Arts University Bournemouth
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342 research outputs found
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Void of War: sounds of silence during repatriation and remembrance ceremonies
Full text linkReflecting on a tour of the Western Front trenches in 1916 the writer Reginald Farrer suggested that it was in fact wrong to regard the ‘huge, haunted solitude’ of the modern battlefield as empty. ‘It is more’ he argued, ‘full of emptiness… an emptiness that is not really empty at all.’ Contemporary artists, poets, and composers seized upon the concept of a crowded emptiness, of gaps, pauses and silences that were in fact crammed with resonance, populated with overwhelming memory.
This paper and film screening considers the phenomenology of aural emptiness and its manifestation during remembrance and repatriation ceremonies. It focusses on a short film by Kate Davies ‘The Separation Line’ which is a montage of 14 repatriation events held at Royal Wootton Bassett between 2007 and 2011. The film lasts precisely 9 minutes and 50 seconds, which is the temporal length of the town’s High Street, lined on either side by mourners maintaining an unsteady silence
Implementing an open innovation process in the premium marine industry
Full text linkDesign and manufacturing innovations are important competitive attributes in the premium marine sector. The adoption of an open innovation process has the potential to deliver behavioural and technological transformation. This pilot study illustrates an open innovation approach to explore the benefits of digital innovation when designing new products within the premium marine industry. The research demonstrates how an open innovation approach will flourish when focused on co-creation in collaboration with a network of cross-functional partners
Reflections on using the story completion method in designing tangible user interfaces
Full text linkThere are many design techniques to support the co-design of tangible technologies. However, few of these design methods allow the involvement of users at scale and across diverse geographic locations. While popular in psychology, the story completion method (SCM) has only recently started to be adopted within the HCI community. We explore whether SCM can generate meaningful design insights from large, diverse study populations for the design of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs). Based on the results of two questionnaire studies using SCM, we conclude that the method can be used to generate meaningful design insights. Drawing on a systematic review of 870 TUI papers, we then contextualise the strengths and weaknesses of SCM against commonly used design methods, before reflecting on our experience of using the method across two distinct domains. We discuss the advantages of the method (particularly in terms of the scale and diversity of participation) and the challenges (particularly around constructing meaningful story stems, and developing the correct level of scaffolding to support creativity). We conclude that SCM is particularly suitable to be used in the early stages of the design process to understand the socio-cultural context of deployment
Gilbert Spencer: The Life and Work of a Very English Artist
No full textGilbert Spencer (1892–1979) was a British painter, muralist, illustrator, teacher, and writer whose career spanned more than six decades. Recognised during his lifetime as one of the leading artists of his generation, his reputation has long been overshadowed by his more famous brother, Stanley. Yet Spencer’s fascination with landscape and his ability to capture everyday life in rural England led to the creation of some of the most poignant artworks of the interwar period.
Drawing on a newly discovered archive of personal letters, notebooks, and diaries, this illustrated biography tells Spencer’s story for the first time. Bringing together his major paintings, drawings and illustrations, many never before seen, the book greatly expands our understanding of Spencer. It reassesses his status within twentieth-century British modernism and the revival of the landscape tradition, as well as the important role he played in the reinvigoration of public mural painting. Spencer is also reappraised as one of the most successful art teachers of his time, and his extensive influence on the lives and careers of many twentieth-century artists is explored in detail
A brief history of the use of plastics
Full text linkThe appreciation or reception of materials can create a positive or a negative reaction in the user and an individual’s understanding of materials comes from their own experiential knowledge, influence of others, and cultural perception. The condemnation of the overuse of plastics materials and their impact on the environment when they become waste has, understandably, meant that today the cultural perception of plastics is largely that they are cheap, rubbish, throw away - all bad news. This position of negativity has been reached because we currently see the mismanagement of plastics waste as it blows about in the wind; we see it as rubbish in our streets, and as detritus in the oceans. However, our relationships with the material family, over the time they have existed, have had a varied and turbulent history with different perspectives generated by different people at different times. This article will briefly explore ‘a’, rather than ‘the’, history of the use of plastics with the aim of putting the current societal relationship with them into context
Writing Ecofiction: Navigating the Challenges of Environmental Narrative
No full textThis creative writing textbook introduces students to ecofiction: narrative writing that focuses on the environment. Also known as ‘climate fiction’ or ‘cli-fi’, an increasing number of short story writers, novelists and pioneers of emerging forms such as interactive fiction are taking up the call to develop their own creative responses to the climate crisis. This guide explores a cross-section of genres and ways of writing about our world, as well as the ethical and technical challenges involved. It offers a discussion of classic and contemporary texts, literary criticism and creative writing exercises. The book covers a broad range of themes and styles of writing, from works that engage with nature and landscape writing to those that take a more activist approach to climate change. With an awareness of the Global South and the subaltern, the framing of the Anthropocene, wilderness and nature writing is challenged. Each chapter offers a new perspective on ecofiction for the creative writer, with reading suggestions and connections to other writers and texts, and writing activities. Designed for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate writing modules on the environment, the book is also suitable for independent writers looking to expand their skillset
Virtual Reality: Exploring Technologies, Practices and Paradigms - Special Issue of the Journal of Screenwriting 14:3.
