University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building / My research takes place against the backdrop of the design research debate ongoing since the 1990s. This debate highlighted the potential contributions that design artefacts and practice could make in a scholarly and professional research context. Despite numerous interesting possibilities, the discussions taking place in the design research community largely do not attend to contemporary Visual Communication Design practices and outcomes. In this research, I specifically focus on outcomes taking place at the margins of the Visual Communication field, which, though peripheral, are both admired and engaging, and what this research entitles ‘sticky’. Eleven projects are examined including, for example, one that collected the ephemera serving as the impromptu bookmarks in the books shelved in a university library, yielding the meticulous inventory of three hundred scraps of paper listed by Dewey decimal classification number. Despite their ‘stickiness’, I found that these outcomes are in fact only partially accounted for by key authorities in Visual Communication Design: despite a strong graphic language these projects are not concerned to convey an unmistakable message directed to a particular audience. Instead other discussions taking place in the sociological sub-field of Visual Research, which values the open-ended inquiry of the observable features of everyday subject matter, seemed more relevant. Ultimately however, in view of other expectations – a theoretical framework and sustained textual analysis – these ‘sticky’ projects similarly confound Visual Research. Consequently I realised that these ‘sticky’ projects are ‘homeless’ and, to indicate the partial explanations provided by Visual Communication Design and Visual Research, I tagged them ‘creative, investigative, visual projects’. This research thus sets out to derive a language to attend to such ‘sticky’ but ‘homeless’ creative, investigative, visual projects. I explored diverse literature and additional visual work – on topics such as the origins of the encyclopaedia, the tendency to make lists, psychological explanations for keeping personal collections, scientific visualizations, French Poetry, experimental travel, where to file UFOs in a picture archive, information management, the anatomy of the human heart, documentary photography and post–modern cartography. By bringing this interdisciplinary analysis to bear on the set of ‘sticky’, ‘homeless’, creative, investigative, visual projects, I derived a language of Collecting, Ordering and Positioning. From this tripartite model a design strategy was then extrapolated which I applied to produce an original creative, investigative, visual project, called BikeWork, which involved the participation of sixty-five cyclists and production of a series of three posters. This research concludes by speculating that the value of a creative, investigative, visual approach – vivid and systematic though fragmentary and approximate – is its agency. Accordingly I finally recommend that future ‘sticky’ researchers further explore the distinctive appeal of a vivid and fragmentary approach. THE ‘HOMELESS’, ‘STICKY’ DESIGN IN QUESTION Eleven key projects are discussed. Collecting Lipstick (Greene 2001) Why Are All These Books Orange? (Siegel 2004) The Last Periods of Some Books (magnified 4266%) (Buchanan-Smith 2003 [2002]) The Bicycle, Cross, and Desert (Weed 2005) A Coming Of Age Reading Checklist (McMullen 2004) The Readers Before Us (Waller & Beard 2002) Ordering Periodic Breakfast Table (Weese & Halpern 2001) Endcommercial: Reading the City (Böhm, Pizzaroni & Scheppe 2002) I [heart] [heart] (Daly 2007 [2005]) Positioning Newsmap (Weskamp 2004) NameVoyager (Wattenberg & Wattenberg 2004-2005)

This thesis considers the philosophical importance of the literary form of two aphoristic works of philosophy: Nietzsche’s Human, All Too Human and Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. Though both these German-speaking philosophers are widely thought to be aphorists, there is little consensus about what exactly is aphoristic about their individual or shared literary forms. While their philosophies and forms of aphorisms are quite different in practice, this thesis argues that Nietzsche’s and Wittgenstein’s modes of aphoristic expression are essential to their philosophical projects in these works. This thesis also explores the particular challenges of interpreting aphorisms in a philosophical context. Though aphorisms have various literary qualities, their status as discrete pieces of philosophy is of greatest interest here. Nietzsche and Wittgenstein match their piecework form of writing to various philosophical goals they set themselves. Their success as highly stylized, aphoristic philosophers is particularly remarkable in light of conventional philosophical writing, which is generally conducted in a much less “fragmented” form. By examining the styles, forms, structures, rhetorics, and interpretations of these two works, this thesis investigates the necessity and practice of their intriguing and difficult modes of expression.

