Design and the Digital Humanities

Stan Ruecker, Milena Radzikowska

Description

This is an essential practical guide for academics, researchers and professionals involved in the digital humanities, as well as designers working with them. It prepares readers from both fields for working together, outlining disciplinary perspectives and lessons learned from more than twenty years of experience, with over two dozen practical exercises.

The central premise of the book is a timely one – that the twin disciplines of visual communication design and digital humanities (DH) are natural allies, with much to be gained for researchers, students and practitioners from both areas who are able to form alliances with those from the other side. The disciplines share a common fundamental belief in the extraordinary value of interdisciplinarity, which in this case means that the training, experience and inclinations from both fields naturally tend to coincide. The fields also share an interest in research that focuses on humanities questions and approaches, where the goal is to improve understanding through repeated observation and discussion. Both disciplines tend to be generative in nature, with the ultimate end in many cases of designing and creating the next generation of systems and tools, whether those be intended for dealing with information or communication.

The interdisciplinary nature of this book is both a strength and a challenge. For those academics and practitioners who have worked with the other discipline, this will be a much-welcomed handbook of terminology, methods and activities. It will also be of interest to those who have read about, seen presented and used the outcomes of successful design and DH collaborations, and who might be interested in forming similar partnerships.

However, for all they have in common, design and digital humanities also have significant differences. This book discusses these issues in the context of a variety of research projects as well as classroom activities that have been tried and tested. This book will provide both design and the digital humanities with a better mutual understanding, with the practical intention of working effectively together in ways that are productive and satisfying for everyone involved.

Design education has a long history, a presence in many post-secondary institutions, and a robust market for educational and practice-based literature. The Digital Humanities community, in contrast, is much younger, but rising rapidly, both academically and within industry. Both design and DH are collaborative disciplines, with much in common in terms of vision, but with confusing overlap in terminology and ways-to-practice. 

The book describes and demonstrates foundational concepts from both fields with numerous examples, as well as projects, activities and further readings at the end of each chapter. It provides complete coverage of core design and DH principles, complete with illustrated case studies from cutting-edge interdisciplinary research projects. Design and the Digital Humanities offers a unique approach to mastering the fundamental processes, concepts, and techniques critical to both disciplines.

It will be of interest to those who have been following previous work by bestselling authors in the fields of visual communication design and the digital humanities, such as Ellen Lupton, Steven Heller, Julianne Nyhan, Claire Warwick and Melissa Terras. 

This guide is suitable for use as an undergraduate or masters-level text, or as an in-the-field reference guide.  Throughout the book, terms or concepts that may not be familiar to all readers are carefully spelled out with examples so that the text is as accessible as possible to non-technical readers from a range of disciplines.

Introduction

• Selling the Value of Design
  
  
  
  1. The Epistemological Modes of Knowledge Production
  
  
  2. Change is scary
     
     
     
     1. i) Territory of Possible Engagements
     
     
     2. ii) Moving the Goalposts
     
     
     
     
  
  
  3. What expertise looks like
     
     
     
     1. i) Who are Designers?
     
     
     2. ii) Who are the Digital Humanists?
     
     
     
     
  
  
  
  

• iii) What Expertise in Collaboration Looks Like

1. EXERCISES: Meaning

• Creating understanding
  
  
  
  1. Defining DH
     
     
     
     1. i) What do Digital Humanists Do?
     
     
     
     
  
  
  2. Defining design
     
     
     
     1. i) Is There Such Thing As Good Design? If So, What Is It?
     
     
     2. ii) Why Design Matters
     
     
     
     
  
  
  
  

• iii) Critical Design

1. iv) What do Designers Do?

1. What is Publishable


2. Case study 1: how design students define themselves


3. EXERCISES: Form and text

• Misunderstandings
  
  
  
  1. Terms from DH
     
     
     
     1. i) Text Encoding
     
     
     2. ii) Structured Data
     
     
     
     
  
  
  
  

• iii) Federated Data

1. iv) Linked Data: A Brief Historical Foray into the Memex

1. Terms from Design
   
   
   
   1. i) Sketches
      
      
      
      • Types of sketches
      
      
      
      
   
   
   2. ii) Three Forms of User-Centered Design
   
   
   
   

• iii) Design Thinking

1. iv) Reframing


2. v) Gestalt

1. Claim Games
   
   
   
   1. i) Research
   
   
   2. ii) Projects and Research Projects
   
   
   
   

• iii) Image

1. iv) Text


2. v) Prototypes


3. vi) Metaphors and Other Figures of Speech

• vii) Iteration

1. Case study: what's a book?


2. EXERCISES: Collections and territories

• Meeting points
  
  
  
  1. Humanities visualization
     
     
     
     1. i) Why Graphical Representation?
     
