Dear all:

As you might know, the Doctor of Arts program has a small budget to be used for developing coursework, activities, as well as supporting the travel of students to events. This is a relatively new occurrence since in the past, we were not given a budget but rather dealt with items as they came along.

I have divided the budget and given some to Graphic Design and some to Photography. In the next few weeks I will make public how the funds  have been distributed.

In the meanwhile, I just want to remind you that if you want to travel abroad for a conference you need to follow these steps:

1. Rule number 1 is that you need to request the funds in writing. An A4 that contains the following information is enough: The name of the event, the dates, the location, and a URL plus a brief narrative explaining how your attendance will benefit your studies and finally, a budget.

2. The second rule is that in general, you must be presenting a paper or exhibiting your work as an artist/designer. If there is a paper or the documented results of an exhibition, such as for example an entry in an exhibition catalog, all you need to do is to forward me copies of these items.

3. Rule number 3 is that if you are given the permission and funding to attend an event in which you neither have a paper, nor you are participating in an exhibition, I need to have a report from you about the activity that describes your role in the event, and the significance of your participation for your studies.

To some of you this might seem cumbersome, however, consider that there was a time that you could only travel if you were presenting a paper. In the new system, we are trying to accommodate results such as art and media works. At the end of the day, we need to document and substantiate that the funds are being used wisely.

BR. Lily

Submissions deadlines: 10 Nov 2011 (abstracts), 1 Jan 2012 (full articles)

Please circulate this CfP – particularly among Colin Beardon’s colleagues, collaborators and friends.

Colin Beardon, the founder of the Digital Creativity journal, has a long and celebrated career particularly in multidisciplinary, collaborative and community-based HCI design for digital creativity across disciplines, art and theatre in particular. In creating the journal, alone, he has made a significant contribution to the community. His current activities also include chairing the Artworks Community Theatre and nature preservation in Waiheke Island, New Zealand, where he resides. Colleagues, students and collaborators know him as a friendly and wise gentleman, a far-seeing and generous mentor, and a hard-working contributor with a very special eye for the value and complexity of collaboration between art, science, technology, design and society. (More on Colin Beardon can be found at: http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/oldcontent/cbeardon/,

http://www.elections2010.co.nz/2010/candidates/colin-beardon)

With this Digital Creativity Special Issue (Vol 23, No2) Call for Papers, in honour of Colin Beardon, we solicit contributions on the theme of Collaboration and Community in digital creativity, works and applications. We are particularly interested in papers that offer case studies and critical insights on how digital communities and computer-enhanced collaboration are currently organised, what are the aesthetics and politics of the applications and the artistic works, and how we may improve upon them in future research and practice. Papers that discuss Colin Beardon’s specific contributions are particularly welcome. Possible topics for paper proposals include, but are not restricted to:

– Analyses and critiques of contemporary collaboration and community applications (leading to insights on future development)

– Methods, paradigms and applications for digital collaboration and community across disciplines

– Case studies in collaborative and/or community-building artwork, design, storytelling and drama

– Citizen activism and social environments, arenas of the discussion of common values online

The special issue Forewords/Introduction(s) will be written by the guest editors: Mika ‘Lumi’ Tuomola, Media Lab Helsinki / Aalto University School of Art and Design (Finland), and Ernest Edmonds, University of Technology, Sydney (Australia).

Submissions:

Initial proposals should be extended abstracts in English, between 800-1200 words. The categories for final submission are Short Papers between 2500-3500 words, and Long Papers, between 5000-7000 words. The papers will be selected through a blind peer review process. Upon acceptance of the abstract, you will be sent further authors’ guidelines based on the Digital Creativity guidelines (Instructions for Authors) at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/NDCR.

The extended abstract should include the following information: 1) Name of author(s) with email addresses and affiliation, if applicable 2) Title of the paper 3) Body of the abstract 4) Preliminary bibliography 5) Author(s)’s short bio(s) 6) Indication of whether the submission will be a short or a long paper.

