The development of design strategies that promote the engagement of users in the authorship process

Underlying all the ideas articulated in this thesis is a political challenge to the designer's innate right to occupy a hierarchical position in the designer/user relationship. Equally, where these relationships have been superseded (in for example Desktop Publishing and web page design) the designer still has an important, but quite different, role to play. In contrast to some community design-led initiatives, the aim here is not necessarily to welcome users into an aspect of the conventional design process on terms determined by the designer by helping users conform to practices established by the designer. The aim is the development of strategies in which the designer and user can influence each other without dominating, going beyond conventional strategies of consultancy or feedback. My determination is not to turn everyday users into mouthpieces of surrogate design sensibility, in the way that 'makeover' TV programs, and their DIY predecessors, promote a particular aesthetic as good design, leading to a rejection of direct communication between designer and user. This places the designer in a position of power; users will skew their responses towards what they think the designer is looking for. Also designers could never work so inexpensively as to engage in bespoke design activity for more than a fraction of the population. This view has been achieved through the interplay of my own design practice and a spectrum of theoretical (broadly post-structural) influences, although most individuals referenced here would reject this (or any category), including Derrida, Deleuze and Guattari, and the Situationists. My responses to these ideas influence and are influenced by the production of a range of design proposals, and the promotion of the colonisation, modification and even hijacking by others, including designers, users and educators. These have developed in a number of phases: 1 Modular/Adaptive proposals for office furniture, and product design; 2 CAD/CAM proposals in which users select and modify 'design methods' to help them exploit the more technical expert systems available to help them create their own artefacts; 3 Flexible communication systems, which are designs populated and modified by users in ways beyond the control or knowledge of the designer. These stages show an evolution in my creative responses from producing designed artefacts that promote interaction with users, to systems in which the designer and user have to contribute jointly for the systems to function. It is organic, uncontrolled development by the user that determines the development and configuration of these systems guided by the initial conditions and processes determined by the designer. This allows the interreIationship of designers and truly user-led creative activities

Interacting with digital media at home via a second screen

In recent years Interactive Television (iTV) has become a household technology on a global scale. However, iTV is still a new technology in the early stages of its evolution. Our previous research looked at how everyday users of iTV feel about the interactive part of iTV. In a series of studies we investigated how people use iTV services; their likes, dislikes, preferences and opinions. We then developed a second screen-based prototype device in response to these findings and tested it with iTV users in their own homes. This is a work in progress paper that outlines the work carried previously in the area of controlling interactive Television via a second screen. The positive user responses led us to extend the scope of our previous research to look into other related areas such as barriers to digital interactive media and personalisation of digital interactive media at home

Rapid prototyping and fast user trial of multimedia broadcast and cellular services

This paper presents the results of fast user trial of multimedia services that are enabled when a mobile terminal has access to converged services over digital broadcast and mobile telecommunications networks. It first describes the motivations behind developing this system and describes the service scenarios that benefit most from it. It then provides an overview of the service components of the test case scenario. Finally, it presents the results of fast user trials on end users of the services that were developed. This work was conducted as part of the EU-funded CISMUNDUS project

Model for coiling and meandering instability of viscous threads

A numerical model is presented to describe both the transient and steady-state dynamics of viscous threads falling onto a plane. The steady-state coiling frequency w is calculated as a function of fall height H. In the case of weak gravity, w ~ H^{-1} and w ~ H are obtained for lower and higher fall heights respectively. When the effect of gravity is significant, the relation w ~ H^2 is observed. These results agree with the scaling laws previously predicted. The critical Reynolds number for coil-uncoil transition is discussed. When the gravity is weak, the transition occurs with hysteresis effects. If the plane moves horizontally at a constant speed, a variety of meandering oscillation modes can be observed experimentally. The present model also can describe this phenomenon. The numerically obtained state diagram for the meandering modes qualitatively agrees with the experiment.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

South Asian students' educational experience and attainment: learning Chinese as a second/additional language in Hong Kong

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A new specimen of Dicynodon traquairi (Newton) (Synapsida: Anomodontia) from the Late Permian (Tartarian) of northern Scotland

A recently discovered natural mould of a complete, almost undistorted, skull and lower jaw of a dicynodont (c. 237mmoverall length), in a block of Upper Permian sandstone (= Dicynodon Assemblage Zone: Hopeman Sandstone Formation) from Clashach Quarry, Hopeman, Morayshire, is described using novel techniques, including Computed Tomography scanning (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and rapid-prototype modelling. It is assigned to the taxon Dicynodon traquairi (Newton, 1893). When compared with Dicynodon lacerticeps Owen, 1845, it is distinguished principally by having the pineal opening sunk deeply between the diverging parietals, subparallel pterygoid rami narrowly separated, with no transverse flanges, and in addition, a deeply grooved lower jaw symphysis. The southern African fauna lived on river flats in a higher (southern) palaeolatitude than the possibly desert-dwelling Scottish species. The Hopeman Sandstone Formation is of the same age as the better-known Cutties Hillock Sandstone Formation, whose fauna is briefly discussed and reviewed

Controlled production of the elusive metastable form II of acetaminophen (paracetamol) : a fully scalable templating approach in a cooling environment

A scalable, transferable, cooling crystallisation route to the elusive, metastable, form II of the API acetaminophen (paracetamol) has been developed using a multicomponent "templating" approach, delivering 100% polymorphic phase pure form II at scales up to 120 g. Favourable solubility and stability properties are found for the form II samples

‘Teachers are the guinea pigs’: Teacher perspectives on a sudden reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

Primary and secondary education systems experienced substantial disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how public health policy has affected Australian teachers during the pandemic. This study examines teacher perspectives on a sudden change of policy, whereby schools were abruptly opened to students at the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, strict social distancing rules applied to the remainder of the population. Qualitative data from 372 Western Australian schoolteachers were analysed using thematic analysis. Results highlight substantial impacts on teachers’ workloads and adverse effects on wellbeing. Perceptions that they were acting as guinea pigs and subjected to different social distancing rules than other citizens were particular stressors. Findings highlight substantial consequences of public health policies on the roles and wellbeing of teachers

Co-designing Improvements of Knowledge Exchange Tools

This workshop will present and validate the usefulness of a framework for improving knowledge exchange (KE) tools. We propose an improvement framework, where participants collaboratively improve the functions, instructions and flexibility of tools to develop their engagement practices. In this workshop, we will lead participants through a creative engagement activity, where participants will learn through doing how to improve KE tools within a collaborative improvement framework. The potential workshop outcomes are new tool ideas and knowledge as a result of a collective and fruitful experience among participants. Participants will gain new knowledge on how to improve the engagement with groups of non-designers through the improvement of KE tools and other tools, such as participatory tools. Further research involves inviting participants to take part in a research study on the potential applications of the improvement framework to their own work