     
     2. ii) Rich Prospect Browsing
     
     
     
     
  
  
  
  

• iii) Proposing New RPB Principles and Tools
  
  
  
  • Principle of Participation
  
  
  • Principle of Association
  
  
  • Principle of Contexuality
  
  
  • Principle of Pluralism
  
  
  
  

1. iv) A Critical Challenge to the Power Embedded in Prospect and Refuge

1. Case studies: DH-based visualizations created by undergraduate design students
   
   
   
   1. i) BigSee
   
   
   2. ii) Structured Surfaces
   
   
   
   

• iii) Results

1. iv) What We’d Change

1. Case studies: Decision Support Systems
   
   
   
   1. i) Descriptive Reflections
   
   
   2. ii) Design Z (Gears)
   
   
   
   

• iii) Design A+1 (Bars & Sliders)

1. iv) Design B (Lines & Dots)


2. v) Analytical Reflection


3. vi) Feminist RPB in Manufacturing DSS

• vii) Critical Reflection Using Feminist HCI


• viii) Reflection Using a Critical Design Framework

1. EXERCISES: Data visualization and interface design

• Working better together: interdisciplinary research in practice
  
  
  
  1. Developing interdisciplinary researchers
     
     
     
     1. i) Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Researchers
     
     
     2. ii) Masters-Level Interdisciplinary Researchers
     
     
     
     
  
  
  
  

• iii) PhD-Level Interdisciplinary Researchers

1. iv) Resource Needs


2. v) Critical Non-Tangibles

1. What is Respectable?


2. Project management for interdisciplinary researchers
   
   
   
   1. i) Ways of Collaborating
   
   
   2. ii) Delegation vs Collaboration
   
   
   
   

• iii) Cross Disciplinary Lessons Learned

1. Managing people who are sensitive to their surroundings
   
   
   
   1. i) Designers as Paramecium
      
      
      
      • Tenacity, or Sticking it Out
      
      
      • Repetition: Same Shit, Different Pile
      
      
      • Comparison: One Person’s Poison is Another Person’s Nutrient
      
      
      • Community: A World of Paramecia
      
      
      • Changing the World
      
      
      • From Bad to Worse: What if the Choice is Between Greater Poison and Lesser Poison?
      
      
      • From Good to Better: Choosing Among Nutrients
      
      
      • Discontinuity, or Sudden Death
      
      
      • Unanticipated Side-Effects
      
      
      • Reality Check: Taking a Few Roughs with a Smooth
      
      
      
      
   
   
   2. Case study: Interdisciplinary research project charter
      
      
      
      1. i) The Project Charter
      
      
      2. ii) Most Recent Additions and Considerations
      
      
      
      
   
   
   3. EXERCISES: Planning
   
   
   
   

• Our Journey Continues
  
  
  
  1. From the Digital to the Physical
  
  
  2. Design for Peace and Reconciliation
  
  
  3. Collaborative
  
  
  4. Design Concepts Lab
  
  
  5. Final thoughts
  
  
  6. EXERCISES: Intellectual territories
  
  
  
  

Sujets

• EDUCATION
• Sciences et techniques
• Product design
• General officer
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789383607
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Design and the Digital Humanities

Design and the Digital Humanities
A Handbook for Mutual Understanding
Milena Radzikowska and Stan Ruecker
First published in the UK in 2022 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2022 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2022 Intellect Ltd
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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
Learning through making
Acknowledgements
Preamble: Identifying ourselves
Introduction
1 Selling the value of design
1.1 The epistemological modes of knowledge production
1.2 Change is scary
1.3 What expertise looks like
1.4 Exercises: Meaning
2 Creating understanding
2.1 Defining DH
2.2 Defining design
2.3 What is publishable?
2.4 Case study 1: How design students define themselves
2.5 Exercises: Form and text
3 Misunderstandings
3.1 Terms from DH
3.2 Terms from design
3.3 Claim games
3.4 Case study 2: What is a book?
3.5 Exercises: Collections and territories
4 Meeting points
4.1 Humanities visualization
4.2 Rich prospect browsing
4.3 Case study 3: Experiments in DH data visualizations
4.4 Case study 4: Design as inquiry
4.5 Exercises: Data visualization and interface design
5 Working better together
5.1 Developing interdisciplinary researchers
5.2 What is respectable?
5.3 Project management for interdisciplinary researchers
5.4 Managing people who are sensitive to their surroundings
5.5 Case study 5: Project charter
5.6 Exercises: Planning
6 Our journey continues
6.1 From the digital to the physical
6.2 Design for peace and reconciliation
6.3 qCollaborative
6.4 Design concepts lab
6.5 Final thoughts
6.6 Exercises: Intellectual territories

