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Contemporary reflection on design postulates a radical change in thinking in this regard. In addition to a more conventional critique of the entanglement of design in the logic of profit and the legitimacy of the capitalist organisation of social life, attention is also drawn to the limitations that result from the fact that this activity is rooted in Eurocentric and Cartesian ontology. In analogy to the contemporary debate in the social sciences on the agency of “invisible actors” (including non-human actors, nature, and space), the design theorists described in this text (Anne-Marie Willis, Ezio Manzini, Tony Fry, Cameron Tonkinwise, Madina Tlostanova) look for a different perspective from which to examine the relationship between designers and the worlds they create. Increasingly, emphasis is being placed on the fact that the practice of designing is not just an individual act of creation but can also be interpreted in terms of a distributed agency whose effects have a feedback impact on people and thus produce a basis for innovative social practices. Ecological and postcolonial criticism of design points to the need to adopt an anti-dualistic, anti-anthropocentric, and relationalist approach to reality, as this would allow for an emancipatory reformulation of the existing relationship between the individual, nature, and the community. This type of reflection on design is also an attempt to reinterpret the problem of innovation and development. Thus, design becomes a critical and utopian endeavour to invent a new way of organising society and its relation to non-human actors.
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The aim of this article is to indicate the benefits that ethnographic exploration of the design process can bring to social design studies. Drawing on the work of authors writing on the basis of pragmatic approaches, science and technology studies (STS), and actor–network theory (ANT), the text analyses design as a socio-technical and situated practice of “ordering things and people” and thus also of negotiating and shaping a common world. The text considers both ethnographic reports, in which researchers have tried to understand and describe how designers work, and a completely different research area – the anthropology of medical practices (in the spirit of ANT, as proposed by Annemarie Mol). The article tries to show that the findings from this field are quite similar to the reflections of ethnographic studies on the design process and offer promising insights for a relational ontology of design that can be studied empirically.
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Danish anthropologist Kirsten Hastrup has declared that if “We cannot experience the world from the perspective of others, we can still share their social experience.” My own perspective in the field of design – which involves sharing the social experience of anthropologists in a number of ways – encourages me to offer a phenomenological reflection on the “design process.” My position as an anthropologist and ethnographer combining her research with teaching at a design school has resulted in collaboration with designers in co-taught courses, research projects, exhibitions, and publications. The different pragmatics of ethnography and education have encouraged me to develop tools for a discursive rendering of the processes in which I partake: both for my own research purposes and for designers and design students to use in reflecting on their own activities while working on their projects. “Design process” is an emic, designerly expression, defined by the most prominent writers on the topic. I attempt to reflect on its non-hylemorphic understanding of creativity and its contextualisation within the Ingoldian sense of following the material.
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Currently, the system of design education faces the challenge of redefining the possible scope and ways of educating future designers. The complexity of the world around us, both in the technological and geopolitical dimensions, as well as tasks related to climate protection and public health, pose entirely new challenges to the practice of design. A distinctive voice in regard to criticism of design education is the “Future of Design Education” project, which was strengthened by Donald Norman and Paul A. Kirschner’s famous text titled “The Teaching and Learning of Design.” Norman and Kirschner noticed a fundamental deficit in the education of designers in regard to their compatibility with so-called modernity: its complexity and challenges. In addition, the authors pointed to the lack of an interdisciplinary environment of knowledge, competence, and skills in educating future designers. The “Future of Design Education” initiative is an open forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences in design education – its goal is to try to rethink and redesign design education. The mere appearance of such an initiative allows us to draw two conclusions: (1) the design community has noticed deficits in the education system; (2) the design environment is self-reflective when attempting change through design. Design has changed from being goal-oriented to being criterion-oriented – the object of design is no longer the object but its usability, accessibility, or serviceability. In design, the context of products, services, or communication becomes crucial – contemporary education in the field of design should therefore focus on a holistic approach to design methodology and should supplement education with social, technical, economic, and environmental contexts. The design community’s current discussion on redesigning design education seems crucial. However, it is closed to the external perspective – interdisciplinarity, which is emphasised at every step in the theoretical sense, although it is not commonly used in ongoing discussions. The text addresses an even broader issue: teaching design to non-designers, thinking about design as a superior problem-solving competence and seeing designers as moderators and animators of social change.
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This paper deals with Polish creative-workshop spaces. Its aim is to consider whether they can effectively function as third places, that is, as social spaces separated from the home and workplace. At the same time, it is also indicated that – being makerspaces – they themselves co-create the city. An additional goal of the paper is to redefine the concept of creativity in light of research on workshop spaces. This is important especially in the context of urban studies and the promotion of an entrepreneurial approach to cities. The text is based on the results of a quantitative-qualitative research project conducted in selected makerspaces, fab labs, and hackerspaces in Poland.