This thesis considers the philosophical importance of the literary form of two aphoristic works of philosophy: Nietzsche’s Human, All Too Human and Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. Though both these German-speaking philosophers are widely thought to be aphorists, there is little consensus about what exactly is aphoristic about their individual or shared literary forms. While their philosophies and forms of aphorisms are quite different in practice, this thesis argues that Nietzsche’s and Wittgenstein’s modes of aphoristic expression are essential to their philosophical projects in these works. This thesis also explores the particular challenges of interpreting aphorisms in a philosophical context. Though aphorisms have various literary qualities, their status as discrete pieces of philosophy is of greatest interest here. Nietzsche and Wittgenstein match their piecework form of writing to various philosophical goals they set themselves. Their success as highly stylized, aphoristic philosophers is particularly remarkable in light of conventional philosophical writing, which is generally conducted in a much less “fragmented” form. By examining the styles, forms, structures, rhetorics, and interpretations of these two works, this thesis investigates the necessity and practice of their intriguing and difficult modes of expression.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building / My research takes place against the backdrop of the design research debate ongoing since the 1990s. This debate highlighted the potential contributions that design artefacts and practice could make in a scholarly and professional research context. Despite numerous interesting possibilities, the discussions taking place in the design research community largely do not attend to contemporary Visual Communication Design practices and outcomes. In this research, I specifically focus on outcomes taking place at the margins of the Visual Communication field, which, though peripheral, are both admired and engaging, and what this research entitles ‘sticky’. Eleven projects are examined including, for example, one that collected the ephemera serving as the impromptu bookmarks in the books shelved in a university library, yielding the meticulous inventory of three hundred scraps of paper listed by Dewey decimal classification number. Despite their ‘stickiness’, I found that these outcomes are in fact only partially accounted for by key authorities in Visual Communication Design: despite a strong graphic language these projects are not concerned to convey an unmistakable message directed to a particular audience. Instead other discussions taking place in the sociological sub-field of Visual Research, which values the open-ended inquiry of the observable features of everyday subject matter, seemed more relevant. Ultimately however, in view of other expectations – a theoretical framework and sustained textual analysis – these ‘sticky’ projects similarly confound Visual Research. Consequently I realised that these ‘sticky’ projects are ‘homeless’ and, to indicate the partial explanations provided by Visual Communication Design and Visual Research, I tagged them ‘creative, investigative, visual projects’. This research thus sets out to derive a language to attend to such ‘sticky’ but ‘homeless’ creative, investigative, visual projects. I explored diverse literature and additional visual work – on topics such as the origins of the encyclopaedia, the tendency to make lists, psychological explanations for keeping personal collections, scientific visualizations, French Poetry, experimental travel, where to file UFOs in a picture archive, information management, the anatomy of the human heart, documentary photography and post–modern cartography. By bringing this interdisciplinary analysis to bear on the set of ‘sticky’, ‘homeless’, creative, investigative, visual projects, I derived a language of Collecting, Ordering and Positioning. From this tripartite model a design strategy was then extrapolated which I applied to produce an original creative, investigative, visual project, called BikeWork, which involved the participation of sixty-five cyclists and production of a series of three posters. This research concludes by speculating that the value of a creative, investigative, visual approach – vivid and systematic though fragmentary and approximate – is its agency. Accordingly I finally recommend that future ‘sticky’ researchers further explore the distinctive appeal of a vivid and fragmentary approach. THE ‘HOMELESS’, ‘STICKY’ DESIGN IN QUESTION Eleven key projects are discussed. Collecting Lipstick (Greene 2001) Why Are All These Books Orange? (Siegel 2004) The Last Periods of Some Books (magnified 4266%) (Buchanan-Smith 2003 [2002]) The Bicycle, Cross, and Desert (Weed 2005) A Coming Of Age Reading Checklist (McMullen 2004) The Readers Before Us (Waller & Beard 2002) Ordering Periodic Breakfast Table (Weese & Halpern 2001) Endcommercial: Reading the City (Böhm, Pizzaroni & Scheppe 2002) I [heart] [heart] (Daly 2007 [2005]) Positioning Newsmap (Weskamp 2004) NameVoyager (Wattenberg & Wattenberg 2004-2005)

