Design practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik BOHEMIA ◽  
Noémi ZAJZON ◽  
Sharon PRENDEVILLE
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Industrial Design ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Ethnographic Methods ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Design Practices

Design practices inherently cope with meaning making, but the semiotic notion of sense seems to be misled. Despite the evolution of Industrial Design over the past years, design research has been widely criticized for its groundlessness. In 2009, we proposed theoretical frameworks to overcome the absence of specific foundations to support empirical research in design semiotics. Funded by Whirlpool Latin America in partnership with Fapemig (2010-2012), such frameworks were built on ethnographic methods and had their assumptions empirically tested. The results showed that carrying out theoretical and empirical research simultaneously is epistemologically effective. In 2013, a theoretical-empirical phase started, yet several issues remain unclear. Some theoretical advancements have been achieved, such as The Trefoil Model, but now there is a need to face further questions, such as: How to cope with evidence in field research within design semiotics? Are we taking on the development of a Theory of Design Consequences?

Writing for Love and Money

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Vieira
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
The Past ◽  
Meaningful Relationships

This book tells the story of how families separated across borders write—and learn new ways of writing—in pursuit of both love and money. Over the past decades, global economic inequality has continued to promote the growth of labor migration. According to the UN, 244 million people currently live outside the countries of their birth. The human drama behind these numbers is that labor migration often separates parents from children, brothers from sisters, lovers from each other. Migration, undertaken in response to problems of the pocketbook, also poses problems for the heart. Based on field research and interviews with transnational families in Latin America (Brazil), Eastern Europe (Latvia), and North America (United States), Writing for Love and Money: How Migration Drives Literacy Learning in Transnational Families shows how families separated across borders turn to writing to address these problems. They are writing to sustain meaningful relationships across distance and to better their often impoverished circumstances. The book reveals that, despite policymakers’ concerns about brain drain, immigrants’ departures do not leave their homelands wholly educationally hobbled. Instead migration promotes experiences of literacy learning in transnational families as they write to reach the two life goals that globalization consistently threatens: economic solvency and familial intimacy. The book thus shows how migration itself can be a source of technologically savvy, emotionally attuned, globally conscious, and entrepreneurial literacy learning.

The zoonotic potential of bat-borne coronaviruses

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-381
Author(s):  
Ny Anjara Fifi Ravelomanantsoa ◽  
Sarah Guth ◽  
Angelo Andrianiaina ◽  
Santino Andry ◽  
Anecia Gentles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Material ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Animal Origin ◽  
Mammalian Host ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Novel Host ◽  
Horseshoe Bat ◽  
Human Infections

Seven zoonoses — human infections of animal origin — have emerged from the Coronaviridae family in the past century, including three viruses responsible for significant human mortality (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2) in the past twenty years alone. These three viruses, in addition to two older CoV zoonoses (HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63) are believed to be originally derived from wild bat reservoir species. We review the molecular biology of the bat-derived Alpha- and Betacoronavirus genera, highlighting features that contribute to their potential for cross-species emergence, including the use of well-conserved mammalian host cell machinery for cell entry and a unique capacity for adaptation to novel host environments after host switching. The adaptive capacity of coronaviruses largely results from their large genomes, which reduce the risk of deleterious mutational errors and facilitate range-expanding recombination events by offering heightened redundancy in essential genetic material. Large CoV genomes are made possible by the unique proofreading capacity encoded for their RNA-dependent polymerase. We find that bat-borne SARS-related coronaviruses in the subgenus Sarbecovirus, the source clade for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, present a particularly poignant pandemic threat, due to the extraordinary viral genetic diversity represented among several sympatric species of their horseshoe bat hosts. To date, Sarbecovirus surveillance has been almost entirely restricted to China. More vigorous field research efforts tracking the circulation of Sarbecoviruses specifically and Betacoronaviruses more generally is needed across a broader global range if we are to avoid future repeats of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Track 2.b Introduction: Design & Democracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Virginia TASSINARI ◽  
Ezio MANZINI ◽  
Maurizio TELI ◽  
Liesbeth HUYBRECHTS
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Core Theme ◽  
The Past ◽  
Noam Chomsky ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Democratic Discourse ◽  
Different Parts

