Meghna'Ajit 'Addressing The Technology Gaps In Craft Sector' (original) (raw)

A Review of Existing and Emerging Digital Technology to Combat the Global Fake Medicines Trade

Introduction: The globalization of the pharmaceutical supply chain has introduced new challenges, chief among them, fighting the international criminal trade in fake medicines. As the manufacture, supply, and distribution of drugs becomes more complex, so does the need for innovative technology-based solutions to protect patients globally. Areas covered: We conducted a multidisciplinary review of the science/health, information technology, computer science, and general academic literature with the aim of identifying cutting-edge existing and emerging 'digital' solutions to combat fake medicines. Our review identified five distinct categories of technology including mobile, radio frequency identification, advanced computational methods, online verification, and blockchain technology. Expert opinion: Digital fake medicine solutions are unifying platforms that integrate different types of anti-counterfeiting technologies as complementary solutions, improve information sharing and data collection, and are designed to overcome existing barriers of adoption and implementation. Investment in this next generation technology is essential to ensure the future security and integrity of the global drug supply chain.

The state of the cultural heritage industry in Europe: a growth transformation perspective

Experiences (i.e. interactions with time, space, people, products and services) are the essence of cultural heritage (CH) - a cornerstone of every civilized society. As an indicative example, 77% of the European Union citizens consider cultural heritage an important driver of their everyday lives (Eurostat, 2011). In turn, CH consumers share their experiences (both positive and negative) through social media platforms, thus influencing other CH consumers’ decisions and affecting supply-demand curves. This becomes even more important for CH providers when considering the profile of CH consumers: they are skilled individuals who ride en masse the wave of self-designing collaborative consumption at heritage places (Harvey and Lorenzen, 2006; Chan and Goldthorpe, 2007; Lizardo and Skiles, 2008). At the same time, the strongly subsidized CH institutions (e.g. museums) are very slow in developing value propositions and business models that can satisfy the new demands, expectations and lifestyles of CH consumers (Caserta and Russo, 2002; Council of Europe, 2009). Bridging this gap is not an easy fix. It will require transformation of the CH supply side along three axes, corresponding to three major challenges: a) CH supply-side fragmentation; b) cultural communication; and c) value innovation (Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, 2011; Dümcke, 2012; Dümcke and Gnedofski, 2013; Lagos et al, 2005). In this article, we provide an analysis of these challenges and discuss their transformative potential for boosting growth in the CH sector. We then present different pragmatic approaches in addressing different combinations of these challenges, based on relevant international research and development projects that we engaged in. Finally, we showcase our research road path and future activities, for further investigating the aforementioned growth challenges.

Mapping Empathy and Ethics in the Design Process.

There is no doubt that the role of product designers has changed considerably, not least with the rise of human-centred design. While Papanek’s 1971 “Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change” seemed radical at the time, his ideas seem entirely at home in the 21st century, including his call to adopt more social responsibility in design. These views are echoed in the contemporary findings of professionals and researchers associated with ICSID, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. The focus has shifted, from the designer as the expert to the user, or community, as the expert in their own environment; and Co-design, Participatory design, and Universal Design are but a few examples of such people-focussed design approaches. And, as design is increasingly used as a tool for social development, the exposure of designers to vulnerable individuals and communities has increased. While research fields such as the social sciences have a long history of developing a code of ethics that is explicit, younger fields such as human-centred design and design research do not. While design and design research have adopted many social sciences methodologies (such as ethnography), the issue of ethics and accountability in design remains largely undiscussed. The increasing importance of understanding the user in the design process is a key feature of human- centred design. Empathy is often described as “stepping into someone’s shoes”, however the full value of this process is described in Empathic Design. This deep understanding of the user’s circumstances is temporary, and the designer then steps back out, with an enriched understanding of the user, enabling better design solutions. However, the interactions with the user - in order to gain this deep understanding - can also raise ethical concerns at stages during the design process. The aim of this position paper is to explore the interaction moments, between designer and user, or designer and community within the design process. The Double Diamond design process will be analysed with a view to looking at characteristic tools in each stage, in order to reveal activities that require empathetic considerations. The contribution of this research will be an empathy map of the double diamond design process, with ethical implications. The significance of the analysis will be to highlight ethical concerns for individual designers, design researchers as well as those in Design Education.

The ethics of tastemaking: towards responsible conspicuous

The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity. This practice is potentially unethical when cultural production is undermined as a cyclical fashionable commodity in which conspicuous consumption is utilised to indicate who is ‘in the know’. This may lead to a wasteful practice. While conspicuous consumption may be perceived as unethical and superficial, or at least contributing to environmental and social degradation, the ethical contributions of design in this context cannot be disregarded. The aspirational nature of conspicuous consumption is evident when individuals in developing economies are pressured to indulge on aspects of consumption before their basic needs are met; the implication is that consumers in all classes and incomes have the desire to express or improve their social status (O’Cass & McEwen, 2004:29). It may be argued (following Mangold, 2014) that socially responsive design prioritises the user’s needs over the aesthetics; however the role of aesthetics in tastemaking reinforces social patterns. Tastemakers are individuals who attained enough cultural capital to empower them to determine which new novel ideas, artefacts, or creative acts are recognised as valid and made available for cultural production at large. Their decision making has the potential to influence cultural ethics on a larger scale. In this understanding, consumerism is explored as having the potential to be a meaningful and viable means of generating identity. It is here that the ethical responsibility of the tastemaker becomes relevant. The paper will, through a focus on the links between consumerism and design, attempt to disrupt the perception that conspicuous consumption is a superficial practice to indicate that consumption can be an ethical practice.

