The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

This thesis explores the Churchill Weavers stereocards housed at the Kentucky Historical Society and Berea College based on visual analysis. By examining the stereocards as advertisements and comparing them to a series of short films created by the company, I will discuss how the Churchill Weavers created a brand that emphasized both an image of traditional American rural production and modern urban consumption. I will further discuss how the marketing strategies used by the Churchill Weavers exemplify a larger trend in American advertising in the years following World War Two.

This paper will explore how portrayals of male violence against female characters in film and television have affected the way in which women navigate through society. Images of exploitation, degradation, and violence towards females are constantly presented in television and film, creating an over saturation in the media market and fostering a sense of normalcy the extremely problematic issue of violence. Often, these images are internalized by women to the extent that their view the men around them becomes as distorted as the men who view them as nothing more than sex object. Men become their source of fear and what was carried out on television becomes an accepted possibility and expectation in reality, regardless of whether these men actually pose of threat. Through examining television shows and news broadcasts, the paper reveals how media serves to perpetuate traditional notions of gender, power, and assault created in American society and offers solutions to rework the traditional systems or thought.

This thesis examines the new theatrical form of cyberformance (live performance by remote players using internet technologies) and contextualises it within the broader fields of networked performance, digital performance and theatre. Poststructuralist theories that contest the binary distinction between reality and representation provide the analytical foundation for the thesis. A critical reflexive methodological approach is undertaken in order to highlight three themes. First, the essential qualities and criteria of cyberformance are identified, and illustrated with examples from the early 1990s to the present day. Second, two cyberformance groups – the Plaintext Players and Avatar Body Collision – and UpStage, a purpose-built application for cyberformance, are examined in more detailed case studies. Third, the specifics of the cyberformance audience are explored and commonalities are identified between theatre and online culture. In conclusion, this thesis suggests that theatre and the internet have much to offer each other in this current global state of transition, and that cyberformance offers one means by which to facilitate the incorporation of new technologies into our lives.

As we pass the 6oth anniversary of the end of World War Two (WW2) historians are diligently collecting the memoirs of veterans to preserve for future generations. Public archives of memorabilia, letters, photos and artefacts, in the process of digitisation are complimenting the stone memorials of the past. This material culture of memory discusses human interaction. “The poor, the rich, the brave and the afraid, the hero and the deserter” (Moriarty, 1999, p 654). In contemporary museum culture this digitised information is presented in either web-based systems, or interactive kiosks. However, this approach to packaging memories and historical data often leaves out much of the depth of the topic information, skimming the surface of the knowledge conveyed. New solutions to memory and artefact display have been developed effectively in the Churchill room’s exhibit designed by Small Design (Kabat,2008) and Memory Miner (Memory Miner, 2008), a home-based memory archive programme by John Fox. Both convey the memories and artefacts upon a mapped interface, using our desire to discover and connect with memories to navigate the narrative in a self-guided format. The Storytelling Memories project seeks to build on current research to formulate an interactive platform of memory immersion and experience within a museum environment. The project utilises a touch sensitive surface as an interface between the viewer and the memories. A physical controller, when placed near the interface surface will “unlock” contained memories, enabling an open-ended storytelling experience. The design encourages the user to interact directly with the memories to create their own dialogue, with the intention of developing a more emotive, personal connection to the Veteran.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.

As we pass the 6oth anniversary of the end of World War Two (WW2) historians are diligently collecting the memoirs of veterans to preserve for future generations. Public archives of memorabilia, letters, photos and artefacts, in the process of digitisation are complimenting the stone memorials of the past. This material culture of memory discusses human interaction. “The poor, the rich, the brave and the afraid, the hero and the deserter” (Moriarty, 1999, p 654). In contemporary museum culture this digitised information is presented in either web-based systems, or interactive kiosks. However, this approach to packaging memories and historical data often leaves out much of the depth of the topic information, skimming the surface of the knowledge conveyed. New solutions to memory and artefact display have been developed effectively in the Churchill room’s exhibit designed by Small Design (Kabat,2008) and Memory Miner (Memory Miner, 2008), a home-based memory archive programme by John Fox. Both convey the memories and artefacts upon a mapped interface, using our desire to discover and connect with memories to navigate the narrative in a self-guided format. The Storytelling Memories project seeks to build on current research to formulate an interactive platform of memory immersion and experience within a museum environment. The project utilises a touch sensitive surface as an interface between the viewer and the memories. A physical controller, when placed near the interface surface will “unlock” contained memories, enabling an open-ended storytelling experience. The design encourages the user to interact directly with the memories to create their own dialogue, with the intention of developing a more emotive, personal connection to the Veteran.

As we pass the 6oth anniversary of the end of World War Two (WW2) historians are diligently collecting the memoirs of veterans to preserve for future generations. Public archives of memorabilia, letters, photos and artefacts, in the process of digitisation are complimenting the stone memorials of the past. This material culture of memory discusses human interaction. “The poor, the rich, the brave and the afraid, the hero and the deserter” (Moriarty, 1999, p 654). In contemporary museum culture this digitised information is presented in either web-based systems, or interactive kiosks. However, this approach to packaging memories and historical data often leaves out much of the depth of the topic information, skimming the surface of the knowledge conveyed. New solutions to memory and artefact display have been developed effectively in the Churchill room’s exhibit designed by Small Design (Kabat,2008) and Memory Miner (Memory Miner, 2008), a home-based memory archive programme by John Fox. Both convey the memories and artefacts upon a mapped interface, using our desire to discover and connect with memories to navigate the narrative in a self-guided format. The Storytelling Memories project seeks to build on current research to formulate an interactive platform of memory immersion and experience within a museum environment. The project utilises a touch sensitive surface as an interface between the viewer and the memories. A physical controller, when placed near the interface surface will “unlock” contained memories, enabling an open-ended storytelling experience. The design encourages the user to interact directly with the memories to create their own dialogue, with the intention of developing a more emotive, personal connection to the Veteran.

Sonic Activation is a multimedia performance-installation featuring sound sculptures, video projections, and performance with live electronics for solo and mixed ensembles. The work aims to unpack the nature in which we hear and interact with sound, space, and gesture. It is a project that recontextualizes the typical practice of performance and installation modes of music and art. The event uses 12 loudspeakers spaced around a gallery to create a densely layered sonic atmosphere that gently fluctuates and slowly evolves. Throughout the event, the audience is encouraged to freely navigate the gallery and experience the subtle changes in sound as they manifest in the space.