The issue of design and democracy is an urgent and rather controversial one. Democracy has always been a core theme in design research, but in the past years it has shifted in meaning. The current discourse in design research that has been working in a participatory way on common issues in given local contexts, has developed an enhanced focus on rethinking democracy. This is the topic of some recent design conferences, such PDC2018, Nordes2017 and DRS2018, and of the DESIS Philosophy Talk #6 “Regenerating Democracy?” (www.desis-philosophytalks.org), from which this track originates. To reflect on the role and responsibility of designers in a time where democracy in its various forms is often put at risk seems an urgent matter to us. The concern for the ways in which the democratic discourse is put at risk in many different parts of the word is registered outside the design community (for instance by philosophers such as Noam Chomsky), as well as within (see for instance Manzini’s and Margolin’s call Design Stand Up (http://www.democracy-design.org). Therefore, the need to articulate a discussion on this difficult matter, and to find a common vocabulary we can share to talk about it. One of the difficulties encountered for instance when discussing this issue, is that the word “democracy” is understood in different ways, in relation to the traditions and contexts in which it is framed. Philosophically speaking, there are diverse discourses on democracy that currently inspire design researchers and theorists, such as Arendt, Dewey, Negri and Hardt, Schmitt, Mouffe, Rancière, Agamben, Rawls, Habermas, Latour, Gramsci, whose positions on this topic are very diverse. How can these authors guide us to further articulate this discussion? In which ways can these philosophers support and enrich design’s innovation discourses on design and democracy, and guide our thinking in addressing sensitive and yet timely questions, such as what design can do in what seems to be dark times for democracy, and whether design can possibly contribute to enrich the current democratic ecosystems, making them more strong and resilient?

Kedudukan dan Fungsi Bahasa dalam Permuseuman

Metahumaniora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Erlina Zulkifli Mahmud ◽  
Taufik Ampera ◽  
Yuyu Yohana Risagarniwa ◽  
Inu Isnaeni Sidiq
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Communicative Function ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Library Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Museum Guides ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia

Kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa sebagai alat komunikasi manusia mencakup seluruh bidang kehidupan termasuk ilmu pengetahuan antara lain terkait sejarah peradaban manusia; bagaimana manusia mempertahankan hidupnya, bagaimana manusia memperlakukan alam, bagaimana alam menyediakan segala kebutuhan manusia. Apa yang dilakukan manusia saat ini, saat lampau, dan apa yang dilakukan manusia jauh di masa prasejarah, bagaimana kondisi alam di masa-masa tersebut, apa perubahan dan perkembangannya, dapat didokumentasikan melalui bahasa, divisualisasikan kembali, lalu dipajang sebagai salah satu upaya konversai dan preservasi dalam satu institusi yang disebut museum. Penelitian ini membahas kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman. Bagaimana kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman baik dalam informasi yang disampaikan oleh pemandu wisata museumnya maupun yang terpajang menyertai benda-benda dan gambar-gambar merupakan tujuan dari penelitian ini. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah gabungan antara metode lapangan dan metode literatur. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa secara umum kedudukan bahasa Indonesia berada pada urutan pertama setelah Bahasa Inggris dan keberadaan kedua bahasa dalam permuseuman ini melibatkan dua fungsi utama bahasa, yakni fungsi komunikatif dan fungsi informatif.The existence and function of language  as a medium of communication covers all fields of human life including knowledge, one of them is the history of human civilization; how humans survived, how human utilized nature for their lives, and how nature provides all the necessities for humans. What humans have been doing now, what they have done in the past and far before that in the pre-history time, how the conditions of the nature at those times were and what changes as well as progresses occurred are documented using language, then re-visualized,  displayed as one of conservation and preservation acts in an institution called museum. This research discusess the existence and function of language in museums. How important the existence of a language in museums and what language functions used in museums both in informations given by the museum guides and on the displays accompanying objects and pictures are the aims of this research. The methods used are the combination between field research and library research. The results show that generally the existence of Indonesian language plays more important role than English and both languages have two main functions; communicative function and informative function.     

