Alterplinarity – ‘Alternative Disciplinarity’ in Future Art and Design Research Pursuits

Contemporary design is typified by fluid, evolving patterns of practice that regularly traverse, transcend and transfigure historical disciplinary and conceptual boundaries. This mutability means that design research, education, and practice is constantly shifting, creating, contesting and negotiating new terrains of opportunities and re-shaping the boundaries of the discipline. This paper proposes that this is because globalisation and the proliferation of the digital has resulted in connections that are no longer “amid”, cannot be measured “across”, nor encompass a “whole” system, which has generated an “other” dimension (Bourriaud, 2009), an “alternative disciplinarity” - an “alterplinarity”. As the fragmentation of distinct disciplines has shifted creative practice from being “discipline-based” to “issue- or project-based” (Heppell, 2006), we present the argument that the researcher, who purposely blurs distinctions and has dumped methods from being “discipline-based” to “issue- or project-based”, will be best placed to make connections that generate new ways to identify “other” dimensions of design research, activity and thought that is needed for the complex, interdependent issues we now face. We present the case that reliance on the historic disciplines of design as the boundaries of our understanding has been superseded by a boundless space/time that we call “alterplinarity”. The digital has modified the models of design thought and action, and as a result research and practice should transform from a convention domesticated by the academy to a reaction to globalisation that is yet to be disciplined

A comparison of the use of vacuum metal deposition versus cyanoacrylate fuming for visualisation of fingermarks and grab impressions on fabrics

Both vacuum metal deposition (VMD) and cyanoacrylate fuming (CAF) are techniques used to visualise latent fingermarks on smooth non-porous surfaces such as plastic and glass. VMD was initially investigated in the 1970s as to its effectiveness for visualising prints on fabrics, but was abandoned when radioactive sulphur dioxide was found to be more effective. However, interest in VMD was resurrected in the 1990s when CAF was also used routinely. We now report on studies to determine whether VMD or CAF is the more effective technique for the detection of marks on fabrics. Four different fabrics, nylon, polyester, polycotton and cotton, were utilised during this study, along with 15 donors who ranged in their age and ability to leave fingermarks, from good to medium to poor, thus reflecting the general population. Once samples were collected they were kept for a determined time (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days) and then treated using either the gold and zinc metal VMD process or standard cyanoacrylate fuming.The smoother fabrics, such as nylon, consistently produced greater ridge detail whereas duller fabrics, like cotton tended only to show empty prints and impressions of where the fabric had been touched, rather than any ridge details. The majority of fabrics did however allow the development of touch marks that could be targeted for DNA taping which potentially could lead to a DNA profile. Of the two techniques VMD was around 5 times more effective than CAF, producing a greater amount of ridge detail, palmar flexion creases and target areas on more samples and fabrics

Visualisation of fingermarks and grab impressions on fabrics. Part 1: gold/zinc vacuum metal deposition

Vacuum metal deposition (VMD) is a highly sensitive technique originally introduced for detecting latent fingermarks on smooth non-porous surfaces such as carrier bags, plastics and glass. The current study explores whether VMD can be used in the examination of clothing from physical and sexual assault cases in order to visualise identifiable fingermark ridge detail and/or palmar flexion crease detail, thus allowing potential areas to be indicated for DNA swabbing and/or to determine the sequence of events. Four different fabrics were utilised during this study – nylon, polyester, polycotton and cotton, along with 15 donors who ranged in their age and propensity to leave fingermarks, from good to medium to poor as determined by results obtained from test runs using paper and plastic carrier bags processed with VMD. Once samples were collected they were kept for a determined time (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days) and then treated using the gold/zinc metal VMD process. From the results, it appears that greater ridge detail is visible on the smoother non-porous fabrics, such as nylon whereas on rougher porous fabrics, such as cotton, only empty prints and impressions, rather than any ridge details, were visible. All fabrics did however allow the development of touch marks that could be targeted for DNA taping thus potentially leading to a DNA profile and possible identification of a suspect

