Round Turn & Two Half Hitches

Commissioned through DLR Art, Davis’ Langdon Park project comprises three large-scale permanent public artworks, extending London Transport's tradition of commissioning prominent public art. Davis worked for three years with the Docklands Light Railway, architects, engineers, commissioning bodies and the local community to create expansive and ambitious works that are fully integrated into the overall design of the station and its surrounds. Davis’s research explores the spatial properties of language. In this case, how language, object and image work together, particularly in artworks existing within the public domain. Through community workshops focusing on ‘a sense of belonging’ and ‘journey’, Davis drew from the experiences of the people who use Langdon Park Station every day. Drawing from archival material held at the Museum of London Docklands, Davis selected an image of a sailor’s knot, which reflects the history of the area. Round Turn and Two Half Hitches is composed of 300 steel discs embedded in the paving on both of the station platforms, incorporating a contemporary memorial that celebrates the local residents who campaigned for 10 years to have the station built. These individuals’ names are engraved into a number of the steel discs. Langdon Park Station is used daily by thousands of commuters, and even more during the London 2012 Olympic Games. In 2008, Langdon Park Station was the Winner of the UK Best Regeneration Project Award at the British Construction Industry (BCI) awards and shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building. As a result of the Langdon Park commission, Davis was short-listed for the St John’s commission at Oxford University in 2009 and in 2010 she won (in collaboration with David Moore) the Vauxhall, Nine Elms Battersea Development public art commission

Almost as helpful as good theory: Some conceptual possibilities for the online classroom

Interest and activity in the use of C&IT in higher education is growing, and while there is effort to understand the complexity of the transition to virtual space, aspects of development, particularly clarity about the nature of the learning community, may only be lightly theorized. Based on an ongoing action research study involving postgraduate students studying in the UK and USA, this paper will identify some theoretical roots and derive from these six conceptual areas that seem to the authors to have relevance and significance for behaviour online. An exploration of these forms the basis for a two‐dimensional model which can account for what happens when groups come together to learn in cyberspace. In depicting this model, there is acknowledgement of the existence of third and fourth dimensions at work. However, the explanatory power of taking these extra dimensions into account is beyond the scope of the analysis thus far

The Cut : an Artist's Film (3 mins.)

The Cut (2010) is a short film by Kate Davis and David Moore, produced in conjunction with UK: ME/WE Productions. It was commissioned by the Bristol based artist and curator Louise Short for the exhibition Super8station3 and screened at Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, during the Old Media season (25 Sept - 21 Nov 2010). Continuing her exploitations of surrealist tropes and methods, Davis & Moore, used machinic framing, chance encounter and the time it takes to boil an egg to construct the film narrative. The film was shot on a single reel of three minute super-8 film, edited in camera and sent un-seen to the exhibition. There is a direct correlation between the chosen subject, the apparently benign act of boiling an egg, and the short time limit of the film reel. Davis and Moore elaborate the surrealist concerns of the relationship between sexuality and violence and cycles of birth and death such as seen in the work of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s Un Chien Andalou. The Cut was shortlisted for the Swedenborg Short Film award, 2011, and screened along with the works of international filmmakers at the Swedenborg Institute, London (Dec 2011). It was included in the exhibitions: Mrs Darling’s Kiss at Arch 402, London (8 July - 5 Aug 2011); You Are Ok at De Toekomst, Amsterdam (5-15 July 2012)

Time to experiment: A response

It is with some pleasure that we were given the opportunity to offer this paper for commentary and we are grateful for the efforts made by readers to help us to refine our thinking. Given the constraints of space, we will respond to the main comments in turn. We plan to submit a more considered and elegant paper to a future edition when we have worked more on our model

Design thinking and innovation: synthesising concepts of knowledge co-creation in spaces of professional development

This paper explores how design thinking connects to concepts of knowledge creation and innovation. A case study of a knowledge sharing network in the social services sector is used to illustrate how design thinking supports Ba, the spaces for knowledge creation. Further exploration of the four enabling conditions for Ba resulted in delineation of two distinct types: relational and structural. Relational enablers support three groups of enabling conditions: interaction, shared values and communication. It is proposed that design thinking aligns well with relational enabling conditions for Ba to create the ideal spaces for knowledge creation. The group of structural enablers can assist or obstruct change and relate to the culture and management approaches of an organization, which may or may not be assisted by design thinking. However, to ensure that design thinking is not undermined, and innovation is achieved, the presence of an appropriate structural enabler is critical for success

