Papers by Veronica Barnes
The journal for transdisciplinary research in Southern Africa, Apr 11, 2024
The industrial design context has for some time been acknowledged to depend heavily on the values... more The industrial design context has for some time been acknowledged to depend heavily on the values of design culture as 'practicality, ingenuity, empathy, and a concern for appropriateness'. 1 Until recently, little substance has been given to the notion of 'empathy', not even in the updated Design Thinking, 2 where Cross discusses Designing Together 2 and How Designers work: Collaboration 2. Zingoni 3 describes the 'scarce amount of literature' on empathy, despite its importance in society and design fields. The persistent thinness of discussion about the interactions between designers and users of their products reflects the traditional 'design for' model; the implication is that the designer is the expert, and designs for a passive, grateful user of the product. 4 This approach has formed the foundation of product design practice, largely since its inception.
Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference, 2020
This article draws inspiration from two concepts, which initially appear to be at odds with each ... more This article draws inspiration from two concepts, which initially appear to be at odds with each other. The first refers to the impact that plastics use has had on the environment and human health, while the second explores the prevalence and continued increase in the use of plastic materials. The manufacturing of plastic packaging will be reviewed to identify appropriate intervention. This article focuses on the future development of PET packaging in South Africa, exploring current literature and legislation which aid in the holistic development of the plastic packaging value chain.
South African journal of higher education, 2011
Many postgraduate interdisciplinary research (IDR) candidates in the applied disciplines work acr... more Many postgraduate interdisciplinary research (IDR) candidates in the applied disciplines work across two or more traditional areas of study. Such candidates often spend considerable time on knowledge-building activities outside their home (or undergraduate) disciplines; IDR candidates venture into new fields and are exposed to the cultures and values of different disciplines. In this study, IDR candidates, from different applied disciplines, were selected as case studies. The study was delimited to a range of interdisciplinary permutations across the 'hard' and 'soft' applied disciplines (e.g., engineering management, health informatics). The focus of this article is postgraduate students' experiences in doing an IDR study for a Master's thesis. In the article we explore the challenges faced by candidates, with a view to minimising these, given the contribution that IDR can make to a developing society.
In higher education, it is imperative to equip students with both simple and complex skills requi... more In higher education, it is imperative to equip students with both simple and complex skills required for their future professions. Skill required of a professional Industrial Designer includes the ability to find creative and suitable solution to what are often complex problems, as well as more general problem solving and decision making. In essence, that is the true core of design as a discourse as stated by Heskett (2002:4): “While the influence of context and circumstances may be considerable, the human factor is present in decisions taken at all levels in design practice.” As decision-making and problem-solving are key elements of a professional industrial designer’s practice, these elements should be developed and encouraged as part of the tertiary programme. The trend towards ‘learner-driver investigation’ and research as well as interactive mixed methodologies, have facilitated many projects requiring thinking skills. But does the learning environment support and develop thes...
Journal of pedagogic development, 2015
The challenges of the Higher Education landscape are the result of massification and globalisatio... more The challenges of the Higher Education landscape are the result of massification and globalisation. The general lack of preparedness in students and lack of academic literacy means that plagiarism is increasingly a challenge in written assignments. In the South African context, this is amplified, as students may be studying in their third or fourth language. Relying on students’ affinity for visual learning, digital storytelling was first used as an alternative assessment method (to a written assignment) in 2011. This paper is a reflection on a lecturer’s journey with digital storytelling, beginning with the first project in the Industrial Design programme at a University of Technology in South Africa. The short movie clips, known as digital stories, were created with off-the-shelf equipment and techniques, and any open source software available to the students. By evaluating the project using the lens of Authentic Learning, some of the benefits and challenges of using this alter...
Extracted from the Sixth International DEFSA Conference Proceedings: by the Design Education Foru... more Extracted from the Sixth International DEFSA Conference Proceedings: by the Design Education Forum of Southern Africa (www.defsa.org.za)
Plagiarism is one of the major challenges in undergraduate students' written assignments. Against... more Plagiarism is one of the major challenges in undergraduate students' written assignments. Against a background of general under preparedness of students entering higher education, poor academic literacy levels, limited knowledge about plagiarism and an increasing affinity among students towards visual learning resources, this paper reports on a research study that investigated the potential of digital storytelling as an alternative assessment method in a first year Industrial Design course, at
South African Journal of Higher Education, 2016
Digital storytelling has entered Higher Education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing students di... more Digital storytelling has entered Higher Education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing students digital literacies in digitally saturated contexts. Increasing access to freely available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This paper reports on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and student backgrounds. Pierre Bourdieus notions of field, habitus and capital as well as Tara Yossos community cultural wealth were applied to understand students perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project. We argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: 1. technical barriers are lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned by or easily accessible to students, 2. that the appropriate model is chosen based on these students social and cultural capital, and 3. that the community cultural wealth of students is considered in curriculum delivery.