A LOOK INTO THE EARTH: EVALUATING THE USE OF MAGNETIC SURVEY IN AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Magnavita ◽  
Norbert Schleifer
Keyword(s):  
Geophysical Methods ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Magnetic Survey ◽  
The Past ◽  
Common Technique ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Prehistoric Settlements ◽  
Present Case Study

In the last decades, geophysical methods such as magnetic survey have become a common technique for prospecting archaeological sites. At sub-Saharan archaeological sites, however, magnetic survey and correlated techniques never came into broad use and there are no signs for an immediate change of this situation. This paper examines the magnetic survey undertaken on the Nigerian site of Zilum, a settlement of the Gajiganna Culture (ca 1800-400 BC) located in the Chad Basin and dated to ca 600-400 BC. By means of the present case study, we demonstrate the significance of this particular type of investigation in yielding complementary data for understanding the character of prehistoric settlements. In conclusion, we point out that geophysical methods should play a more important role in modern archaeological field research, as they furnish a class of documentation not achievable by traditional survey and excavation methods, thus creating new perspectives for interpreting the past of African societies.

Democracy in a Time of Misery

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Curato
Keyword(s):  
Field Research ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Gallup Poll ◽  
The Past ◽  
Democratic Action ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Value

Misery rarely features in conversations about democracy. And yet, in the past decades, global audiences are increasingly confronted with spectacles of human pain. The world is more stressed, worried, and sad today than we have ever seen it, a Gallup poll finds. Does democracy stand a chance in a time of widespread suffering? Drawing on three years of field research among communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, this book offers ethnographic portraits of how collective suffering, trauma, and dispossession enlivens democratic action. It argues that emotional forms of communication create publics that assert voice and visibility at a time when attention is the scarcest resource, whilst also creating hierarchies of misery among suffering communities. Democracy in a Time of Misery investigates the ethical and political value of democracy in the most trying of times and reimagines how the virtues of deliberative practice can be valued in the context of widespread suffering.

Latin America and the League of Nations

1926 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-30
Author(s):  
Percy Alvin Martin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
Treaty Of Versailles ◽  
Post War ◽  
International Status

To students of international relations it has become almost a commonplace that among the most significant and permanent results of the World War has been the changed international status of the republics of Latin America. As a result of the war and post-war developments in these states, the traditional New World isolation in South America, as well as in North America, is a thing of the past. To our leading sister republics is no longer applicable the half-contemptuous phrase, current in the far-off days before 1914, that Latin America stands on the margin of international life. The new place in the comity of nations won by a number of these states is evidenced—to take one of the most obvious examples—by the raising of the legations of certain non-American powers to the rank of embassies, either during or immediately after the war. In the case of Brazil, for instance, where prior to 1914 only the United States maintained an ambassador, at the present time Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Japan maintain diplomatic representatives of this rank.Yet all things considered one of the most fruitful developments in the domain of international relations has been the share taken by our southern neighbors in the work of the League of Nations. All of the Latin American republics which severed relations with Germany or declared war against that country were entitled to participate in the Peace Conference. As a consequence, eleven of these states affixed their signatures to the Treaty of Versailles, an action subsequently ratified in all cases except Ecuador.

Beyond the austerity-driven hypothesis: Political economic theses on penality and the recent prison population decline

2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110006
Author(s):  
José A. Brandariz
Keyword(s):  
Prison Population ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
Global North ◽  
Economic Perspectives ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spending Cuts

In what might be called the ‘austerity-driven hypothesis’, a consistent strand of literature has sought to explain the prison downsizing witnessed in many jurisdictions of the global north over the past decade by referring to the financial crisis of the late 2000s to early 2010s and its effects in terms of public spending cuts. Since this economic phase is essentially over, whereas the (moderate) decarceration turn is still ongoing, there are good reasons to challenge this hypothesis. This article delves into the non-economic forces that are fostering a prison population decline that, 10 years on, is becoming the new ‘penal normal’. The article thereby aims to spark a dialogue not only with the scholarship exploring the prison downsizing but also with certain theoretical frameworks that have played a key role in examining the punitive turn era. Additionally, the article contributes to the conversation on the need to reframe materialist readings on penality in a ‘non-reductionist’ fashion. By revisiting heterodox theses and scrutinizing the impact of recent penal changes on traditional materialist accounts, the article joins the collective endeavour seeking to update political economic perspectives on punishment and the penal field.

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