University students' perspective on blended learning

This research project aimed to explore students’ perspective on an appropriate mix of online and-face-to-face activities in a master’s programme in library and information science at an Australian university. Identifying aspects that students evaluate as supportive, challenging and efficient in their learning is important for the design of an appropriate mix in blended learning courses. Twenty-three master’s students responded to a questionnaire containing 40 open-ended and closed questions. Applying both statistical and content analysis provides a deeper understanding of students’ responses. Students like the flexibility and the convenience of online learning, but also the possibilities of face-to-face interaction with teachers and peers for building personal learning networks. Students expect an equal quality of learning delivery and criticised the quality of online participation and lecture recordings. Blended learning is an approach that supports a range of learning styles and life styles

Crafting a rich and personal blending learning environment: an institutional case study from a STEM perspective

Institutional pressures to make optimal use of lecture halls and classrooms can be powerful motivators to identify resources to develop technology enhanced learning approaches to traditional curricula. From the academic’s perspective, engaging students in active learning and reducing the academic workload are important and complementary drivers. This paper presents a case study of a curriculum development exercise undertaken in a STEM subject area at a research-intensive UK university. A multi-skilled team of academics and learning designers have worked collaboratively to build this module which will be realised as a mix of online and face to face activities. Since the module addresses professional issues, a strong emphasis is being placed on establishing authentic learning activities and realistic use of prominent social tools.The learning designers are working for a cross-institutional initiative to support educational innovations; therefore it is important to carefully document the development process and to identify reusable design patterns which can be easily explained to other academics.<br/

Deal Pier Arts Festival

Deal Pier Arts committee invited Kate Davis as lead artist to design and curate the inaugural Deal Pier Arts festival, in the spirit of her solo exhibition headhearthole at the Wordsworth Trust. The festival, funded by local businesses and entrepreneurs focused on Deal’s pier and architecturally award winning restaurant. Davis, working with artist David Moore as ME-WE Productions, brought together diverse multi-disciplinary elements that could involve the local community. The 5 day festival incorporated; Golden Boat ,a float , a series of community clay workshops with local story tellers, Twist Something Forcibly, a video show reel and sculptural installation , 1062FT Supper Club evenings which included Aphrodite Umi, a signature cocktail artwork and designed table ware, and with story telling and live music by local residents and bands. The festival culminated in a community procession and ‘Golden Bouy’ ritual led by Davis and Moore with sea shanties. Elements that Davis believes that when experienced together represent a complete sensory intellectual and human testament to our existence with art being at its centre: it’s heart. Davis and Moore’s theme of the festival was inspired by the American marine biologist and explorer William Beebe’s book ,The Arcturus Adventure 1926 and responded to the local myths and legends. They reintroduced the tradition of the talisman or “Cabbo” to Deal. These largely forgotten objects or grotesque figureheads were fashioned from local clay and fixed to the front of fishing and smugglers boats in Deal and the south Kent coast. Twist Something Forcibly was a compilation of video works that referenced water and were selected by Davis and Moore from the University for the Creative Arts Canterbury, the Royal College of Art, and Edinburgh College of Art’s graduate and post-graduate 2015 degree shows

Job and Career Resources: Not Just for Public Libraries

This article examines the process of creating, from idea to implementation, a career resource center at the Georgia College and State University Library and Instructional Technology Center. This resource center consists of a collection of the latest sources of information on strategies for successful career matching and job searching, in addition to a computer with bookmarked websites for easy navigation of selected helpful websites and informative articles

Human-Robot Dichotomy

This paper belongs to the area of roboethics and responsible robotics. It discusses the conceptual and practical separation of humans and robots in designing and implementing robots into real-world environments. We argue here that humans are often seen as a component that is only optional in design thinking, and in some cases even an obstacle to the successful robot performance. Such an approach may vary from viewing humans as a factor that does not belong to the robotics domain, through attempts to ‘adjust’ humans to robot requirements, to the overall replacement of humans with robots. Such separation or exclusion of humans poses serious ethical challenges, including the very exclusion of ethics from our thinking about robots