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This text presents and analyses the principal marketing strategies used by Danish, Swedish, and Finnish companies and describes the set of marketing messages characteristic of Scandinavian design brands. The most popular strategies involve geo-recognition, with sociolinguistic mechanisms that influence the names of companies and products and the self-description of brands. The contradictory issues of nobilitation and egalitarianism, which have a pivotal role in the advertising of specific products for different groups of recipients, are addressed. Co-branding, including image collaborations between brands operating in different sectors, and mass media influence (the leading tool of advertisement, through films, series, and TV commercials), are other strategies. Connections are established between design promotion and widely recognisable cultural phenomena, such as hygge or lagom. Analysis reveals that the main marketing strategies characteristic of the design brands of the North revolve around a multitude of connections to Scandinavian heritage and culture.
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The article presents and discusses a mixed-method study whose aim is to find out how Harrods and Liberty, two luxury department stores in London (the United Kingdom) that are referred to as British cultural icons (visitbritain.com 2023), use modality that is expressed by modal verbs (e.g., can) in their discourse on sustainability. Methodologically, the study is based upon the literature (Aiezza 2015; Bu et al. 2020; Garzone & Catenaccio 2022; Kranich & Bicsar 2012), which argues that modal verbs play a number of important pragmatic roles in corporate discourse. Following the literature, it is hypothesised in the study that modal verbs in sustainability discourses by Harrods and Liberty are employed in a pragmatically similar manner. In order to verify the hypothesis, a corpus of Harrods’ and Liberty’s sustainability discourses is collected and analysed quantitatively in the computer program AntConc (Anthony 2022) to compute the frequency of the occurrence of modal verbs. Thereafter, the most frequent modal verbs in the corpus are examined qualitatively to establish their pragmatic roles in Harrods’ and Liberty’s sustainability discourses. The findings indicate that these discourses make use of the modal verbs will and can as boosters that contribute to a positive corporate image-building.
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No tyranny has been powerful enough to deprive the people of sleep. Nevertheless, a series of surveys in recent years have found that sleep deprivation is increasing globally. This article tries to explain this trend as an effect of the virtualization of labor time or, to simplify, the transformation of labor time into a potential value that cannot be exhaustively actualized. The logic of this transformation can be recognized in the concept of human capital, and its microphysics: in mechanisms such as deadlines, project presentations, client meetings, and temporary labor contracts. The article argues that the virtualization of labor time detaches exploitation from oppression, reshapes it into repression or depression, blocks the defense mechanisms provided by social and civil rights, and makes us vulnerable to violence from within.
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The purpose of the article is to study the modern content of local history activities of Vinnytsia libraries; to determine the state of research of local history content of Vinnytsia libraries; characterize the components and content of local history work of libraries, which requires a new approach to the processes of preservation of local history funds; to establish the place of local history activity as a leading direction of library work. A complex of research approaches and methods was used to solve the tasks: systemic, activity, historical, socio-communication approaches and methods of scientific analysis and synthesis, the method of comparison, description and measurement, bibliographic. The scientific novelty of the performed work consists in expanding ideas about the quality of local history content in the libraries of Vinnytsia, which is posted on the websites of institutions and forms an understanding of national identity and self-awareness. Conclusions. In the process of research, it was found that the libraries of Vinnytsia play a significant role in the preservation and dissemination of local history content. Local history work occupies an important place in the activities of Vinnytsia libraries: it is familiarization with the history of the native region, instilling interest in history, popularization of local history publications and a local history attribute in the design of libraries, formation of a local history fund and its popularization. Local history content covers diverse types of information about history, culture, nature and people living in Vinnytsia. This line of work was actively continued by Vinnytsia libraries even during the war with various forms of popularization of local history knowledge: from exhibitions-expositions, vernissages, quizzes, historical trips, slide presentations about museum exhibits, about the life and activities of famous regions to local history conferences, literary evenings, interesting meetings with famous people of the region, to the organization of activities of clubs and associations of local historians and holidays of local settlements.
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This article discusses an epochal regression, while seeking to avoid the social science melodrama. Situating its reflection on the conceptual level, it examines the restoration of capitalism in social formations with a socialist project in Marxist and Marxian terms in order to test their theoretical capacity for historical analysis and, above all, to show what the alternative movements and theory in Yugoslavia could have done but failed to do while they still had time to intervene. More precisely, the article attempts to reveal the locus where theoretical insights turned out to be disconnected from political commitments (i.e., the title should be read as “What we should have learned from Marx but failed to take into account in our practice”). Facing the principal contradiction between socialist processes and political bureaucracy (of which capitalist processes are an indirect effect), the alternative movements in Yugoslavia – disregarding the top managerial groups and their enormous influence within the political bureaucracy – found themselves theoretically unprepared and practically powerless when the united forces of reaction conducted a top-down counter-revolutionary coup and destroyed the socialist federation in fire and blood.