List of exercises
References
Index
Learning through making
Both design and digital humanities (DH) are best understood through the ways they learn their craft and the types of artefacts they create. Below and throughout this book you ll find carefully chosen exercises, some emergent from a 100-year-old tradition of how to teach visual literacy and design, and some pulled from DH curriculums across North America. These exercises are not intended to turn the reader (or the makers) into designers or digital humanists; though, if you complete them, you are likely to improve both your visual literacy and critical thinking. These exercises are meant to increase the depth of cross-disciplinary understanding and trust in the capabilities and expertise of the other.
Some of the exercises are best completed in a group or classroom setting, but many work well as solo activities. They are numbered for reference and, not necessarily, in terms of difficulty.
Check out the end of this book for a handy exercise outline.
What you ll need
Most of the exercises in this book can be done with simple office supplies. It will be handy to have a white board and some flip charts. Post-it notes of various colours and sizes are always useful to have around - to the point that they have become a clich representation of design projects.
Additional materials: pencils (H or 2H); black and coloured markers (ideally various line thicknesses); tracing paper; sketchbook or at least some white blank paper; ruler; scissors; eraser; and paints or cut paper (various colours).
Sketchbook
Journaling and sketching is an important aspect of a visual education, and a fairly standard design tool. Designers use sketchbooks to record their ongoing learning process and development, as a tool for exploration when working through a design task (with notes, modifications, and critiques), as a source of historical and sociological information, and as a way to keep track of inspirational materials. There is no one prescribed format for a sketchbook, but it is important that it s a durable, bound book that you can easily carry with you. Whether or not it opens flat is a matter of personal preference.
Willingness to suck
Depending on how you arrived here (thanks, by the way!), whether from an interest in or experience with the fine arts or design, or multiple degrees in the humanities, you re likely to find some of the exercises, more than others, challenging or even intimidating. If you ve become accustomed to being an expert in your discipline and producing high-quality work, the experience of sucking can be somewhat traumatic. Try it anyway. Embrace the suck with pride in having leapt into the void.
We ve both done it and we promise that it s worth it.
Acknowledgements
Parts of Chapter 3: Misunderstanding have previously appeared in:

Michura, Piotr, Ruecker, Stan, Derksen, Gerry, Radzikowska, Milena, Dobson, Teresa and the INKE Research Group (2014), Documenting subjective interpretations of illustrated book covers for Lewis Carroll s Alice s Adventures in Wonderland , Scholarly and Research Communication , 5:2, pp. 1-11.
Radzikowska, Milena, Traynor, Brian, Ruecker, Stan and Vaughn, Norman, Teaching user-centered design through low-fidelity sketches , Proceedings of the 4th Information Design International Conference , Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 9-12 September 2009, pp. 744-56, Rio De Janeiro: Brazilian Society of Information Design.
Ruecker, Stan and the INKE Research Group (2015), A brief taxonomy of prototypes for the digital humanities , Scholarly and Research Communication , 6:2, pp. 1-11.
Radzikowska, Milena, Ruecker, Stan and Rockwell, Geoffrey (2015), Teaching undergraduate design students using digital humanities research in the classroom , in A. Rowe and B. Sadler-Takach (eds), Design Education: Approaches, Explorations and Perspectives , Canada: A D Press, pp. 37-44.
Parts of Chapter 5: Working better together have previously appeared in:

Ruecker, Stan and Radzikowska, Milena (2008), The design of a project charter for interdisciplinary research , in Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2007) , Cape Town, 25-28 February 2008, Published through the ACM, 2008 and available online.
Preamble: Identifying ourselves
Notes from our mutual admiration society
This book is written by two feminist practising design researchers (numbered among the founding members of the qLab at qcollaborative.com). Our work in design and digital humanities (DH) is reciprocally informed by our commitment to both. Our projects tend to be interdisciplinary and collaborative, marked by a passion to benefit others and informed by the last 15-20 years on teams with researchers from over 30 different fields.
We have had the great privilege of working on large, medium, and small national and international research teams, with students, industry partners, not-for-profit agencies, and scholars. Our work has been iterative and experimental - meant to challenge existing design conventions and explore unique alternatives to complex problems.
Much of our effort has been spent on the intersection of design and DH, although the last half of it has also seen us branching out so that one of our current interests is in how to use prototypes in research, first to formulate research questions, then to produce theories, and finally to test them. We have been thinking about the re-design of everything from the process of drug design to the monetary system to the university itself. We have even started to work on design for reconciliation in post-conflict zones, which involved a sometimes uncomfortable number of bullet-proof things like vests and vehicles. It was on that project where we coined the phrase: there s always room in the decoy truck .
Land acknowledgements
This book was co-written by a refugee Canadian. The other still remembers the old homestead from three generations back, where the promise of a sod hut was better than staying in the UK. Both of us live and work on lands that have either been borrowed or stolen from the First Nations.
Dr Milena Radzikowska works at Mount Royal University, located in the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut ina, and the Iyarhe Nakoda. The City of Calgary is also home to the M tis Nation. Dr Stan Ruecker was born and raised on land that is located in the Treaty 6 Territory, the traditional territory of Cree Peoples, and the Homeland of the M tis.
Dr Stan Ruecker currently works at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, a land-grant institution, which acknowledges the historical context in which it exists. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is located on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Peankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations.
We pay our respect to the First Nation and M tis ancestors of these lands and reaffirm our relationship with one another.
Thank you
Our biggest thank you goes out to Margy MacMillan, Professor Emerita (Mount Royal University), information omnivore, and retired librarian for reading this text when it was at its roughest, and infusing it with clarity and confidenc