Gesche's thoughts

DRS Conference in Sheffield, UK - how was it?

Gesche — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:51:53 +0200

With two of my collegues, Rosan Chow and Katharina Bredies, we have been to Sheffield DRS conference. After participanting in the last DRS conference in Lisbon, 2 years ago, the expectations were not too high - as the Lisbon conference had been quite chaotic, with far too many papers presented in very varying quality. In Sheffield, the amount of papers - as well as the amount of participants - was much lower. Therefore, it was a nice atmosphere where the participants really met and could talk to each other. But on the other hand, the "old boys" from the design research "scene" - who participated in Lisbon - were not there (like Nigel Cross, David Durling, Clive Dilnot,...) (and "old boys" does not mean that they have to be old, but that they seem to lead and heavily influence the discourse in Design research so far...).
Well, to be honest, there were not that many presentations that seemed to be of hihg interest to me. Many case studies were quite particular in their topic. Very interesting to me were the several contributions made by Eric Stolterman et al were he introduced his reflections on Interaction Design in education. Therefore, having dinner with Eric, Wolfgang Jonas, Rosan Chow and Katharina Bredies was my personal highlight of the whole event.
All in all, I asked myself whether it really makes sense to go to those big conferences - to spend there 4 whole days, to prepare a presentation that only some 10 people listen to,... When I would spend those 4 days just reading papers and research litertaure - wouldn't that effect be much higher? well, don't know... of course half of the whole thing is meeting people, I know...

best Design Schools

Gesche — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:04:56 +0200

A difficult question I would like to discuss with you - what do you think are the best design schools today?
What followed Eindhofen and Droog Design in the Netherlands? Is RCA London most advanced? What is the best place to study Design Theory, or Interface Design? Comments welcome!

HFG Ulm - Design & Politics - Research Porgram and Funding

Gesche — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:40:51 +0200

http://www.hfg-ulm.de/455.html?&L=1
The Aesthetics of Accountability

Since 2006, the Ulm International Forum for Design (IFG Ulm), with its advertised promotion program “Designing politics – The politics of design“, has focused on the question of the designer’s responsibility and the democratic quality of design.

The IFG Ulm GmbH, acting on behalf of the HfG Ulm Foundation, promotes architects, designers, urban planners, artists, researchers or publicists with the worldwide largest endowed sum of 50.000 Euro per year. The endowment goes back to a discourse that was first opened more than fifty years ago by the founders Inge Aicher Scholl, “Otl” Aicher and Max Bill.

Using design, the founders were searching for a reaction to the barbaric Hitler Regime, since “culture and politics belong together, because it’s not about awareness or truth but […] about a sensible exchange of opinions on the sphere of public life and the common world, and furthermore about the decision what this world should look like in the future, which things shall appear in it.” (Hannah Arendt, “The Crisis in Culture”, 1968).

The IFG Ulm consciously embraces this tradition, a tradition that is rooted in the conviction that the process of creating design is not limited to purely aesthetic, technical and commercial factors; and that design also accrues from the social and political sphere and vice versa.

“Design needs a creative sanctuary in order to be effective. What we search with the IFG are projects that develop a fundamental qualification on in-depth thinking”, explains Dr. Regula Stämpfli, Director of the IFG Advisory Board. “Design projects promoted by us must look beneath the surface of design work”, states Dr. Dieter Bosch, CEO of the HfG Ulm Foundation and Managing Director of the IFG Ulm GmbH. “Design should be seen as an action that has a lasting effect on the economic, political and cultural sphere.”

Foundation of "Gesellschaft für Designgeschichte"

Gesche — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:06:19 +0100

I just learned that in early February there will be a meeting in Weimar for the foundation of the "Gesellschaft für Designgeschichte". There was a list of about 50 founding members who want to join this event. it will be interesting to see what this new society wants to be and how they develop - while I am asking myself why our design theory community in Germany is that separated...

Scholarship for female researchers

Gesche — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:01:19 +0100

this e-mail was sent to me from google:
As part of Google's ongoing commitment to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, we are pleased to announce the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008. This is a EUR 5,000 (or equivalent) scholarship for the 2008/2009 academic year and the deadline for submission is 18th February 2008. You can find more details at http://www.google.com/anitaborg-europe/.

The Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship was awarded for the first time in Europe in 2007. 180 students from 93 different universities across Europe applied. After two rounds of review, the committee selected 31 finalists. Out of this group, 12 outstanding young women received the EUR 5,000 Scholarship for the 2007/2008 academic year. One of them was from your university! The remaining 19 finalists received a EUR 1,000 award. You can find more details at http://www.google.com/anitaborg-europe/scholars.html

We hope to make the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008 as successful as it has been last year and would like your help in doing so.

Keio University Graduate School of Media Design in Japan

Gesche — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:42:30 +0100

Maybe an interesting institution for masters and ph.d. in Design?

We are pleased to announce the new Keio University Graduate School of Media Design to be opened in April 2008. Applications are now open until December 10th for entry into the Masters and PhD program. We highly encourage students from around the globe to apply.

Keio University Graduate School of Media Design is committed to fostering "Media Innovators" and creative global leaders who understand the core creative skills of design, technology, management, and policy in the field of media design. Education will take a practical, hands-on, and global approach to offering various projects grounded in practice by collaborating with international partner institutions and research facilities.

Keio University Graduate School of Media Design provides a premier graduate education to prepare students for leadership as "Media Innovators" in the modern creative society. A "Media Innovator" is a leader who understands the core values of creativity and innovation, who can implement and manage creative activities, and who is also capable of converting creative and innovative activities into economic and cultural value for society to the maximum extent. Therefore, the education program produces international professional leaders and scholars who can revolutionize industry and the bureaucracy, create and innovate new generations of digital media, who can produce innovative digital content and experience, and who can create, edit, and distribute "knowledge", which is the most valuable resource in our global society.

Key Features
* The rigorous and flexible curriculum provides unusual depth and breadth in four important areas related to media design: design, technology, management, and policy. Students learn the fundamentals in all four subjects while focusing on specific areas in greater depth.
* This unparalleled education program is designed to nourish the communication and language skills necessary for international activities. For international students, Japanese language learning support is also provided, and for Japanese students, English oral presentation is required to encourage students to prepare themselves to become part of the global community.
* International students may obtain the degree by taking courses offered in English only.
* A crash course (boot camp) is scheduled immediately after admission in order to establish the basis for effective collaboration and teamwork amongst students with diverse backgrounds.
* The education program is designed and structured to center on research projects, and courses prepare students for research and professional practice. Thus, research and education are integrated to offer academic understanding through hands-on research and the creation of actual deliverables. The research projects tackle real world global problems and propose solutions by incorporating cutting-edge research and academic theories. In addition, the research results will be disseminated through various outreaching channels.
* In order to implement cutting-edge research on current and immediate issues, the graduate school adopts a global network infrastructure. This will ensure effective collaboration between the headquarters located in Hiyoshi campus and other satellite research facilities in both Japan and abroad, as well as with other institutions. Through this state-of-the-art network infrastructure, students and faculty members will be immersed in a network-connected multi-location global campus environment that fosters a global community.
o Major : Major in Media Design
o Number of Admission (Per Year):
Master's course : 80
Doctor's course : 10
o Degrees Awarded :
Master's degree : Master of Media Design
Doctor's degree : Ph.D. in Media Design

* Application Period:

December 5(Wed) - December 10(Mon)

(Application documents must arrive at our office by December 10, 2007, if you apply from overseas. In case you are an applicant within Japan, the documents must be postmarked by December 10, 2007.) *Announcement of Result of 1st Screening: (Documentary Examination)

December 17(Mon) 10:00 a.m.

*The Date of 2nd Screening: (Oral Examination)

January 12(Sat) / January 13(Sun)
(Applicants from overseas are able to have an oral exam online.)

*Announcement of Result of 2nd Screening:

January 15 (Tue) 10:00 a.m.

