David Shields, Chairman of the Department of Graphic Design at Virgnia Commonwealth University, invited me to teach in Richmond, VA for a few days.
On Feb. 11, 2013, I presented a public lecture on my favelization research. I also taught a 3-day graduate seminar on digital design research. During the seminar I:
- conducted a "hackathon" with students using the platforms: Twitter, Wordpress, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, portfolio sites (e.g. Behance), shopping websites (e.g. Amazon, Fab, Etsy), and Tumblr. Via GoogleDoc, all students in the class dedicated 7 minutes to each other's "mission." Searches had to be conduted using only the one platform chosen (no broad Google/Bing searches were allowed)
- discussed methods of conducting digital design research
- offered overview of methods of archiving research (e.g how do we save material that is solely found on the web?)
- discussed what types of information to make public and what to keep private as you research. Understanding how blogs, Twitter, and Pinterest can be used in both ways
- methods of archiving images and the type of information that needs to be saved
- tricks on how to scavenge for information using social media
- discussed professional tools for designers on existing social media platforms
Poster by Sarah AlFalah, graphic design graduate student at Virgnia Commonwealth University.
