bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The origin of modelling
Authors: Ayres Phil 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between modelling and design from a cybernetic perspective.Design/methodology/approachCybernetic understandings of the notions “modelling” and “design” are developed initially. The derived understandings are used to define an outline specification for a speculative design project based on an analysis and re‐interpretation of an account from Pliny the Elder. The account is re‐interpreted to address a long tradition of partial appropriation in which only the two‐dimensional representation of three‐dimensions by projection on to a plane is considered. The project seeks to re‐adjust the focus of this account to an activity that employs two‐dimensional representation as a means for subsequent spatial synthesis. It further proposes to make the relationship between model and modelled circular.FindingsThere are two findings. First, an understanding that context is constructed by the observer. Second, the need to implement a meta‐model to permit circularity between the model and the modelled.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper presents the conceptual underpinning for a project and design strategy that is yet to be investigated.Practical implicationsThe design strategy presented suggests the introduction of circularity into the world of built artefacts, allowing the potential for the continual expression of variety over time.Originality/valueThis paper introduces the original notion of the “persistent model” as a design strategy complementary to existing practices. The “persistent model” establishes and maintains circularity between the model and the artefact as constructed, in order that the two continually inform each other.
Designing cybersystemically for symviability
Authors: Boyd Gary , Zeman Vladimir 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to encourage professional designers of many kinds, and especially those of the entertainment media, to understand themselves as actually being partners in a common educative enterprise, which is through artistry, predictive knowledge, non‐dominative legitimative discourse and technology, helping people everywhere to learn to desire to, and to be able to, survive reasonably pleasantly on Earth for a very long time to come.Design/methodology/approachThis paper puts forward three theses: collapse of civilisation is immanent unless people can be educated to live symbiotically with one another and Gaia; all designs have educative and mis‐educative importance; designers need to learn to use higher level cybersystemic approaches to be beneficial. Then it argues for the plausibility of these theses from philosophical educational to practical perspectives. In particular, it argues for the importance of modifying cultural propagation so that all our main cultures can become “symviable” – that is can come to live symbiotically with one an other and with the ecosystems of Earth. And it is argued that, in order to facilitate this enterprise, a cybernetic understanding of the processes and actions of the complex historically emergent higher level cybersystems in which the authors are all embedded, and which are embedded in us, should become the basis for designers, actual practice.FindingsBy reviewing designers' functional levels historically the paper finds that many different kinds of influential designers have actually functioned at the higher cybersystemic levels the authors advocate and hence can be guiding exemplars in this newly precarious situation.Originality/valueA deeper cybersystemic understanding of just how people are all parts of one mutually educating and mutually surviving Earth‐life system changes the value of everything. Designers who manage to use such understanding should be both more successful and more satisfied with the value of their work.
An indeterminate project for architecture in Brazil
Authors: dos Santos Cabral Filho Jose 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper seeks to describe an experiment carried out in the 1980s by a small practice called Céu do 3o. Mundo (C3M) relating to the application of cybernetics principles to a design process with special regard to house design in Brazil.Design/methodology/approachAfter discussing the peculiarities of architectural practice in Brazil, the paper presents C3M's design methodology, which is based on the creation of three models (“conceptual model”, “analogical model”, and “scale model”); a case study is presented and the results of the application of the methodology to several projects are discussed.FindingsThe paper shows that cybernetics principles are relevant for dealing with the Brazilian housing shortage, especially because it is an adequate framework to deal with the Brazilian culture, known for its informality, its social plasticity and its playful nature.Originality/valueThe correlation of cybernetics principles to the design of affordable houses is articulated through the concept of “indeterminate project,” intended as a project that would allow for flexibility, interpretation and adaptation.