There is no doubt that the role of product designers has changed considerably, not least with the... more There is no doubt that the role of product designers has changed considerably, not least with the rise of human-centred design. While Papanek’s 1971 “Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change” seemed radical at the time, his ideas seem entirely at home in the 21 century, including his call to adopt more social responsibility in design. These views are echoed in the contemporary findings of professionals and researchers associated with ICSID, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. The focus has shifted, from the designer as the expert to the user, or community, as the expert in their own environment; and Co-design, Participatory design, and Universal Design are but a few examples of such people-focussed design approaches. And, as design is increasingly used as a tool for social development, the exposure of designers to vulnerable individuals and communities has increased. While research fields such as the social sciences have a long history of d...
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development
South African Journal of Higher Education, 2014
Digital storytelling has entered higher education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing students’ ... more Digital storytelling has entered higher education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing students’ digital literacies in digitally saturated contexts. Increasing access to freely
available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This article reports
on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students’
perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and student backgrounds. Bourdieu’s (1986) notions of field, habitus and capital as well
as Yosso’s (2005, 70) idea of ‘community cultural wealth’ were applied to understand students’ perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project.
The authors argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students
with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: (1) technical barriers are lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned
by or easily accessible to students; (2) that the appropriate model is chosen based on these students’ social and cultural capital; and (3) that the community cultural wealth of
students is considered in curriculum delivery.
Plagiarism is one of the major challenges in undergraduate students' written assignments. Against... more Plagiarism is one of the major challenges in undergraduate students' written assignments. Against a background of general under preparedness of students entering higher education, poor academic literacy levels, limited knowledge about plagiarism and an increasing affinity among students towards visual learning resources, this paper reports on a research study that investigated the potential of digital storytelling as an alternative assessment method in a first year Industrial Design course, at a University of Technology, South Africa. In this course, Technology 1, digital storytelling was used for student assessment instead of a paper-based essay. Digital stories are usually short movie clips, created with off-the-shelf equipment and techniques, combining text, images, videos, music and narration. Drawing from the principles of authentic learning, the researchers investigated benefits and challenges of using digital stories as alternative assessment method. Qualitative methods of collecting data were used, which included focus group interviews with the students and in-depth interviews with lecturers. Findings of the study showed that digital storytelling promoted authentic learning, which led to high levels of student engagement with their studies and hence meaningful understanding of the subject matter. However, findings also revealed the importance of providing support to students in developing a high-quality, polished end product. More research is needed to explore the potential of transferring this highly independent, student-led project into other disciplines.
Global Innovation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2014
Du Preez, V. and Barnes, V. 2014. Access to Learn: Using Universal Design and technology to facil... more Du Preez, V. and Barnes, V. 2014. Access to Learn: Using Universal Design and technology to facilitate access to learning. The 1st Universal Design Africa conference, 19 August 2014, Cape Town, South Africa.
There is no doubt that the role of product designers has changed considerably, not least with the... more There is no doubt that the role of product designers has changed considerably, not least with the rise of human-centred design. While Papanek’s 1971 “Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change” seemed radical at the time, his ideas seem entirely at home in the 21st century, including his call to adopt more social responsibility in design. These views are echoed in the contemporary findings of professionals and researchers associated with ICSID, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. The focus has shifted, from the designer as the expert to the user, or community, as the expert in their own environment; and Co-design, Participatory design, and Universal Design are but a few examples of such people-focussed design approaches. And, as design is increasingly used as a tool for social development, the exposure of designers to vulnerable individuals and communities has increased. While research fields such as the social sciences have a long history of developing a code of ethics that is explicit, younger fields such as human-centred design and design research do not. While design and design research have adopted many social sciences methodologies (such as ethnography), the issue of ethics and accountability in design remains largely undiscussed.
