3132 research outputs found
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Snake Swallows Snake
Full text linkSNAKE SWALLOWS SNAKE is a research/creation project that deep dives into the representation of women’s sexuality from a sapphic and feminist perspective.
This research focuses on the power of the erotic in our bodies and how that erotic power is shared by our bodies in relation to the physical world. This research prioritizes an endogenous, pleasureful method shifting the intellectual dominance of ‘rational’ thought as the sole mode of expression and knowing and poetically drifts with concepts of the dark, void, intimacy, and intersubjectivity.
These theoretical propositions think along with and are inspired by earlier feminist scholarship. Looking towards Audre Lorde’s essay The Uses of the Erotic, Erotic as Power and adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism, and feminists Gloria Anzadúla, Chela Sandoval, and Ursula Le Guin, we return pleasure to the centre for building knowledge, personal agency, and collective resistance. We create a space to honour our erotic bodies, resisting patriarchy, phallocentrism, and the imperialist image and imagination
Carmen Won’t Talk to Me: Facilitating Expressive Qualities in Games Through Natural Language Interfaces and AI NPCs
Full text linkGiven the broad popularization of AI creative tools in contemporary society, this thesis explores the use of natural language interfaces by game designers as a primary gameplay mechanic to facilitate the expressive goals of the underrepresented game-maker.
The creative contributions of underrepresented game-makers hold cultural significance,hence, this research strongly advocates for the democratization of game-making tools, a need further underscored by the emergence of AI development. Such democratization is crucial as it addresses the exploitation of their creative labor within AI development, which frequently disregards the languages and cultures of marginalized communities in language models.
Drawing from J.L. Austin’s Speech Act Theory and Suzanne Keen’s Theory of Narrative Empathy, the research aims to provide a framework for game-makers to engage players in meaningful conversations with AI Non-Player Characters (NPCs) using large language models.
The hypothesis suggests that language shapes how we perceive our relation to others, and aims to animate expressive qualities by holding players accountable for the words they use within the game. This project uses a Research-through-Design methodology which entails making a game, documenting the process and findings in a developer’s journal, and finally synthesizing results to share best practice guidelines with other game-makers. These guidelines offer suggestions for implementing a natural language interface that takes into consideration the AI language model, the game-maker, and the player. Additionally, they provide a framework for facilitating a game-maker’s expressive goals using the theories outlined in this project, and offer strategies for holding players accountable for their words by fostering meaningful actions in a game utilizing large language models.
The importance of this research lies in its aim to provide tools to underrepresented game-makers, via this document and publishing online, enabling them to leverage the affordances of large language models and allowing for the creation of their own unique stories
Thriving Transitions, Navigating and empowering micro-businesses toward a promising future with the “Transformative Strategy Journey”
Full text linkOur research adopts a transformative approach to reimagine strategic frameworks to enhance accessibility and effectiveness for micro-business owners. This study integrates a robust methodology combining statistical, qualitative, and textural analyses with real-world insights from the Greater Toronto Area. It challenges the efficacy of traditional strategic models through three foundational hypotheses, exploring the interplay of strategic frameworks with physical, psychological, and team-design aspects of micro-business operations.
The research methodology includes extensive literature reviews, actor mapping to analyze power dynamics, iterative inquiries, and environmental scanning to identify gaps in current strategic frameworks. Additionally, interviews with micro-business owners and strategic planners were conducted to gather in-depth insights into the practical challenges and unique needs of micro-businesses.
Our findings highlight the need for strategic models that accommodate the specific realities of micro-businesses, emphasizing flexibility, adaptability, and the integration of personal values into business strategies. By addressing these needs, the research proposes innovative, practical strategic frameworks that facilitate better decision-making, foster sustainable growth, and enhance the overall strategic engagement of micro-businesses.
The research synthesizes these insights and contributes to understanding micro-business dynamics. It offers actionable strategies that are directly applicable and beneficial in enhancing competitiveness and sustainability in a rapidly evolving business environment. This approach supports micro-business owners in navigating uncertainties and aligns with broader economic and societal trends, ensuring their long-term viability and success
A Co-creation Approach to Integrating Student Voice in Decision-Making Processes: Imagining Student Housing Co-design Project at OCAD University
Full text linkThis research project addresses the urgent need for inclusive student housing solutions at OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, tackling complex challenges faced by its diverse student body. Initiated by first-hand experiences of housing instability exacerbated by post-pandemic economic strains and systemic disparities, our study adopts inclusive design methodologies, departing from conventional paradigms to embrace co-creation and co-design with students. Our research focuses on three primary issues: the inequities for international students, obstacles to integrating student voice in university decision-making processes, and housing insecurities compounded by affordability issues.