It's all about communication: graphics and cybernetics
Authors: Downs Simon 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThe paper seeks to serve a dual process, first, to raise awareness of the epistemological weaknesses inherent in the ways that visual communications designers address their own practice, and, second, to suggest that cybernetics has some of the answers to these weaknesses.Design/methodology/approachThese objectives of this paper have been addressed through an examination of the cybernetics, critical theory and visual design theory. A comparison of the points of convergence (often of aims) and those points of divergence (often in its ontological reading of the world) is illuminating, especially when post‐structuralist semiotics – as a system of knowledge exterior to both design and cybernetics, yet capable of commenting on both – is used as a point of triangulation.FindingsThe literature analysis carried for this paper indicates that in both visual communications design and cybernetics there are areas of overlapping interest (concerns with the cyclic nature of coding and decoding information) and areas that might at first seem divergent but are in fact often complementary (the role of the observer as controller and participant in a system). The paper proposes that cybernetics uncovers principles at the heart of communication that in turn inform visual communication practices, which in a circular fashion informs cybernetics.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that new areas for cyberneticians to use in their study of second‐order cybernetics may be found in the product of visual communications design. It also suggests areas where designers may begin to search for tools that may be useful in evaluating their working practices.Originality/valueThe paper notes that an external investigation of visual communications artefacts presents cybernetics with a potential test‐bed on which to test its theories, in practice, on a global scale. Cybernetics has the potential to define and offer constructive guidance to visual communications design in examining its own practice.
Cybernetics and service‐craft: language for behavior‐focused design
Authors: Dubberly Hugh , Pangaro Paul 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to describe relationships between cybernetics and design, especially service design, which is a component of service‐craft; to frame cybernetics as a language for design, especially behavior‐focused design.Design/methodology/approachThe material in this paper was developed for a course on cybernetics and design. Work began by framing material on cybernetics in terms of models. As the course progressed, the relevance of the models to design became clearer. A first focus was on applying the models to describe human‐computer interaction; later another focus emerged, viewing cybernetic processes as analogs for design processes. These observations led to a review of the history of design methods and design rationale.FindingsThe paper argues that design practice has moved from hand‐craft to service‐craft and that service‐craft exemplifies a growing focus on systems within design practice. It also proposes cybernetics as a source for practical frameworks that enable understanding of dynamic systems, including specific interactions, larger systems of service, and the activity of design itself. It also shows that development of first‐ and second‐generation design methods parallels development of first‐ and second‐generation cybernetics. Finally, it argues that design is essentially political, frames design as conversation, and proposes cybernetics as a language for design and a foundation of a broad design education.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper suggests opportunities for more research on the historical relationship between cybernetics and design methods, and design research on modeling user goals.Practical implicationsThe paper offers tools for understanding and managing the complicated communities of systems that designers increasingly face.Originality/valueThe paper suggests models useful for practicing designers and proposes changes to design education.
The cybernetics of design and the design of cybernetics
Authors: Krippendorff Klaus 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to connect two discourses, the discourse of cybernetics and that of design.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes a comparative analysis of relevant definitions, concepts, and entailments in both discourse, and an integration of these into a cybernetically informed concept of human‐centered design, on the one hand, and a design‐informed concept of second‐order cybernetics, on the other hand. In the course of this conceptual exploration, the distinction between science and design is explored with cybernetics located in the dialectic between the two. Technology‐centered design is distinguished from human‐centered design, and several axioms of the latter are stated and discussed.FindingsThis paper consists of recommendations to think and do things differently. In particular, a generalization of interface is suggested as a replacement for the notion of products; a concept of meaning is developed to substitute for the meaninglessness of physical properties; a theory of stakeholder networks is discussed to replace the deceptive notion of THE user; and, above all, it is suggested that designers, in order to design something that affords use to others, engage in second‐order understanding.Originality/valueThe paper makes several radical suggestions that face likely rejection by traditionalists but acceptance by cyberneticians and designers attempting to make a contribution to contemporary information society.