Important dates:

Initial proposals (extended abstracts) deadline: November 10, 2011

Notification of acceptance (by editors’ review): November 20, 2011

Final papers are due on: January 2, 2012

Blind peer-reviews due on: February 1, 2012

Revised final papers are due on: March 1, 2012

Special issue published: Mid-2012

Recipients: Please forward your abstract as a PDF attachment in an e-mail addressed to the special issue and Digital Creativity editors, three recipients below:

Mika ‘Lumi’ Tuomola, special issue quest editor <mika.tuomola@aalto.fi>

Ernest Edmonds, special issue quest editor <ernest@ernestedmonds.com>

Digital Creativity editors <dcsubmit@gmail.com>

Academic dissertation to be presented for public examination with the permission of the Research Board of the Aalto University School of Art and Design, in Sampo auditorium (Media Centre LUME), Hämeentie 135 C, on November 4th, 2011, at 12 noon.

Opponent:
Professor Todd Winkler
Brown University
Custos:
DA Koray Tahiroğlu
Aalto University School of Art and Design

Welcome!

Abstract

In his doctoral research, Juhani Räisänen has designed and constructed a new experimental electronic instrument. His aim has been to create a serious musical instrument that will be long-lasting, as the traditional acoustic instruments. The Sormina instrument is made of a handheld interface and computer software, which are connected wirelessly. The design is reflected in media art, contemporary music, and instrument building.

Räisänen has a long career in many fields of art. He started in theater, continued to be a musician, and is now interested in the possibilities of sound and video art. From 2006, Räisänen has performed with the Sormina instrument, both in Finland and abroad.Sound art made with the instrument has been published as part of the CD series Muu for Ears. In September 2011 Räisänen has his own exhibition in the MUU gallery in Helsinki, where he showed video art made with Sormina.

See also: http://www.sormina.com/

Lecture room 4319 every morning at 10:00!

1. Objectives of the course

The objective of this course is to initiate a dialogue with graduate students based on the conjecture that design is a tradition of inquiry and action that shares many attributes with science and art but is not a median point between them or an applied version of either. It is proposed that design is its own intellectual and professional tradition with its own postulates, forms of logic and modes of inquiry. The intention is to explore the consequences of such a postulation in order to build a schema of design scholarship and praxis. The foundations, fundamentals and metaphysical thinking that inform this dialogue are based on the ideas presented in the book— The Design Way by Nelson & Stolterman, 2^nd edition, to be published by MIT Press in 2012. The students will be asked to develop their own design schemas in support of their professional or research interests in design.

2. General description of the topics covered

Topics to be covered include (from table of contents for The Design Way, 2^nd Edition):

Prelude; Creating a Culture of Design & a Design Culture

I. The First Tradition; Design Postulates & Context

II. Foundations of Design

1. The Particular; Ultimate Particular Things

2. Service; Design Agency

3. Systemics; The Logic of Design

4. The Whole: Composition & Emergence

III. Fundamentals in Design

5. Desiderata; Design Intention

6. Interpretation and Measurement in Design

7. Imagination and Design Communication

8. Judgment as Design Decision Making

9. Composing & Connecting; Ordering & Organizing

10. Production & Care Taking; Design Skill & Mastery

IV. Metaphysics of Design

11. The Evil of Design

12. The Splendor of Design; Function & Ensoulment

13. The Guarantor-of-Design (g.o.d.); The Guarantor-of-Destiny (G.O.D)

V. A Drawing Together of Foundations & Fundamentals

14. Becoming a Designer; Design Scholarship & Education

15. Being a Designer; Design Praxis

Forward; Inferences for the Future

3. Learning outcomes

Students will acquire a broader and deeper understanding of design as a culture of inquiry for intentional change. Through readings and discussions, students will gain insight into an approach to seminal design issues that emerge as design expands beyond its normative boundaries of the material design culture. They will participate in a design dialogue as part of a collective, scholarly inquiry focused on academic approaches to the field of design. Students will develop their own schemas for design scholarship and practice, in relationship to their own professional interests or research

4. Recommended literature and resources

• Draft text of The Design Way; 2^nd Edition

• Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePfZeLCwc6U

Detailed schedule here:

nelson_schedule_aalto_17_2110

Sign up: heikki.nuutinen@hnd.fi