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SUMMARY:Experiential Learning\, Ecological Literacy and Sustainable Design
  Training - Speaker to be confirmed
DTSTART:20110519T110000Z
DTEND:20110519T130000Z
UID:TALK31252@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:18154
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*\n\nThis seminar focuses on different aspects of eco
 - and sustainability education\, exploring a spectrum reaching from a high
 ly conceptual level to industrial applications. \n\nThe seminar starts wit
 h a talk from Michael Hohl about the importance of sensual perception for 
 learning processes for behavioural changes. It continues with a presentati
 on by Jody Joanna Boehnert\, which highlights how communication design can
  support social capacities and transformative learning. Finally\, Bernhard
  Dusch presents a sustainable design tool\, which is being developed to ed
 ucate and support designers in an industrial design context.\n\nFurther in
 formation on each individual talk can be found below.\n\n*Speakers*\n\n* D
 r Michael Hohl Research Fellow in Design\, School of Art\, Design and Arch
 itecture\, University of Huddersfield\n* Jody Joanna Boehnert PhD Candidat
 e\, Centre for Research & Development\, University of Brighton and Foundin
 g Director\, EcoLabs\n* Bernhard Dusch PhD Candidate\, Institute for Manuf
 acturing\, University of Cambridge\n\n*Speakers' Abstracts*\n\n*Dr Michael
  Hohl "Sensual Technologies: Embodied experience and visualisation of scie
 ntific data"*\n\nIn my presentation I set out to discuss the important rol
 e that embodied experience may have in designing encounters with scientifi
 c knowledge. I will introduce four installation works which bring together
  natural processes\, the body and sensorial perception around scientific p
 henomena. These works are\, Ned Kahn's 'Seismic Sea'\, Luke Jerram's 'Tide
 '\, Hugo Kükelhaus 'Vortex\, Turbulence\, Spiral' ('Strudel\, Wirbel\, Sp
 irale') and Antenna Theater's 'Sands of Time'. These works blur boundaries
  and it is difficult to categories them. They could be seen in science cen
 tres visualising scientific principles or knowledge\, in art exhibitions f
 or their aesthetic qualities or possibly function as types of scientific i
 nstruments in their own right. They have in common that they use natural p
 rocesses or environments as a medium of visualisation or as an interface f
 or action and reflection.\n\nWithin each work the human body plays an esse
 ntial role in stimulating the imagination through aesthetic experience. Th
 ese particular examples have been selected for their usefulness to discuss
  the potentially transformative role of bodily experience in works that em
 erge from art\, design and science collaborations. Another important aspec
 t is that evocative works may not so much depend on technology than on inv
 estigations into phenomenology and contemporary research into neuro-plasti
 city. Their primary goal though is not to create new knowledge but instead
  to make curious and to delight.\n\nI am investigating these aspects from 
 a design perspective. How can we as designers make scientific knowledge mo
 re engaging? How can we create deeper and more memorable learning experien
 ces? How may we convert dry 'information' (e.g. about complexity\, ecology
  or sustainability) into transformative experiences that result in changes
  of behaviour?\n\n*Jody Joanna Boehnert "The Visual Communication of Ecolo
 gical Literacy"*\n\nThe research demonstrates how communication design can
  generate new understanding and contribute to the development of new cogni
 tive skills and social capacities in a time of rapid societal change. Visu
 al communication offers powerful means of helping audiences understand con
 text\, interrelationships\, dynamics and other features of the whole syste
 ms thinking. This project uses both design and action research methodologi
 es creating new visual resources that are tested as part of a series of tr
 ansformative learning processes. Learning resources and activities are des
 igned to address the value / action gap in sustainable communications and 
 education. \n\nThe research involves a series of initiatives. The first wa
 s a Teach-in at the V&A in 2009 which resulted in an on-going community or
 ganizing a Ning platform (http://teach-in.ning.com/). The practice-based w
 ork not only demonstrates how visual communication can facilitate learning
  processes for ecological literacy but how visuals can contribute towards 
 an understanding of systemic problems by visually mapping new intellectual
  territory in the fast moving field of sustainability. \n\nJody Boehnert i
 s founding director of EcoLabs (http://www.eco-labs.org/)\, a design studi
 o based in London.\n\n*Bernhard Dusch "From Attitude to Action – the dev
 elopment of a sustainable design tool kit"*\n\nIt is well accepted that de
 sign is one of the key aspects of new product development. Further\, it is
  widely recognised that design also plays a central role in the developmen
 t of more sustainable products. However\, although the idea of sustainabil
 ity seems to be widely discussed in design research\, there are signs that
  the true meaning of this notion has not been fully assimilated in new pro
 duct development to date.\n\nThis seminar presents an ongoing research pro
 ject which aims to better understand how the concept of sustainable design
  can be more effectively integrated in design practice. A central part of 
 this project is the development of a sustainable design tool kit\, which n
 ot only provides sustainable design guidance on a practical level\, but al
 so communicates fundamental concepts of sustainable design in an accessibl
 e\, intuitive and entertaining way. \n\nThe tool kit is tested in a series
  of workshops in design academia and industry and improved iteratively thr
 oughout this process. The project is carried out in the Design Management 
 Group in the Institute for Manufacturing.\n
LOCATION:CRASSH Seminar Room 17 Mill Lane
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