Design and prosthetic perception
Authors: Krueger Ted 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThe paper aims to consider competing accounts of perception and to examine their potential to support design activity that seeks to extend and enrich perception using interface technologies. The interfaces will enable the direct perception of electromagnetic phenomena that are not now considered to be directly available to humans.Design/methodology/approachTwo models are considered. According to one, the standard view, perception is of an external world known by means of information flowing into an organism from it as conditioned by the organism's biological sensory modalities; according to the other, the enactive view, perception occurs by means of learning to differentiate oneself from the world by undertaking activities, by learning and mastering sensorimotor contingencies.FindingsThe paper presents preliminary results of design work based on enactive cognition and argues that the results, in turn, re‐inform and reinforce the theory by the introduction of novel perceptual phenomena that cannot be accommodated within the standard view of perception.Practical implicationsThe project, rather than seeking an instrumental utility, though this may occur, instead strives to enable the bringing forth of a richer world. Its objective is epistemic rather than pragmatic.Originality/valueThe paper presents a reflection on the role of design in the construction of theory.
Complex built‐environment design: four extensions to Ashby
Authors: Love Terence , Cooper Trudi 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper sets out to report on research by the authors into the development and application of four extensions to Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety (LoRV) that increase its utility in the arena of unplanned changes in hegemonic control of designed complex socio‐technical systems/digital eco‐systems in the built environment that are structurally dynamic or emergent.Design/methodology/approachResearch on which the paper is based focused on exploration of classical systems approaches to the design of complex socio‐technical systems in which ownership, power, control and management of structure and benefit generation and distribution are distributed, dynamic and multi‐constituent. Support for development of these four extensions to Ashby's Law comes from observation of four decades of socio‐technical systems development along with critical thinking that combined systems analysis theories with theories and findings from fields of hegemonic analysis, design research, management, management information systems, behaviour in organisations and sociology.FindingsThe paper outlines application of four new extensions to LoRV in relation to unplanned changes in distributions of power, ownership, control, benefit generation and benefit distribution in complex socio‐technical systems/digital eco‐systems in the built environment that are emergent or have changing structures. Three of these extensions have been outlined earlier in relation to the design of learning object‐based e‐learning systems. The fourth extension builds on these via application of Coasian analysis. The paper also describes a suite of five guidelines to assist with the design of complex socio‐technical systems derived from the four extensions to Ashby.Research limitations/implicationsThe four extensions of Ashby's Law that underpin the design guidelines in this paper are deduced from observation and critical analysis rather than being “proven” empirically. They are derived from observation of the behaviour of real‐world complex systems together with critical analytical thinking that integrated theory and research findings from a range of disciplines where each informs understanding of hegemonic aspects of emergent complex socio‐technical systems involving multiple, changing constituencies, and evolving system structures.Practical implicationsA design method is derived comprising five design guidelines for use in pre‐design and design of complex socio‐technical systems/digital eco‐systems in the built environment.Originality/valueThe paper describes the application of four new extensions to LoRV that extend the analytical role of Ashby's Law in diagnosis of changes in power relations and unintended design outcomes from changes in the generation and control of variety in complex, multi‐layered and hierarchical socio‐technical systems that have multiple stakeholders and constituencies. From these, a suite of five new design guidelines is proposed.
The magic of three
Authors: van der Merwe Johann 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to combine several modes of thought based on systems organization and observing systems in order to construct a model for a “designerly way of thinking”.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is to regard design as a “groundless field of knowledge” that may source methodological insights from cybernetics, systems theory, cognitive studies and complexity theory, among others.FindingsThe focus of this research is to model an adaptive frame‐of‐reference that design students may use in order to construct their own autopoietic identity systems. The semantic question “How does a student obtain information about design?” is changed to a structural question “How could students acquire a structure enabling them to operate innovatively in a modern design environment?” With the backing of cybernetic principles, it is apparent that this process is not only feasible but also preferable.Practical implicationsWhile the practical use that can be made of any design theory is not within the remit of this paper, it is nonetheless the goal of theory to enhance the individual's analytical and communicative skills.Originality/valueThis paper suggests an autopoietic model‐for‐becoming that can have the virtual potential of bringing one to understand the grey areas of human‐object relationships.
