would help attenuate the compromise of the coral reef through computation. An archive of data was produced and exhibited to the public. The results of this brief exercise was a number of suggestions and future aspirations triggered solely towards revitalizing the Ecotone. Issues such as the abundance of irresponsible snorkeling and diving, many governments’ indifferent policies towards the coral reefs, global warming, climate change, coral bleaching and aquatic architecture were confronted through parametric projects ranging from purely architectural to abstract human capsules. Computational tools allowed the reproduction of the whole system digitally, the precise tracing of the corals’ patterns, dimensions and colors, simulation software predicted the role of light and heat in certain zones, and parametric programs provided an incomparable flexibility in the designing process, going completely in sync with the fragile and intricate aspect of a coral unit. 3D printing was also an integral factor in the presentation and study of the presented models. This study’s scope was to expand the use of computation in a theoretical way to reach new and creative prospects, and to raise awareness to the situation of the coral reef and the risks facing its degradation

Tracing the Scenarios in Scenario-Based Product Design: a study to support scenario generation

Scenario-based design originates from the human-computer interaction and\ud software engineering disciplines, and continues to be adapted for product development. Product development differs from software development in the former’s more varied context of use, broader characteristics of users and more tangible solutions. The possible use of scenarios in product design is therefore broader and more challenging. Existing design methods that involve scenarios can be employed in many different stages of the product design process. However, there is no proficient overview that discusses a\ud scenario-based product design process in its full extent. The purposes of creating scenarios and the evolution of scenarios from their original design data are often not obvious, although the results from using scenarios are clearly visible. Therefore, this paper proposes to classify possible scenario uses with their purpose, characteristics and supporting design methods. The classification makes explicit different types of scenarios and their relation to one another. Furthermore, novel scenario uses can be referred or added to the classification to develop it in parallel with the scenario-based design\ud practice. Eventually, a scenario-based product design process could take inspiration for creating scenarios from the classification because it provides detailed characteristics of the scenario

A Thick Industrial Design Studio Curriculum

This presentation was part of the session : Pedagogy: Procedures, Scaffolds, Strategies, Tactics24th National Conference on the Beginning Design StudentThis paper describes an industrial design studio course based in a private university in Izmir, Turkey where second year industrial design students, for the first time, engage in a studio project. The design studio course emphasises three distinct areas of competence in designing that are the focus of the curriculum. They are; design process: the intellectual act of solving a design problem; design concept: the imagination and sensibility to conceive of appropriate design ideas; and presentation: the ability to clearly and evocatively communicate design concepts. The studio is 'thick' with materials, tasks and activities that are intentionally sequenced to optimise learning in a process that is known as educational 'scaffolding.' The idea of a process--a patient journey toward it's destination, is implicit in the studio that is full of opportunities for reflection-in-action. A significant feature is the importance placed on drawing and model making. An exemplary design process should show evidence of 'breadth'--meaning a wide search for solutions where a range of alternatives explored throughout; followed by an incremental refinement of the chosen solution where elements of the final design concept are developed thoroughly and in detail--called 'depth.' Learning to design is predicated on an engagement in and manipulation of the elements of the design problem. Evidence of that learning will be found by examining the physical materials and results of the design process. The assessment criteria are published with the brief at the outset of design project and outcomes are spelt out at the end. Students are remind throughout project of the criteria, which is to say they are reminded of pedagogical aims of the studio. Assessment criteria are detailed and the advantages of summative assessment are described

Scientific iconoclasm and active imagination: synthetic cells as techo-schientific mandalas

Metaphors allow us to come to terms with abstract and complex information, by comparing it to something which is structured, familiar and concrete. Although modern science is “iconoclastic”, as Gaston Bachelard phrases it, scientists are at the same time prolific producers of metaphoric images themselves. Synthetic biology is an outstanding example of a technoscientific discourse replete with metaphors, including textual metaphors such as the “Morse code” of life, the “barcode” of life and the “book” of life. This paper focuses on a different type of metaphor, however, namely on the archetypal metaphor of the mandala as a symbol of restored unity and wholeness. Notably, mandala images emerge in textual materials related to one of the new “frontiers” of contemporary technoscience, namely the building of a synthetic cell: a laboratory artefact that functions like a cell and is even able to replicate itself. The mandala symbol suggests that, after living systems have been successfully reduced to the elementary building blocks and barcodes of life, the time has now come to put these fragments together again. We can only claim to understand life, synthetic cell experts argue, if we are able to technically reproduce a fully functioning cell. This holistic turn towards the cell as a meaningful whole also requires convergence at the “subject pole”: the building of a synthetic cell as a practice of the self, representing a turn towards integration, of multiple perspectives and various forms of expertise

Inspection report: Cumbria Institute of the Arts

Dates of inspection: 22–26 March 200

Already at a disadvantage? ICT in the home and children's preparation for primary school. (ICT Research Bursaries 2004 - Final Report)

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on pre-school children's development of competences in information and communications technologies (ICT). The study focuses on children's experiences of ICT in the home and in pre-school settings in the year before they begin formal education, and seeks to investigate concepts of advantage and disadvantage in this context. The study also aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of children's ICT competences on entry to school