1st Intl Conf on Smart Design (Nov 2011, UK)

Location: Nottingham Trent University, UK
Dates: 22 – 24 Nov 2011
Deadline for abstracts submission: 15 Apr 2011
Website: http://www.ntu.ac.uk/smartdesign

The introduction of new materials and rapidly changing technologies is assigned huge and unprecedented importance in the economy of the twenty-first century. Good product designs merge materials, technology, and hardware into a unified user experience; one where the technology recedes into the background and people benefit from the capabilities and experiences available.

By focusing on functional gain, critical awareness and emotive connection, even the most multifaceted and complex technology can be made to feel straightforward and become an integral part of daily life. Researchers, designers and developers must understand how to progress or appropriate the right technical and human knowledge to inform their innovations.

Diagramming and Spatial Hypertext Software (DASHS) workshop (Jun 2011, Eindhoven)

Dates: June 6, 2011
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands (to precede ACM Hypertext 2011)
Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/designengineering/research/themes/knowledgeandinformationmanagement/dashs
Deadline for submission: UPDATED 24 Apr 2011

Are you a visual thinker?

Do you document decisions and organise project information by drawing maps or diagrams on the computer? Are you keen to share this method and learn from others with similar interests? We cordially invite submissions for short talks and demos from researchers, software developers and professionals in industry who have developed concept mapping methods or tools (also mind maps, dialogue maps, spatial hypertext, diagrams, etc…) to augment everyday work.

8th Intl Conf of the German Society for Design Theory & Research (Oct 2011, Germany)

Theme: WHO DESIGNS DESIGN? Practice, theory and history of participatory design
Venue: Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd
Dates: October 21-22, 2011
Website: http://www.dgtf.de/tagung2011/english
Deadline for submissions: UPDATED 23 May 2011

The EIGHTH ANNUAL DGTF CONFERENCE would like to combine and present contributions on the practice, theory and history of participatory design, and discuss them in reference to current design research. Within this context, projects from a research-based design practice are also especially welcome.

MPCA 2011 Conf: Ethnography and Popular Culture (Oct 2011, Milwaukee)

Website: http://www.mpcaaca.org
Dates: October 14-16, 2011
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Hilton Milwaukee City Center
Deadline for submissions: April 30, 2011

The Ethnography & Popular Culture area of the MPCA invites proposals (or abstracts) for papers on any aspect of the intersection of ethnography and popular culture.  All topics, approaches, and perspectives related to ethnography and popular culture are welcome.  For example, papers may address: ethnographic methods in popular culture studies; popular culture in ethnographic research; and/or the relationship between ethnographic studies and popular culture studies.  Papers may include presentations of ethnographic research involving popular culture, and/or address theoretical, methodological, or historical issues related to ethnography and popular culture.

Knowledge/Culture/Social Change Intl Conf (Nov 2011, Sydney)

Knowledge/Culture/Social Change International Conference
Dates: 7-9 November 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Deadline for proposals/abstracts: 3 June 2011
Website: http://www.uws.edu.au/centre_for_cultural_research/ccr/events_and_news/kcsc_conference

The humanities and social sciences today struggle to come to terms with the explosion of knowledge in increasingly complex, diverse and networked societies. Which forms of knowledge work best for managing, challenging orengaging with rapid social change? Do new kinds of information play anincreasing role in economic and social management? Do these changes raisequestions about what ‘knowledge’ is, or is to become? What are the new rulesfor engagement between academic and other knowledge practices and institutions?

Workshops: Design & The Social (Apr-Jun 2011, Denmark)

Venue: The Danish Design School, Philip de Langes Allé 10, 1435 Copenhagen, Denmark
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 30 March 2011
Contact and submissions: designsocial2011@gmail.com

The seminar series consists of three seminars. Each seminar will consist of lectures by one or two invited speakers and a plenary discussion followed by a workshop. A compilation of relevant literature will be disseminated before each seminar – and it is expected that all participants have read before each seminar.

To apply for participation in the seminar series, each participant must submit a short abstract of no more than 300 words. The abstract should position your research in relation to the seminar and include a statement of interest, i.e. how and why the participant expects the seminar series to be relevant with regards to her thesis project or research agenda. The abstract will serve as an application.

For applicants who are accepted for participation: We ask of you to prepare and submit an extended abstract of 1-3 pages before the first seminar. In addition to the extended abstract, we ask you to submit a short description of your PhD project, as well as questions that you would like to ask and discuss within the seminars.

Special Issues of Iridescent

“As one of the guest editors of Iridescent (the online journal published by ICOGRADA), I was asked to propose two themes for a ‘Call for Papers’. I have chosen to focus specifically on the following themes:

Theme 1: Communication Design and Public Spaces

Theme 2: Facing the Future: Postgraduate Research in Communication  Design

Full details of the themes and process of submission may be found under ‘Current Themes’ at http://iridescent.icograda.org/.

I’d appreciate if you could please circulate to your colleagues. It would be terrific to get a wide range of submissions which provide a breadth of approaches and perspectives on these subjects.“

Prof. Teal Triggs

Visual Activism and Social Justice Conference 2012 (Aug 2012, Buenos Aires)

ISA/TG05 Call for Session/Workshop Organizers
Dates: 1-4 Aug 2012
Contact: Regev Nathansohn
Proposal deadline: 15 May 2011

Under the auspices of the International Sociological Association Forum on Social Justice and Democratization, the Visual Sociology Thematic Group (TG05) will hold its mid-term conference August 1-4, 2012, in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will focus its session on Visual Activism and Social Justice.

In our sessions, we would like to both create the opportunity for a sociological discussion of the meaning of Visual Activism and Social Justice, and at the same time endeavour to democratize the ways our knowledge and practices are produced and shared.

2nd Intl Symp on Culture, Creativity, and Interaction Design (July 2011, Newcastle UK)

Website: http://ccid2.wordpress.com/
Location: Northumbria University, Newcastle UK
Dates: July 4-5, 2011
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 1 May 2011

Held in conjunction with BCS HCI 2011, CCID2 is a two-day symposium cultural approaches to HCI and interaction design, emphasizing the intersections between critical theory, the arts, creativity, aesthetics, and felt experience and computing.

In the past decade, HCI¹s cultural research agenda has stabilized as an important sub-domain of the field. Approaches include disciplinary inputs beyond the social sciences, including literary theory, critical theory, aesthetic philosophy, feminism, performance theory, film studies, hermeneutics, postmodernism, fine arts, queer theory, and post-colonialism. Following on the success of 2006′s First International Symposium on Culture, Creativity and Interaction Design (CCID), CCID2 seek to strengthen the connections among the diverse disciplines contributing to culture, creativity, and interaction design research. It will explore critical and reflective approaches to the design and analysis of interactive technology.

Modular Robotis cubelets Packaging Design Competition (Apr 2011)

Deadline: 15 April 2011

Modular Robotics is getting ready to launch the first Cubelets kits, and the product deserves a brilliant, sustainable, and thoughtful packaging design.  We’ve only been out of school for a couple of years and we know that the best work comes from hungry, motivated designers who aren’t stuck in a corporate rut.  So, a competition.  Design the packaging for our Cubelets Standard Kit, and enter your design to win prize money and recognition.