Architecture as a verb: cybernetics and design processes for the social divide
Authors: Pratschke Anja 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to draw on current research in public policy, and more specifically about a collaborative design process for a poor suburban community in São Paulo, Brazil and its relation to social cybernetics as the “science of effective organization.” The research project in public policy, online‐communities, has been financed by the state‐sponsored agency FAPESP since 2003, and involves four research groups from the Architecture and Computer Science Departments at the University of São Paulo, and various public and non‐governmental organizations under the coordination of Nomads.usp Research Center (Center for Studies on Interactive Living,www.eesc.usp.br/nomads).Design/methodology/approachThe design methodology includes three premises: an organization of the team which considers multidisciplinary and multicultural aspects; the involvement of potential users as creators of the virtual community and of its concrete space; and the concern that the process will be organized so that autonomy and evolution take place.FindingsSpecial interest in the comparison of architectural methods and cybernetics is to understand how information and communication are dealt with using a design process to promote active exchange of knowledge and competences, and to improve interaction and conversation in a local context of large social differences, affected by lack of opportunities and regulating structures.Practical implicationsOwing to its constant questioning of viability, adaptability and recursion, cybernetics should be able to make the designer team constantly revise the proposal to change conditions during its process of implementation and later autonomy.Originality/valueThe paper discusses the actual relevance of the use of the cybernetic theory as a way to improve information and communication between designers and the population in poor communities.
Second‐order cybernetics, architectural drawing and monadic thinking
Authors: Rawes Peg 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine shared principles of “irreducibility” or “undecidability” in second‐order cybernetics, architectural design processes and Leibniz's geometric philosophy. It argues that each discipline constructs relationships, particularly spatio‐temporal relationships, according to these terms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is organized into two parts and uses architectural criticism and philosophical analysis. The first part examines how second‐order cybernetics and post‐structuralist architectural design processes share these principles. Drawing from von Foerster's theory of the “observing observer” it analyses the self‐reflexive and self‐referential modes of production that construct a collaborative architectural design project. Part two examines the terms in relation to Leibniz's account of the “Monad”. Briefly, developing the discussion through Kant's theory of aesthetics, it shows that Leibniz provides a “prototype” of undecidable spatial relations that are also present in architectural design and second‐order cybernetics.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that second‐order cybernetics, architectural design and metaphysical philosophy enable interdisciplinary understandings of “undecidability”.Practical implicationsThe paper seeks to improve understanding of the geometric processes that construct architectural design.Originality/valueThe paper explores interdisciplinary connections between the disciplines, opening up potential routes for further examination. Its analysis of the aesthetic and geometric value of the Monad (rather than its perspectival value) provides a particularly relevant link for discussing the aesthetic production and experience of spatial relations in second‐order cybernetics and contemporary architectural design.
Conversations with the self‐knowledge creation for designing
Authors: Shumack Kaye 
Published: November 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to draw links between the circularity of second‐order cybernetics, and constructive, reflective conversations with oneself in design practice. The paper argues that a structured use of internal conversational dialogues with oneself can assist the design process, enhancing creativity and transformative approaches to design projects.Design/methodology/approachTheories about the emergence of new knowledge, and the causal nature of internal conversations, are used to present a case for the value of a structured self‐reflective conversational process in designing. Emergent knowledge is described in terms of flows across domains of public and personal knowledge, through dynamic processes of semantic absorption, codification and diffusion. The structure and agency of the internal conversation are discussed as a practical way to interpret and locate the emergence of project directions, as a kind of meta‐language for design production. This is demonstrated through an action research case study, where an internal dialogue about teaching visual communication design is described.FindingsOn the basis of the action research described, the use of a structured internal dialogue can be of benefit to designing, as it provides a mechanism for locating and mapping the flows and developments of emergent semantic concepts and design project directions.Practical implicationsThe model for internal conversations is a way for designers to acknowledge their dual role as both participant (“subject” self) and observer (“object” self). The paper argues that this can help in locating oneself within a design process.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the debate about knowledge of design and for design. A constructive conversational model is presented, which acknowledges the significant role of experiential, cultural and semantic contexts in framing emerging knowledge for designing.