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Subject:Info Design - details From:Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Mon, 17 Nov 1997 11:50:51 +0000
I've had quite a few queries regarding the Info design conference. Details
below, hope it answers all the questions.
Info on conference
Date: 20-21 April 1998
Title: Information Design and the Learning Society
Venue: Moller Centre for Continuing Education, Churchill College,
Cambridge (UK)
Theme
The relationship between Information Design and Education. In keeping with
IDN?s stated purpose ( to establish info design as a coherent discipline)
the event will explore two complementary and key questions:
what is the role (and potential) of information design in education?
what should be the role (and potential) of education in information
design?
All forms and levels of education will be considered: primary, secondary,
further and higher, skills training, training in the workplace and
returning to learn.
The role of Information Design in Education
One aim of the conference is to explore the possibilities that information
design offers for the improvement of the quality and experience of
education. Interested in contributions that info designers can make to the
development of people?s capabilities and knowledge and the transfer of
skills across cultures. Hope to establish how principles of info design
can be applied to overall ?theory? of learning or skills acquisition.
Type of questions:
in what ways can the principle/practices of info design be harness to
enhance education quality and the learning experience?
what specific contributions can info design make towards improved
literacy and numeracy, skills developmetn, critical learning, lifelong
learning?
how can the principles of info design - and related studies in
psychology, anthropology, semiology andrhetoric - be best understood to
provide a useful theoretical foundation for teaching practices in a
global cross-cultural setting?
The role of Education in Information Design
The conference will provide an opportunity for professionals and
practitioners in design and communication to discuss their expectations of,
and contributions to, an information design curriculum. The claim that
only 2% of 20,000 design graduates become designers has already opened
considerable debate on the applicability of design skills in other fields
of work and the distinction between ?teaching to design? and ?teaching
through design?. Interest in broadening the debate to consider the
appicability of information design skills and knowledge. Type of questions:
if info design is seen as a ?coherent discipline?, does it force us to
reconsider our preconceptions on what design students do and what
happens to them when they graduate?
in what way can skills and knowledge in info design be beneficial to
learners in all forms of education? Should info design teach practice
and theory - if so, what theory?
Conference outcomes
By examining and discussing these parallel themes, we hope the conference
will achieve a closer understanding of the role of info design in education
- not only in instrumental terms (as a means of enhancing people?s
experience as learners or trainees) but also in academic terms (info design
as a research area in its own right). Beyond this, we hope to open up
opportunities for students and professionals in info design and education
projects, work experience, research or contacts and networks.
Papers will be made available both on-line and print forms.
Submitting papers
Please make your initial abstract(s) no more than 300 words in length.
Post, fax or e-mail to address below. Each abstract should include your
name, and title plus the name and address of the organisation you
represent. Please also include contact details - telephone, fax, e-mail and
website address where applicable. Abstracts to be sent ASAP but no later
that Dec 20th 1997.
The abstracts will be considered by a panel comprised of academics from
Cambridge and Coventry Universities and professionals representing the
Information Design Association, the Institute of Scientific and Technical
Communicators and the Information Design Unit. You will be informed by Jan
1998 if proposal accepted.
Contact information
Pete Wilby
Information Design Network
Coventry School of Art and Design
Coventry University
Priory Street
Coventry
CV 1 5FB
Telephone: +44 (0) 1203 838628
Fax: +44 (0) 1203 838667
e-mail: idn -at- vide -dot- coventry -dot- ac -dot- uk
Groups currently involved in the management of the Information Design
Network are:
DfEE
Coventry University
University of Reading
Middlesex University
University of Westminster
Sheffield Hallam University
Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators
Information Design Association
Kudos
Information Design Unit
IBM UK
