Sweet Auburn Digital Media Initiative In the Spring of 2016, I paired an advanced seminar course titled Critical Theory, Social Justice, and Philosophy of Design with a design studio titled Sweet Auburn: Birthplace of Ideas. Undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students from a range of backgrounds…
OVERVIEW Interaction design is concerned with the invention of useful and beautiful products that mediate everyday actions and facilitate interpersonal and social interactions. The need for effective interaction design is evident once we consider the wide presence and impact of digital and non-digital products in…
OBJECTIVE The objective of this course is to lay a foundation for the design and criticism of informational artifacts as well as the methods of devising effective communication strategies. Learning Outcomes Understand the plural philosophical interpretations of the concept of information Understand basic theoretical foundations of…
The purpose of this course is to lay a foundation for better understanding of design and research methods and their grounding in philosophy of knowledge.
Design and technology discourses are often accompanied with implicit and explicit appeals to values. But what exactly do we mean by these values and how do they shape design practice and design artifacts?
Collecting, archiving, and sharing stories has been identified as possible practices to advance social justice, especially given the low cost and accessibility of digital technologies. But is it possible that the same collective force that is gained through large archives of stories masks and even betrays stories—taking away from what is meaningful and worthwhile in the acts of storytelling and listening?
This theoretical exploration revisits the term “unintended consequences,” drawing upon an illustrative vignette to show how it is used to dismiss vital ethical and political concerns.
Are smart cities part of the solution to the problems of communication and community within cities, poised to improving the lives of citizens? Would they work to expand modes of participation and citizenship or instead suppress communication and further distance and disintegrate communities?
Building on the history of the Victorian ‘philosophical toy’ Feminist Philosophical Toys presents a re-imagined set of paper machines as feminist materials for designers to think with.