Welcome to the Graduate School of Media Design A creative society led by media innovators

Prof. Masahiko INAKAGE
Dean, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University

We are witnessing the emergence of a "creative society," a world in which creativity, rather than productivity or efficiency, is the driving force of the global economy. "Creativity" is the ability to produce new ideas, expressions and processes. Creative activities move and inspires the human mind.

The Graduate School of Media Design was established to train the new leaders who will pioneer industries suited to the creative society.
The abilities and products of the individual are paramount in this world; this is a society in which consumers have the potential to lead creative activities. The content of the creative society is rooted in very down-to-earth, day-to-day activities like parenting and cooking.
Our confidence in our ability to be creative is an important factor in its emergence.

The Agrarian society and the industrial society produced value from natural resources. From the mid-19th century onwards, the use of machinery brought dramatic productivity gains that set the stage for the industrial society of the 20th century. Consumers were induced by advertisements in mass media to buy mass-produced objects that had been delivered to people over sophisticated distribution networks. It became a society of mass production and mass consumption. One of the distinguishing features of this society was the division erected between the professionals who produced goods and advertising and the rest of us, the consumers who received them. We obtained a plethora of material goods, but the price we paid for it was the loss of creative enjoyment. Starting in the 19th century and on through the 20th, creativity was divorced from economic activity. It became "culture" or "art," a domain inhabited by specialists called "artists." The rest of us became mere consumers of "art."

In the 21st century, the emergence of digital technologies has reduced the impediments to human creativity. As these impediments are eliminated, our industrial foundations are changing; the potential for a creative society is now emerging. Fifty years ago, industry began to introduce digital technology as a means of improving productivity and rationalizing distribution. The growth of the Internet, increasing computer processing power and decreasing prices empower us to utilize this technology to change the foundations upon which our lives are built. Today, virtually anyone can, very easily, engage in the same creative activities that were only open to the world's top creators during the industrial age of the 20th century. We now have a society in which we are able to make unrestricted use of our individual abilities. Nothing illustrates this more than the world of the Internet, where users freely create and distribute to the world their own content.

The industrial revolution was followed by the distribution revolution, and the next stage of the process is the creativity revolution. The way in which we produce value is changing, for it is now produced from cultural and social resources rather than only natural resources. The creative society brought about by this revolution is using a foundation of advanced digital technology to redistribute resources on a global scale and to restore creativity to human beings.
Technological progress produces value from creative activities in everyday life and increases the number of creative individuals. The internet has eliminated the barriers to redistribution of cultural and social resources, enabling them to flow freely. We enjoy the expressions of others and express ourselves as well by using, sharing, and distributing these resources. There are more resources available for use and more indications of the potential for new economic activities. Creativity has become a valuable activity within our day-to-day lives.

For all that, we cannot state with any certainty that the creative society has actually been achieved yet. We still lack enough creative people. All human beings have creative potential and the ability to transform their creativity into value. The digital revolution in particular has the potential to dramatically expand human creativity.
At the Graduate School of Media Design, we call the people who will lead the coming creative society "media innovators," and we work to educate and train this new category of worker.

Media innovators combine and harmonize design creativity, technological creativity, management creativity, and policy creativity. Integration of skills in all four areas are required to be a true media innovator. Although the basic skills may be mastered, attaining excellence in all four fields is an uphill task. At the Graduate School of Media Design, our curriculum is structured to allow students to attain professional skills in one or two areas of particular interest. As they do this, they also learn to closely collaborate with media innovators who possess other skills. Much of the educational process involves projects in which students work with other media innovators who have separate areas of expertise that complement their own, linking together all four kinds of creativity to move the project forward. The School has a practical program for mastering collaboration techniques that we call "Real Projects."

Real Projects demand students to study and develop practical solutions to real issues confronted in the society. You will be required to produce content, develop and verify technology, attempt to commercialize your products, start businesses, and move them through the process of standardization and institutional reform. This is a comprehensive, practical curriculum that involves fieldwork, strategic planning, conceptualization, prototyping, and implementation and verification, the five key skills that you will learn and apply.

The Graduate School of Media Design looks forward to receiving applications from ambitious people with passion and vision whom truly wish to become media innovators with the global perspective that is required to lead the coming creative society.