An A to Z of contemporary design

In 2001, Hal Foster wrote his paper “The ABCs of Contemporary Design*” (Foster, 2002a) as a supplement (part glossary, part guide) to his book Design and Crime (and Other Diatribes) (Foster, 2002b). Foster’s ABCs paper paints design as being a near‐perfect circuit of production and consumption. Foster claims that critical reflection is outdated, which means design is a consumption‐based system and as such design’s role is largely to feed capitalism, let it flourish, and meet the demands of the masses. Over a decade on from Foster’s critical analysis of design, however, it appears that design is in the middle of yet another series of crises (Bremner and Rodgers, 2013) ranging from disciplinary challenges where the profession of design appears to be struggling with its identity, to epistemological and conceptual challenges where the zeitgeist of design thinking and the widespread democratization of the discipline would have us believe that “we are all designers”, and where the remit of design is expanding into ever more far flung areas that cover communications, services, interactions and strategies. It seems timely and fitting, therefore, that we need a new examination of the contemporary world of design. This assessment of contemporary design is apposite given that we currently inhabit a world that we have all combined to create that is seriously unprepared to deal with the mounting crises we face. Collectively, we are destroying some of the most important features of society that we claim to hold most dear (i.e. our planet, our society, and our spirit). Our ecological crisis, wherein we continue to deplete and degrade our natural capital on a massive scale, using up the equivalent of 1.5 planets to meet our current consumption has resulted in one third of our agricultural land disappearing over the last 40 years, which will inevitably lead to food supply crises and an anticipated doubling of food prices by 2030 (Emmott, 2013). Our present social crisis sees nearly 2.5 billion people on our planet living in abject poverty (UNHDR, 2007). There have been many successes at lifting people out of poverty, but this figure has not changed much over the past few decades (Therborn, 2012). Furthermore, the world is currently in a spiritual crisis where, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, 3 times as many people die from suicide as die from homicide or in wars. These global dimensions are collectively creating results that nobody wants and may well constitute the most significant failure of our time. Building on Foster’s ABC template, the authors present a new critical insight from A to Z into the current design situation where issues of professionalism in design, the global financial meltdown, and the rapid adoption of digital technologies have all modified the models of design thought and action. We suggest readers see this paper as a development of Foster’s original supplement

Visualisation of fingermarks and grab impressions on dark fabrics using silver vacuum metal deposition

Vacuum metal deposition (VMD) involves the thermal evaporation of metal (silver) in a vacuum, resulting in a uniform layer being deposited on the specimen being treated. This paper examines the use of silver on dark fabrics, thus offering a simpler operation and more obvious colouration to that of the traditional use of gold and zinc metals which must be evaporated separately. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fabric type, donor, mark age and method of fingermark deposition on the quality of marks visualised using silver VMD. This was achieved by collecting fingermark deposits from fifteen donors, of both sexes and various ages, by a grab or a press method. Four different fabrics: satin, polyester, polycotton and cotton were studied over a 10 day timeline of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 21 and 28 + days. It was found that satin and polyester gave the most positive results, with polyester often producing excellent ridge detail. Cotton and polycotton were less successful with no ridge detail being observed. The donors also had an observable effect on the results obtained probably due to variations in secretions produced or pressures applied during specimen collection. The age of the mark or the method of mark deposition had little influence on the results obtained. Silver VMD is a viable process for visualising marks on certain dark fabrics and has the advantage over gold/zinc VMD in that the marks visualised are light in colour which contrasts well against the dark background

Are we being served?

This paper examines the mismatch between consumer and retailer perceptions of customer service and its potential impact on customer satisfaction. Having examined the main influences and themes from primary research this paper attempts to suggest that there is potential for developing new models of customer service and that different strategic directions to service in menswear retailing can be explored

PlantID – DNA-based identification of multiple medicinal plants in complex mixtures

Background An efficient method for the identification of medicinal plant products is now a priority as the global demand increases. This study aims to develop a DNA-based method for the identification and authentication of plant species that can be implemented in the industry to aid compliance with regulations, based upon the economically important Hypericum perforatum L. (St John’s Wort or Guan ye Lian Qiao). Methods The ITS regions of several Hypericum species were analysed to identify the most divergent regions and PCR primers were designed to anneal specifically to these regions in the different Hypericum species. Candidate primers were selected such that the amplicon produced by each species-specific reaction differed in size. The use of fluorescently labelled primers enabled these products to be resolved by capillary electrophoresis. Results Four closely related Hypericum species were detected simultaneously and independently in one reaction. Each species could be identified individually and in any combination. The introduction of three more closely related species to the test had no effect on the results. Highly processed commercial plant material was identified, despite the potential complications of DNA degradation in such samples. Conclusion This technique can detect the presence of an expected plant material and adulterant materials in one reaction. The method could be simply applied to other medicinal plants and their problem adulterants

Audio-driven Robot Upper-body Motion Synthesis

Body language is an important aspect of human communication, which an effective human-robot interaction interface should mimic well. The currently available robotic platforms are limited in their ability to automatically generate behaviours that align with their speech. In this paper, we developed a neural network based system that takes audio from a user as an input and generates upper-body gestures including head, hand and hip movements of the user on a humanoid robot, namely, Softbank Robotics’ Pepper. The developed system was evaluated quantitatively as well as qualitatively using web-surveys when driven by natural speech and synthetic speech. We particularly compared the impact of generic and person-specific neural network models on the quality of synthesised movements. We further investigated the relationships between quantitative and qualitative evaluations and examined how the speaker’s personality traits affect the synthesised movements