Malmö University
The School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University opened in 1998. This new green field site gathers researchers with a mixed background including computer science, informatics, electrical engineering, interaction design, industrial design, architecture, media studies, music, film and visual art. It is deliberately shaped as a melting pot for research and education in art and technology, a “digital Bauhaus”, with an interdisciplinary design orientation and a strong focus on information technology and digital media. There are undergraduate programs in Interaction Design, Physical and Virtual Design, Media and Communication Studies, Performing Arts Technology. There are also graduate-level programs for Interaction Design and for Creative Producers, and a doctorate program in Design and Digital Media. Today the School of Arts and Communication has about 600 students and some 50 faculty members, but is rapidly expanding.
Research is organised in interdisciplinary and design-oriented studios and focuses on narrative and communication, space and virtuality, and creative environments and learning. Research is carried out in close co-operation with industry and other universities in the Swedish-Danish Öresund region. The researchers at the school have gathered from all over Scandinavia and many other European countries.
Research is organised in interdisciplinary and design-oriented studios and focuses on narrative and communication, space and virtuality, and creative environments and learning. Research is carried out in close co-operation with industry and other universities in the Swedish-Danish Öresund region. The researchers at the school have gathered from all over Scandinavia and many other European countries.
Participation in the PaperWorks project will be carried out by the research studio on Creative Environments and Learning. This studio focuses on technology augmented environments for collaborative creative activities, by addressing the fundamental intrinsic interplay between interactive media technologies, space (including architecture, industrial design and set design) and activity. Members of this research group have a played a major role in the shaping of the Scandinavian approach to systems design, and have in several interdisciplinary projects contributed to the international development in the research fields of human computer interaction, participatory design and computer supported co-operative work. The Creative Environments and Learning Studio has a long experience in user oriented design in health care, most notably the project Day-to-day Learning Within Healthcare, a succession of the KLIV project that resulted in the Swedish Users Award 2004.These projects include:
- The DEMOS-project (1975-1980). One of the first research projects on user participation in systems design in the context of democratisation of work. Focus was on design methods and strategies for participation and on education strategies for development of local resources.
- The UTOPIA-project (1980-1985). The internationally well known Scandinavian research and development project on skill enhancing computer-based tools for text- and image processing. Focus was on "design-by-doing" design methods for creative co-operation between skilled users and professional designers. The project also explored new ways for co-operation between university based research groups and vendors developing application systems.
- The IT Quality-project (1994-1997) that dealt with the profession of IT design and the ability to design for quality-in-use. As part of this quality approach the project developed, as an early WWW application, an international, virtual design studio and exhibition on "best practice" IT-in-use on the
Internet. - The Envisionment Workshop (1995-1997). A research project that shaped a design laboratory where organisations could come, and in a participatory way, build up visions of future work and technology. The tools and techniques used included full-scale modelling of working areas, mock-ups of tools, prototypes of human-computer interaction, interactive 3D animation and virtual reality simulations of working in the future workplace.
- The ATELIER project (2000-2004). The project (http://atelier.k3.mah.se) made a contribution to our understanding of inspirational forms of learning and the creation of augmented educational environments in design education. The inspirational learning environments envisioned are physical places, like the architecture or interaction design studio.