Abstract It is now widely recognized that promotionalism permeates scholarly discourse. Yet a systematic account of rhetorical and linguistic means, which researchers across disciplines deploy to achieve this effect, is still to be developed. The present thesis attempts to contribute to the investigation of strategies and exponents of the promotional (meta)discourse in the humanities. In particular, it compares and contrasts research articles in language and literary studies published in North American academic journals during 2001-2006. This inquiry demonstrates that in both disciplines scholars utilize two rhetorical strategies to publicize their work: first, positive evaluation of one’s own study and of those investigations in which the current study is grounded and second, negative evaluation of dissenting views. A combination of both strategies is used to widen the gap between one’s contribution and (erroneous) alternative treatments. Among lexicogrammatical and discourse devices employed in both disciplines are evaluative lexis reinforced by derivational and inflectional morphology, coordination, comment clauses, personal pronouns, lexical cohesion, and discourse chunks sequencing. Distribution of promotional elements across article sections and moves in the two disciplines, however, differs. On the whole, the thesis reconfirms the advantage of specificity in teaching academic literacies advocated by many applied linguists and provides actual patterns that can be incorporated into writing curriculum.

Abstract It is now widely recognized that promotionalism permeates scholarly discourse. Yet a systematic account of rhetorical and linguistic means, which researchers across disciplines deploy to achieve this effect, is still to be developed. The present thesis attempts to contribute to the investigation of strategies and exponents of the promotional (meta)discourse in the humanities. In particular, it compares and contrasts research articles in language and literary studies published in North American academic journals during 2001-2006. This inquiry demonstrates that in both disciplines scholars utilize two rhetorical strategies to publicize their work: first, positive evaluation of one’s own study and of those investigations in which the current study is grounded and second, negative evaluation of dissenting views. A combination of both strategies is used to widen the gap between one’s contribution and (erroneous) alternative treatments. Among lexicogrammatical and discourse devices employed in both disciplines are evaluative lexis reinforced by derivational and inflectional morphology, coordination, comment clauses, personal pronouns, lexical cohesion, and discourse chunks sequencing. Distribution of promotional elements across article sections and moves in the two disciplines, however, differs. On the whole, the thesis reconfirms the advantage of specificity in teaching academic literacies advocated by many applied linguists and provides actual patterns that can be incorporated into writing curriculum.