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The purpose of the article is to analyse the reasons for the actualisation of the issues of trauma and hysteria in the European culture of the fin de siècle; to identify the role of aesthetisation, theatricalisation and photography in the commodification of mental illness. The research methodology includes the general scientific principles of systematisation and generalisation of the problem under study, which made it possible to identify and scientifically substantiate existing theories and conceptual approaches to understanding the content of the concepts of "trauma", "psychological trauma", "hysteria", "mental illness". The application of the axiological approach made it possible to identify interdisciplinary nature and personalised cultural scientific positions in the theories under consideration. The use of the analytical method led to the establishment of conceptual foundations for further scientific perspectives on the problematisation of trauma, psychological trauma, hysteria as mental illnesses in the optics of cultural knowledge. The scientific novelty lies in the implementation of cultural reflection to clarify the socio-cultural determinants of the spread of hysteria and psychological trauma as mental illnesses. Conclusions. The article deals with the issues related to the understanding of the content of hysteria and trauma in the culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not as purely medical, but as socio-cultural phenomena. The aestheticisation, theatricalisation, and commodification of mental illnesses, initiated by the example of J.-M. Charcot's hysteria, actualised and stimulated their discussion from new perspectives, opened up new discursive spaces of research: psychoanalytic, social, artistic, aesthetic, which did not exist in their pure form but were combined with each other. In the fin de siècle culture, hysteria and trauma are embedded in the structure of the subjective and are defined through processes, events and human perception as a special idea of internalising the world, where the thanatological problematic represents a fundamental feature of culture associated with the anticipation and expectation of the approach of death, with being within the "finitude of human life"; and artistic representations of a split, "hysterical", traumatised personality are embodied in the works of European painters, sculptors, and writers. Photography, as a new way of seeing the world, social and individual existence, symbolised and expressed the connection between science and art, expanded the range of human emotional states and contributed to the commodification of hysteria in the "theatrical spectacles" presented at the Salpetriere Hospital.
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The purpose of the article is to consider the legal and organizational aspects of digitization of the electronic culture and outline the main problems of its achievement. The research methodology is based on the general scientific and special research methods: analysis, synthesis, generalization, systematization of materials, induction, and deduction. The scientific novelty of the study is as follows: this study is one of the first complex works about electronic culture, aimed at forming a single complex of knowledge in the chosen field. The analysis of the Ukrainian legal documents in the system of electronic culture was carried out. The peculiarities of achieving the directions defined in the regulatory documents and the problematic aspects that prevent the non-fulfilment of certain planned goals are investigated. The author substantiates the approaches to defining virtual museums. The impeding factors of digitalization and the protection of cultural heritage were identified. Conclusions. To date, the main problems and achievements in the use of advanced technologies in the field of culture, or rather, the preservation of cultural heritage, including in museums, have not been sufficiently studied. Taking into account modern realities, museums remain the main guarantors of the preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. Museums continue to interact with visitors daily and respond to the needs of society. The latest technologies make it possible to view the works of famous artists in virtual museum environments, which ensure the accessibility of cultural heritage to the general public, especially limited mobility groups. Digital technologies make it possible to visually convey information to different audiences, allowing everyone to choose the content that best suits their interests. Digital technologies in museums help not only to store and record data about exhibits but also to communicate with visitors. Regular updating of the interactive content of the objects allows to establish a connection with the modern public for whom technology is important, transforming them from passive observers to active viewers.
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In the paper Portrait of the different and the others in Akkadian literary tradition, from the perspective of Emmanuel Levinas, the author will, with the help of literary and historical sources from the Akkadian literary tradition, investigate the existence of the different and the others in Akkadian scripture and in their society. The concept of otherness, within Akkadian society, will be linked to the characters of literary works, their sexual orientation, gender, race, disability, ethnic and national affiliation. Furthermore, due to the fact that this topic is socially determined, it is necessary to present the social groups that are identified as the different and the other, not just in the literary, but also in the social and civilizational sense, that is, in the form of their position in Akkadian society. Based on this, with the help of Levinas’s nterpretation of the other and otherness, it will be concluded that the ancient Akkadians were a type of society that successfully integrated the different and the others into their society, and in this way those people were enabled to live a normal and dignified life like other members of their community.
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This paper argues for the emergence of a new art movement termed Co-Creativism, emblematic of the profound synergy between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping artistic narratives. Emerging as a successor to post-postmodernism and metamodernism, I propose Co-Creativism began its ascent around 2018 and has since solidified its prominence by 2023, notably influenced by the postCOVID landscape. The era transcends viewing AI as a mere instrumental entity, instead recognising it as an integral co-contributor in the creative realm. Through a methodical approach encompassing case studies and content analysis of artist statements, this paper aims to define the key characteristics and underlying themes of Co-Creativism. By examining the interplay between the global context, the art world, the notion of the artist, art-making practice, the audience, and co-creativist art, the goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of Co-Creativism.
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In this text I discuss about contribution of Max Weber’s sociology relate to the area of policy action and economy. In addition to the analysis of capitalism which embodies Webers ideal-type constructions such as bureaucracy, authority and power, process of rationalisation and forms of social action but also an essential part of his sociology are concepts of social action and social order. Every aspect mentioned in the text is an important part of the basic dynamism in society on a higher level. Weber observed society in its entirety through institucional structure and processes which take place within the same society also considering their historical framwork. Successful prediction of the future society developments are a verification of sociologis quality which Weber certainly deserved.
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