John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

which side of a category distinction an object was on was subject to issues of
personal taste or prejudice. In the ACOT project the five phases were analysed
and presented as 3 general stages: survival, mastery and impact (see Table 9).
By compacting the five phases into three stages the researcher was able to
maintain a greater objectivity.
Technological Adoption Stage Characteristics
Entry-Adoption 1
The basic ‘built-in’ capabilities of
computer-based design and
fabrication tools are made use of.
Although the methods of working have
changed, the outputs remain derivative
of conventional subject domains.
Adaptation 2
The use of computer-based design and
fabrication tools has become
consistent with their application
within a conventional industrial
context. Productivity and efficiency
are the primary contributions made by
the use of the technologies.
Appropriation-Invention 3
Innovative applications of computerbased
design and fabrication tools
beyond their application within a
conventional industrial context. The
practitioner’s practice can be defined
by the use of computer-based
technologies. Discontinuities from
conventional subject domains are
more likely through the practitioner’s
willingness and ability to experiment.
Table 9: The phases of technological integration
An example of a work that illustrates the ‘Entry-Adoption’ stage would be the
untitled project by Angie To for the exhibition ‘Intersculpt:Ohio 01’. To was
invited to contribute to this exhibition by the researcher who also facilitated the
computer-based component of the project. At the time To had been working on
a series of slip cast ceramic objects (titled ‘Risibles’) that she had been coating
with rubber. She had no previous experience of using computers in her work.
To began this new work by making some pen drawings of shapes. These were
scanned as 2D raster images and imported into the 3D modelling application
Rhinoceros®. The drawings were then ‘traced’ by plotting nurbs curves as u-
shaped sections (simply by clicking on points along the line and allowing the
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