This thesis contributes to developing an evidence-based toolkit for designers when designing products based on theoretical inputs from human-factors study. Theoretical and developmental knowledge, relevant to the design of warning and risk communications and the area of design for child safety, is translated into support for reflections to practitioners. The risk management framework derived from this study aims to increase awareness of the implications of the aspects involved and as a reference point for groups involved in design for child safety. The thesis covers a shift from risk communications with children to information about children (including physical dimensions etc.) for designers. The final output is a collation of this knowledge base and some conceptual tools that can be applied to a specific design context whether that context be in risk communications or the area of general safety design considerations. Designers with little experience in managing design for children can benefit from this study when deciding on their design strategies. This reflective support is the result of a study of risk communication as a complex and unique activity in which various groups and domains are involved. The process of building an understanding started with an analysis of the literature in the field and with the direct experience of the researcher, who worked directly within ergonomics as part of a design-innovation team. The framework presented in this thesis follows a more structured approach to risk communications. It is conceived as an aid to help practitioners reflect on the implications each stage of the development process has on the experience of developing appropriate risk communications and appropriate products. In this way, it is thought of as a dynamic and flexible reference that can be adapted by design researchers when planning and coordinating design to suit different design situations. The use of this tool in the childsafety, design, and study communities would provide validation of the effectiveness of the framework and its continuous improvement. The purpose of this study is twofold: to contribute to study and practice with the aim of providing fundamental guidance to designers. The research detailed in this thesis brings readers up-to-date with the current literature on theories of risk communications. It then highlights methodologies, tools, guidelines and requirements for risk communication advances in study and practice. A framework for risk communication for young children has been developed out of a resource review based on previous work in the area by McLaughlin and Mayhorn, (2014). The information accumulated in this study has been used to develop initial prototype tools for designers who are considering young children. The developed platform supports practitioners from two different angles: theoretical and practical. Designers engaged in the core activity of design for child safety need methods that support the consideration of ergonomics and other product requirements, such as risk communications. This study contributes to developing methods and tools that can be used by designers and other relevant groups when designing risk communications for young children. Available knowledge is collated and integrated into the framework with the intention that it will be developed further throughout the thesis to consider effective use within the design cycle. This study aims to contribute to child safety by providing the first development of tools/decision supports aimed at designers who are designing for young children and are accordingly evaluating human-factors methods in design for child safety. The aim of this study is to gather the requirements of a collaborative design tool for use by industrial designers, engineers and other groups involved in design for child safety. This thesis aims to address these needs. When considering the needs, limitations and capabilities, ( mental model ) of the intended users (i.e., children), important aspects such as safety have been considered. The general need for support methods are addressed through a review of the safety, design and ergonomics literature. After this, empirical study through interviews and observations is used to outline some problem areas: the development and implementation of human-factors methods in design, lack of available resources and inaccessibility of data. Three empirical studies were conducted to meet the requirements of this study: Study 1 in Chapter 4 involves documentary analysis of existing models and methods, Study 2 in Chapter 5 involves formal interviews with designers (N = 30), and Study 3 in Chapter 7 involves an online survey for initial feedback about the prototype-persona (N = 50) respondents. The first section outlines the study questions. It discusses the outputs of the three main studies contained within this thesis.

This thesis presents a study of how identification, according to Kenneth Burke's theory, can be observed in the media-related practices promoted by the cyber-activist collective Anonymous. Identification is the capacity of community-building through the use of shared interests. Burke affirms that, as human beings are essentially social, identification is the very aim of any human interaction. Cyber-activism deeply relies on this capacity to promote and legitimise its campaigns. In the case of Anonymous, the collective became extremely popular and is now a frequent presence even in street protests, usually organised online, around the world. Here, I argue that this power was possible through the use of identification, which helped attract a large number of individuals to the collective. Anonymous was particularly skilled in its capacity to create an ideology for each campaign, which worked well to set up a perfect enemy who should be fought against by any people, despite their demographic or social status. Other forms of identification were also present and important. Although it is impossible to measure how many people or what kind of people Anonymous has been attracting, the presence of identification as a strong phenomenon is undeniable, since the collective is now one of the most famous cyber-activist organisations.

The modern city is the cradle of human activity, and through it humankind has both the ability to strip the planet of life and the ability to create thriving social and ecological systems. Strategic and interactive urbanisms that nurture multifarious ways of being in the world need to be formulated to save the natural world from ecological disaster. This paper traces the genealogy of the city from the unexplored wilderness to the to the conflux of technology and nature on city streets. Following the work of Neil Smith and William Cronon, this paper finds the roots of the urban system in the social construction of nature. Considering Martin Heidegger’s thoughts on technology along with David Harvey’s analysis of the urban system, it argues that city-building is a technē, an art which allows humankind to be at home with the world. As a part of this project, an interactive web application for gathering images and stories about urban spaces was created to provide a tool for citizen urbanism. The application, The Department of Civic Images, engages people in a dialogical urbanism that encourages citizens to see their environment as an intricate and valuable life network.

Modern system-on-chip consists of an increasing number of highly complex modules. The quality of the interfaces and throughput of communication connections between these components are crucial to the performance of the system, since communication is often the main bottleneck in modern application domains like multimedia. In this thesis, a bus-based communication architecture synthesis approach is proposed. Given the result of hardware/software partitioning and pipelined scheduling, the proposed approach constructs a communication topology which meets the constraints. We begin with the minimum number of AHB and an APB, each time we add an AHB and do some transformation such as merging or setting local buses. Our goal is to find the bus architecture which has minimum area. We use integer programming to construct a bus architecture each time, until the bus architecture with the minimum area are found. By this approach, we can save a lot of time required to design the communication architecture manually.