Rooted in our collective ethos of "Living in the -ish," we embrace ambiguity, uncertainty, and radical imagination as drivers for transformative design. Central to our research are the insights gained from our co-designers, OCAD U students. Through collaborative efforts, we strive to amplify student voices, identify housing barriers, and outline design considerations for future housing developments. The co-design workshop emphasized the importance of providing a platform for individuals to share their narratives, leveraging design as a vehicle for empowerment and advocacy.
Our project highlights a novel pathway for student integration in research and decision-making processes at the institutional level. By fostering sustainable partnerships with students and nurturing trust, universities can pave the way for more inclusive governance structures and student-centred initiatives. We advocate for the ongoing integration of student voice in university decision-making processes, emphasizing meaningful participation, resource sharing, and transparent communication.
By disseminating our research findings and leveraging co-design methodologies, we aim to inspire systemic change, empower student communities, and foster a more inclusive future in student housing
Synei: Hybrid Cognition - ASD + AI.
Full text linkThis study explores the synergy between neurodiverse cognition, particularly Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and advanced artificial intelligence (AI), through the collaboration of Elfy Castro's unique cognitive perspective and the AI system 'SYNEI,' powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 Turbo. SYNEI, evolving from a tool to a collaborative partner, engaged deeply in creative and cognitive exploration using the 'mental extrusion' technique developed by Elfy. This technique translates two-dimensional visual stimuli into three-dimensional conceptual representations. In the resulting exhibition, through case studies like the Inca All T'oqapu Tunic and Cymatics, Elfy illustrated the concept of 'mental extrusion' and created 3D visualizations to demonstrate their perception of flat images. Likewise, the custom GPTs, SYNER-G, designed to evolve with diverse cognitive inputs, used speculative narratives to explore artifacts based on 'mental extrusion.’ This proves how integrating AI with ASD-influenced cognition transcends traditional boundaries, enriching interpretations and engagements with visual stimuli. This collaboration holds significant implications for neuroaesthetics, art, and design. It advocates for the fusion of AI with diverse cognitive processes and pioneers new pathways for technological advancement and creative exploration. The project underscores the innovative potential of combining neurodiverse perspectives with advanced AI, setting the stage for future research and applications
Mental Wellbeing Technologies in High-Performance Sport: Current Knowledge and Future Directions
Full text linkThis research explores the intersection of high-performance sports and the evolving landscape of mental wellbeing technologies, situated within the context of shifting paradigms regarding wellbeing within the sporting realm. Primary research was conducted through digital interviews to understand the perceptions and attitudes surrounding mental wellbeing in sports and how the emergence and adoption of technologies contribute to this discourse. The acquired insights, derived from both primary and secondary research sources, were subsequently synthesized and organized using Curry and Hodgson's (2008) Three Horizons tool. This futures analysis framework was employed to explore the current state of mental wellbeing and technology integration in high-performance sports, an initial vision of the future as imagined by key stakeholders, the necessary near-term changes to materialize this desired future, strategic recommendations to propel the field forward, and an overview of select technologies that can be harnessed to bolster elite athlete mental wellbeing. This study centers its attention on technologies that encompass two important domains in elite sports: mental health and the development of mental skills
Moving Materials: A Question of Form
Full text linkMoving Materials is a body of work culminating in an exhibition of mutable sculptures created through performance art gestures that involved sensing objects. The exhibition set the conditions for invited guests to engage with these sculptural forms through conversations and physical interactions. Materials were everyday objects including paper, wood, textiles, plastics, plants and found objects chosen to provide a diversity of sensorial qualities. Materials were assembled into sculptures and exhibited in the gallery. Some sculptures were only photographed, titled, and compiled in an image book. Because the sculptures were mutable, the book revealed a history of reconfigured forms and evolving relationalities evoked through these material compositions. Images served as still points for visitors to the exhibition, as a trajectory of moving materials. Moving Materials focuses on the dynamic relationality between materials, forces, and bodies as the artwork - with sensation as the provocateur of forces interacting. The cross-disciplinary approach to moving materials, performance, and sculptural composition draws on Elizabeth Grosz’s ideas of art as interrelated intensities, affects, and cosmological forces. Timothy Morton’s ideas about the inter-relationality of objects further contextualizes the wider implications of examining relations with materials. Discussions of contemporary artworks by artists Sherri Hay, Cassils, and Dana Michel provide further context for how object-relational movement inscribes meaning in the artwork