No full textOver the last decade developments in virtual reality (VR) technologies have given rise to a new wave of immersive storytelling experiences that have captivated audiences at film festivals, in galleries, through online platforms and various other venues. In response, scholarly research into narrative-based VR has sought to understand the affordances, artistic qualities and immersive nature of this medium. Within this array of analysis and reflection, traditional screenwriting concerns such as narrative structure, plot devices and character development have been discussed alongside notions of immersion, embodiment and user experience design. Accordingly, notions of ‘script development’ have expanded to encompass processes gathered under terms like ‘conceptualization’, ‘prototyping’ and ‘narrative design’, which assume specific connotations in relation to various disciplinary approaches. This Special Issue explores the technologies, practices and paradigms that VR storytelling implements, with particular attention given to the differing terminology across disciplines that resonates, repurposes or redefines conceptual understandings belonging to earlier media, and specifically, to screenwriting for film
The self-tracking information literacy practices of LGBTQ+ students: Empowerment through self-knowledge
No full textThis paper explores the self-tracking information literacy practices of LGBTQ+ students, how the practices connect to LGBTQ+ identities, and whether these practices are perceived as empowering. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with students who identified as LGBTQ+ self-trackers. Four previously discovered dimensions of IL in self-tracking framed the design. Collaborative thematic analysis revealed participants find it useful to monitor their physical health and tracking supports mental health, which is experienced as empowering. The heteronormative assumptions of apps influenced their perceived usefulness. There was some distrust about how apps used data, but this risk was accepted, typically because the convenience of the app outweighed privacy concerns. Data sharing took place—restricted due to self-consciousness or fear of judgement—and embraced when there was a feeling of working towards a shared goal. IL in this landscape is related to developing critical awareness of when and how self-tracking can support health goals; the limitations of apps and devices, particularly for those undergoing transition; privacy implications; and the nuances of social sharing
Echo’s Echoes: AI mistake, materiality and memory-making
No full textThis paper is an account of a collaborative project between three artists (3d artist, illustrator, rap artist), ChatGPT, and Stable Diffusion, which aimed at exploring the ways AI-produced digital mistake and glitch takes part in memory-making. The paper touches upon the transformations of materiality, authorship strategies suggested by the use of AI, and will build upon the recent discussions about ChatGPT by Lev Manovich, Boris Groys and Mark Murphy that present its productions as a ‘collective dream without a dreamer’, a ‘collective unconscious’ or ‘zeitgeist-machine’. Fundamentally it will draw upon the ideas of multiplicity of agencies developed by Rosi Braidotti. The paper will examine audio and visual glitches and misalignments in the human and AI interaction that question and potentially redefine the position of the author
Understanding the Use of Plastics in Design: Materials, Manufacturing Processes, and Relational Connections
No full textThe use and misuse of plastics in design have been the bedrock of turbulent relationships between consumers, manufacturers, and the material family. It has been acknowledged that culturally we, in the West, have had a deep, long-lived, yet ambivalent relationship with plastics as the materials have been seen as both a bringer of utopian ideals as well as a cheap alternative to nobler natural materials. Today, those relational connections have become diametric with individuals loving plastics because of what they can be made into, and those who hate them for the very same reason. This chapter will explore the historical comprehension of designed objects made of plastics, based on the notions of identity and authenticity, the acceptance of new materials, the ideas of cultural perception and taste, and the general understanding, or lack thereof, of manufacturing processes