The inclusions afforded by a value-led design process for technology-nature hybrids in a walled kitchen garden

This paper describes the importance of a values-led approach within a design collaboration in a National Trust garden in Nottinghamshire, UK. The project demonstrates the power of values to shape not only the designed artefacts but the whole design process. The work responds to reports from the National Trust and other organizations of people’s increased disconnection from the natural world, and seeks to challenge the perception that technology is instrumental in fueling such detachment. The primary contribution of our value-based and critically engaged design process is the creation of prototypes that embody values and act as a focal point for reflection and re-encounter by the stakeholder organization. A process that itself acts as a continuous prompt for renewed consideration of interpretation approaches and organizational messages. The research involves the design of technology-nature hybrids for interpretation of a Walled Kitchen Garden, to support connection to nature. Designs are grounded in organizational values drawn from National Trust and researcher- designer values drawn from critical theory of technology. The project explores an area of intersecting and overlapping values and discusses the tensions experienced working in this space. The project illustrates how the inclusion of values and critical philosophy opens up new possibilities for the use of materials and technologies to increase our connection to nature

Walking off the garden path:a design journey

This paper illustrates various digital-nature artefacts, which emerged from a reflective design journey to enhance and support novel connections to nature in a garden. The research imperative is to explore possibilities for the design of digital technologies for changing people’s interpretation of a National Trust garden, encouraging encounters through the artefacts that take visitors off the garden path and reawaken them to the “presence” of the garden. The process began with an exploration of the criticisms and possibilities of technologies suggested within the writings of Heidegger, Borgmann and Feenberg, which were complemented by insights from natural history writers such as Deakin. These writings guided the design sensibilities for the creation of a collection of interpretation artefacts including Audio Apples, Rhubaphones and a Nature Meditation Egg. Much of the work was situated in a Walled Kitchen Garden managed by National Trust. Research through design complements the research philosophy because it demands space for reflection and conversation, and enables inclusion of different voices within the design journey. The methodology has helped address the question of whether a design lens that begins with criticism of technology can change the way we design, and the artefacts produced

Dermoid cysts of the tongue: report of five cases and review of the literature

Dermoid cysts of the tongue are uncommon. To date, there have been nine reported cases in the English language literature. In this article, we describe five cases accessioned at our institution over a 12-year period, two of which have previously been reported. The prevalence of dermoid cysts at our institution over this period was quite low. Of 324,042 surgical cases, 0.24% (765 cases) were dermoid cysts. Of these, five were from the tongue, representing only 0.7% of the dermoid cysts accessioned and 0.0015% of the total surgical specimens. The literature is reviewed and the possible origin of these lesions is discussed

Surface Transportation Supply Chain Security: Creating a Blueprint for Future Research

Ninety percent of the world’s trade goods travel by surface transportation, using maritime, road and rail assets. The security of the goods in transit, the infrastructure supporting the movement, and the vehicles, are required to ensure that international commerce proceeds successfully. Much has been written about the surface supply chain itself, but little has focused on the security of these components. This report provides a guide for those wanting an increased understanding of the security issues that supply chain surface transportation systems confront and a blueprint to guide their future research

Setting up a Pilot Peer Mentoring Programme in the Online Environment

Many universities use peer mentoring schemes for students at the start of their undergraduate studies as a way of supporting their transition from school to university. As law schools face the challenges of how to adapt their teaching in a time of restrictions imposed due to COVID-19, this article explores a pilot online peer mentoring project which offers the opportunity to provide peer support to students in an online environment. The article starts by setting out some of the reasons why a peer mentoring project can benefit law students. As well as support in transition, it explores the wider contributions peer mentoring can offer in improving student wellbeing, encouraging the formation of communities of practice, providing the opportunity to improve skills and enhancing student retention. It adopts a case study approach by reflecting on the Open University’s experience of setting up a pilot online peer mentoring scheme for law students in 2020. The article considers the practicalities of setting up an online peer mentoring scheme, the use of co-creation in the project, some of the challenges involved in an online scheme and how these were overcome and provides an initial evaluation of the project. This article aims to provide some helpful insights and suggestions for colleagues in law schools who are considering how to provide student support activities such as peer mentoring to their students online

Stories in a Beespoon : Exploring Future Folklore through Design

This paper explores the role and potential for design as process, artefact and experience to help frame and address societal problems. We consider this through examining a future folklore dialogical object, designed to stimulate conversation and question assumptions. Beekeeping is a particularly rich context with which to adopt this methodological approach, given the significance of global threats to insect pollination aligned with beekeeping’s extensive cultural heritage. By drawing on past narratives and contemporary knowledge and practices, the Beespoon, a small copper spoon representing the amount of honey a single bee can make, was codesigned as an experience that actively engaged people with concepts of work, value and pollination. Our design process oscillated across past, present and future stories – the Beespoon as future folklore artefact and experience reflects this complexity, operating across time and value systems to provide new ways to think about how we perceive and understand bees

How do we avoid the ‘ever decreasing circles syndrome’ in service improvement?

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Morecambe Bay Timescapes:Drawing together coastal futures that will, may, or could

This paper considers the role of drawing and creative processes of visualizing possible coastal futures as a means for engaging young people in climate change research and coastal management processes. While predictive models show the impact of climate change in coastal areas around the globe, what will happen to individual places will largely depend on local strategies and interventions. Yet, the complexity of these phenomena as well as the high level of specialisms involved often tends to leave local communities, and young people in particular, unable to participate decision-making processes which will determine the future of the places where they live. In the Morecambe Bay Timescapes project, three secondary schools and one college across Morecambe Bay were involved in a programme of activities which combined fieldwork, archival research, climate modelling, and art practice which led to the design of visions of hyperlocal coastal futures. These visions were used as part of an interactive exhibition that brought together young people and experts in conversations about possible futures. This paper describes the role that drawing played in enabling such conversations, by providing a way for students to work through multiple layers of complexity and articulate their reflections

Design for Noticing with the Biodiversity Logbooks

This paper introduces the use of design to improve noticing skills in order to address environmental issues at a variety of physical and temporal scales. We illustrate the application of ‘design for noticing’ through Biodiversity Logbooks – a pilot project intended to reduce ‘plant blindness’ amongst primary school children. Plant blindness is the inability to recognise, appreciate and value plants and it has far reaching social, environmental and economic implications. In this project, we designed pedagogical tools and processes to foster the skills of noticing plants in their environments, and connecting the small-scale of their individual features to large-scale systems. Biodiversity Logbooks was designed in collaboration with primary school staff. We present initial lessons learnt from our work to support the delivery of specialist content and to create activities that can be embedded in the curriculum for the long term

Development of a minimal KASP marker panel for distinguishing genotypes in apple collections

Accurate identification of named accessions in germplasm collections is extremely important, especially for vegetatively propagated crops which are expensive to maintain.  Thus, an inexpensive, reliable, and rapid genotyping method is essential because it avoids the need for laborious and time-consuming morphological comparisons.  Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) marker panels containing large numbers of SNPs have been developed for many crop species, but such panels are much too large for basic cultivar identification.  Here, we have identified a minimum set of SNP markers sufficient to distinguish apple cultivars held in the English and Welsh national collections providing a cheaper and automatable alternative to the markers currently used by the community.  We show that SNP genotyping with a small set of well selected markers is equally efficient as microsatellites for the identification of apple cultivars and has the added advantage of automation and reduced cost when screening large numbers of sample