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

demonstrated a need for greater understanding of how practitioners are facing
the creative possibilities that visual computing offers in challenging the way that
art and design practitioners can work (see section 2.7).
There is an increased recognition of the impact of creative practitioners in the
wider economy (see section 1.2). The cost of computer-based tools has
decreased and specialised engineering training is no longer a precondition of
their use. This has resulted in increased access to digital technology for a more
diverse range of practitioners. Tools based on the use of cheap, readily available
computer equipment are enabling and accelerating new forms of innovation by
‘lead-users’ (see section 2.7.6). This has created new business models and
cultural opportunities (see sections 2.7 and 2.9). Online social networks are
transforming how objects can be designed, manufactured, and distributed. For
example, an Open Source approach has been applied to physical things that
allow users to improve and redistribute objects as computer models and sets of
instructions for their construction (see section 2.7.7). An intrinsic aspect of this
is the development of new ways of approaching practice, including a
reformulation of the relationship between consumers and producers (see
section 2.9.5). The contextual review identified forms of art and design practice
that can be described as ‘hybrid’. This required the definition of terms to
discuss the relationships between these ‘hybrid’ forms and the objects produced
by them. This in turn suggested a need for a more systematic evaluation of this
cross-disciplinary work.
6.2 Methodology
The research applied a methodology designed to create a clearer understanding
of the work of individual practitioners with an established digital practice. This
focused on objects produced over the last ten years but placed particular
attention on work that is being created by a form of practice that can be
characterised as a ‘hybrid’ product of both art and design disciplines. The study
made use of a systematic analysis of archived data to reveal the underlying
structure of this field by grouping objects into indicative classifications. This
formed the basis of a set of terms to describe these types of objects (see section
4.2.1). A curatorial framework for a public exhibition and symposium was
developed around these types of objects (see section 4.4). Primary research in
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