Category: Design comment
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On the Fringe
Stephen Peake, a member of the Design and Innovation group at the OU is currently appearing in a two man show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The show,”The Hero Who Overslept”, is a dialogue about climate change; a playful piece which sees a dour professor from Bolton with a head full of statistics about climate […]
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The Dangers of Design
The terrible fire at Grenfell Tower has provoked discussion among architects. Where does the blame lie? With the architects who drew up the plans for refurbishment, with the council and management company who insisted on costs being cut? With the contractors and subcontractors involved in carrying out the work specified or with the companies producing […]
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Citizenship in the smart city
The suite of smart city standards recently published by the British Standards Institute attempts to legitimise smart city developments by placing citizens at the centre of them. Working with Simon Joss and Youri Dayot from the University of Westminster, I analysed the standards to try to figure out how citizenship might evolve in the smart […]
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Another tool for checking what you know
In addition to Gil’s great post on How to spot fake news, here’s another toolkit well worth investing in – the (bear with me) Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies poster, freely available in pdf here So, the next you read a newspaper piece or watch anyone debating or presenting anything, see if you play […]
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You Never Thought What The Real Value of Critical Thinking Is
Dr. Gil Dekel. What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase ‘critical thinking’? You may think of people who doubt everything? People that can’t stop asking arrogant questions which makes them very uncomfortable to be around? Now, put your preconceptions on hold for a second and see why critical thinking is something entirely […]
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Circular economies
I came across the following Greenpeace video which paints a bleak picture of the impact of the smart phone revolution over the past 10 years or so. The constant drive to own the latest and greatest smartphone is having a huge impact on resources and the environment, and this is unsustainable. The video suggests a solution […]
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Realising the potential of design thinking
DesignAndThinking -YouTube This documentary, directed by Mu-Ming Tsai, explores the role and value of design thinking in society. It draws on conversations with a range of commentators including David Kelly, D.School Stanford; Tim Brown, IDEO; Udaya Patnaik, Jump Associates; and Richard Grefé, Aiga. The film is over an hour long but worth investing the time in as it does a great job […]
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Hello design world!
We have done it! Design @ Open is live. This blog reports about things Design academics at the Design Group, School of Engineering and Innovation at the Open University are up to, think, learn, experience, experiment and tinker with. In short, this blog is about everything that is important and current in design at the OU. […]