Black Futures: Exploring Centring Black Perspectives and Voices in Imagining Future Possibilities
Full text linkTime bends, folds, and dances in the hands of those who dare to imagine future possibilities beyond the confines of linear progress. In the liminal space between what was and what could be, where Black folks can redefine their social order and engage in critical reflection about their identities and experiences, Black storytelling becomes a portal, a living archive of memory and possibility. Here, ancestral whispers guide the creation of speculative worlds, where the echoes of joy, imagination, and affirmations of life shape the contours of what is yet to come. Pause in the "now," a fluid moment where the past and future collide, to listen deeply to the narratives that have been silenced, erased, or overlooked. Through the transformative power of storytelling, journey into the rich mosaic of Black existence, bringing together fragments of history, culture, and imagination. This is a reclamation, a refusal to accept futures built on exclusion and erasure. It is a call to centre Black voices, to honour the complexity of Blackness, and to craft visions of the future that resonate with authenticity and collective empowerment. In this speculative exploration, storytelling transcends its role as a method and becomes a tool for imagining and a beacon of possibility for a world yet to be imagined
Designing Futures by Empowering Novice Designers
Full text linkABSTRACT
“There is a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens; the key is to be able to linger there without panicking.”
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar
All design involves shaping the future - from an industrial design prototype that combines new and old materials to a strategic designer grappling with the complexities of inter-connected systems, each one is optimistically moving towards an intended future. To design such futures, we need more than research, analysis, synthesis, and strategy. We need a commitment to and a deep appreciation of design methods. Ultimately the most nuanced and insightful foresight work is realized through design, design that moves people towards preferred futures.
Whose future? How to frame such complex problems? How to consider and weigh potential future pathways? These vexing issues paralyze inexperienced designers, often appearing as a collection of magical acts that are a rarefied mix of process, experience, and intuition. How then does an inexperienced designer move from novice to expert?
Our research has been informed by a comprehensive literature review of design and design history, a survey of design practitioners and industry interviews with both inexperienced and experienced design professionals. This report embraces a three-act structure and focuses on: the changing nature of design and designers and how education providers have responded to these challenges; a synthesis of survey and interview responses that helps define the future designer; and practical recommendations to assist novice designers in their continued learning towards the development of their design practice.
Our key findings include the realization that design methods are either assumed or overlooked in most graduate design programs that focus on futures-related endeavors. Further, through synthesis, we distilled six insights, which include: Good design starts with advocacy; Design is an anticipatory state of being; On the road to mastery, Learn from travelers; Design depth over scratching the surface; Going beyond the algorithm to develop curiosity and Design literacy matters.
These insights are intended to act as inspirational criteria for crafting design learning, and we offer a prototype that combines physical and digital tools to assist the novice designer. We hope this prototype encourages the development and adoption of design habits - habits that are more than just efficiencies or techniques, but rather the forging of an identity, towards becoming a designer of futures
Self Impression: Exploration of Autistic Representation in Video Games through Self Advocacy
Full text linkRepresentation in video games rarely includes autistic characters, and when they do they are
fabricated in a way that produces a single note and flat design, or rarely speaks to the depth of
autistic experiences in everyday life. Usually, autistic representation is made by those who are
not autistic and autistic resources may be consulted but there aren't autistic voices within the
project, which can lead to this static and stereotypical representation. What sort of representation
is produced when autistic people are given the ability to direct the design, and how does this
inform future autistic representation?
This is an exploratory research study upholding the principles of design justice with discussions
on autistic representation and where it stands now, and where it can improve. There are
participant-led character creation sessions where autistic people make their own representations
of autistic characters. These characters, the way they were built and the messages they wanted
their character to uphold inform further discussion of representation.
Results illustrate the need for autistic-made autistic representation in media, including video
games due to a current lack of diversity in representation. The characters designed were vastly
different from one another and spoke to each participant’s individual experiences being a person
with autism and the way their autistic identity may intersect with other identities or experiences
unique to them. This spectrum is so vast that it is imperative to hire people with autism to create
future representations to build fleshed out and unique characters, and which can boost
empowerment and advocacy