Interior design’s occupational closure: an ethical opportunity

In March 2015 the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) announced its intention to register new professional categories for interior designers. This will provide statutory recognition for the professional status of the interior design occupation and it will allow interior design occupational closure, a state where both the practice and title of the occupation will be regulated. To reach this milestone interior design’s practical and scholarly endeavour was focussed on the professionalisation of the discipline; a lacuna was produced in which the discipline did not adequately consider a separate identity for interior design. The pursuit of a stronger discrete identity could provide a stronger professional identity (Breytenbach, 2012). If interior design reaches the professional status it pursued it faces two consequences: firstly the discipline arrives at an ethical dilemma; secondly energy previously spent in the pursuit of professionalisation would be at large to deliberate discrete knowledge areas. The ethical dilemma is located in professionalism itself. When an profession reaches occupational closure it succeeds in establishing a monopoly of service which is based on its technical authority which links skill and practice to provide services to the public which are uniquely trustworthy. Professions are technical and adhere to norms and standards. These norms and standards have an ethical dimension: they must service the greater public good (Wilensky, 1964). As an industry, the interior design occupation must focus its intentions, efforts and influence toward 'that which ought to be'. This represents a normative position for interior design in which the discipline must clearly state what its obligation to society is, and how it will be met. Currently interior design is offered the opportunity to redirect its scholarly endeavour in the pursuit of ethical and discrete knowledge areas. This paper will argue that interior design can face both consequences simultaneously, and that these can be addressed through its mimetic production. During this emergent and developmental phase interior design can expand its practice and scope of expertise in an ethical manner. This paper aims to present some of these opportunities: interior design is uniquely placed in the built environment to denote occupation, inhabitation and identity; further, interior design is a tangible vehicle for the expression of intangible cultural practices that are expressed as public rituals (e.g. casual encounters and the conducting of conversations and other opportunities of exchange). Interior design contributes to the establishment and expression of identities which could support social cohesion; this is relevant in the establishment of a principledriven and human centered profession. The professional accountability and social responsibility lies in interior design’s contributions in the cultural realm.

A Strategic Approach to Collaborative Design For Social Change

2016

The aim of the research was to create a model for sustainable socio-economic development in selected informal areas of Cairo, through collaboration of NGO members, informal area inhabitants and designers. The objectives were as follows: Using design intervention to develop more effective socio- economical empowerment program for informal areas through NGOs Repositioning the role of designer in relation to social change Providing a sustainable project that lives on after the designer has left. After conducting field research, including extensive interviews with NGO project managers, it was concluded that many of their economic development programs were having limited impact, and new strategies were needed. The selected strategy was to bring design thinking to the development of new product lines to be made by women in informal areas. The concept was to implement a well branded line of clothing targeted to a specific market segment; to be promoted through social media; sold through an online store; to be manufactured by informal area inhabitants, thus the money gained will be returned to the informal area inhabitants. Therefore a pilot project was implemented for 12 months, where 4 trails were made in 4 different informal areas until acceptable quality of products were produced. The concept is creating a sewing workshop in the homes of the informal area inhabitants where they produce clothes designed through participatory workshops where potential customers are gathered to design for their needs. Then the NGO team uses online marketing to sell the products through a well-branded online shop. Consequently, after holding 4 participatory workshops, 16 products where selected and produced and eventually promoted through Facebook and Instagram. This resulted in the informal area inhabitants gaining a minimum of 30 LE per piece rather than their previous pricing (2 LE, 7 LE and 14 LE).

Future Pathways for Design-Driven Entrepreneurship Education

Cumulus Conference Proceedings Wuxi 2018- Diffused Transition and Design Opportunities, 2018

Designing in and for transition, within contexts of constantly changing certainties and boundaries, demands new models of pedagogy; capable of building deep competencies within students beyond the studio’s borders. Academia is facing radical disruption as students demand a redefinition of education (Traitler, Coleman and Hoffman, 2014). This transformation must be applied within design education. How do we educate designers to design for present ambiguity and future uncertainties in a world with radical complexity and wicked problems? Parsons ELab is a design-driven academic business incubator and research lab with the ambitious mission to develop a distributed academic incubation model. Our research investigates how to transition design education and its evaluation, create models for future academic distributed incubators, and new research methodologies to incubator and accelerator research. Conventional incubation research is focused on understanding the financial impact of incubees through their period of incubation (Messeghem et al, 2017). Parsons ELab has developed a mix of deep qualitative and quantitative research over the past four years. Our research offers us a unique perspective in evaluating the educational, financial and social impact of our program. We find a need to challenge conventional approaches to both entrepreneurship research and education. Our findings develop necessary practices in the implementation of a distributed academic incubator model. ELab continues to refine its methodology as it works towards a roadmap for other educational institutions seeking to encourage design-driven entrepreneurship. Our work expands definitions of impact to include the cultural and environmental. As we identify new transitions and needs for design-driven, entrepreneurially-focused education, we look to develop new pathways for design students to develop critical competencies.