The increasing importance of understanding the user in the design process is a key feature of human- centred design. Empathy is often described as “stepping into someone’s shoes”, however the full value of this process is described in Empathic Design. This deep understanding of the user’s circumstances is temporary, and the designer then steps back out, with an enriched understanding of the user, enabling better design solutions. However, the interactions with the user - in order to gain this deep understanding - can also raise ethical concerns at stages during the design process.
The aim of this position paper is to explore the interaction moments, between designer and user, or designer and community within the design process. The Double Diamond design process will be analysed with a view to looking at characteristic tools in each stage, in order to reveal activities that require empathetic considerations. The contribution of this research will be an empathy map of the double diamond design process, with ethical implications. The significance of the analysis will be to highlight ethical concerns for individual designers, design researchers as well as those in Design Education.
There is increasing critique that students are not ready for industry work because Higher Educati... more There is increasing critique that students are not ready for industry work because Higher Education is teaching theory and not linking theory to practice . Plagiarism is one of the major challenges in undergraduate students' written assignments. Against this background, and with the increasing affinity among students towards visual learning resources , this chapter reports on a research study that investigated the potential of digital storytelling as an alternative assessment method. This study piloted in 2011 in a first year Industrial Design course, at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), in Cape Town, South Africa. This chapter will provide insights into the context of the study, as well as discussing the need for change in the current assessment methods in the design discipline. The literature review will describe current theories and practices in Industrial Design, studio-based learning and the challenges of this environment.
Digital storytelling has entered higher education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing
students’ d... more Digital storytelling has entered higher education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing
students’ digital literacies in digitally saturated contexts. Increasing access to freely
available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies
have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This article reports
on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both
quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students’
perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and
student backgrounds. Bourdieu’s (1986) notions of field, habitus and capital as well
as Yosso’s (2005, 70) idea of ‘community cultural wealth’ were applied to understand
students’ perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project.
The authors argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are
potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students
with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: (1) technical barriers are
lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned
by or easily accessible to students; (2) that the appropriate model is chosen based on
these students’ social and cultural capital; and (3) that the community cultural wealth of
students is considered in curriculum delivery.
This paper explores the perceptions of senior Industrial Design students about group work, and do... more This paper explores the perceptions of senior Industrial Design students about group work, and documents findings from a workshop with students to frame the issue. Skills required of a
professional Industrial Designer include the ability to frame issues, explore creative and contextually relevant solutions, and critically assess possibilities and potential solutions. Democratic practices can give students a stronger hand in shaping their future. These
practices can promote democratic values and stimulate the learning (Mathews, 2014:119) that allows students to combat many of their own problems. In design education, focus is placed on collaborative projects and group work scenarios to
facilitate and develop students’ interpersonal and communication skills, including active listening and democratic decision-making. These skills are key in enabling empathetic and active participation between designer and community members (or users). The goal of this case study was two-fold; firstly to develop student issue-framing skills for application in community based projects, and secondly to identify and explore group work issues within the
student community. Findings from the workshop informed the creation of an Issue Framework which can be used as the impetus for further research into the impact of democratic practices
and deliberative dialogues in design education.
Many postgraduate interdisciplinary research (IDR) candidates in the applied disciplines work acr... more Many postgraduate interdisciplinary research (IDR) candidates in the applied disciplines work across two or more traditional areas of study. Such candidates often spend considerable time on knowledge-building activities outside their home (or undergraduate) disciplines; IDR candidates venture into new fields and are exposed to the cultures and values of different disciplines. In this study, IDR candidates, from different applied disciplines, were selected as case studies. The study was delimited to a range of interdisciplinary permutations across the 'hard' and 'soft' applied disciplines (e.g., engineering management, health informatics). The focus of this article is postgraduate students' experiences in doing an IDR study for a Master's thesis. In the article we explore the challenges faced by candidates, with a view to minimising these, given the contribution that IDR can make to a developing society.
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Papers by Veronica Barnes
available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This article reports
on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students’
perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and student backgrounds. Bourdieu’s (1986) notions of field, habitus and capital as well
as Yosso’s (2005, 70) idea of ‘community cultural wealth’ were applied to understand students’ perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project.
The authors argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students
with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: (1) technical barriers are lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned
by or easily accessible to students; (2) that the appropriate model is chosen based on these students’ social and cultural capital; and (3) that the community cultural wealth of
students is considered in curriculum delivery.
The increasing importance of understanding the user in the design process is a key feature of human- centred design. Empathy is often described as “stepping into someone’s shoes”, however the full value of this process is described in Empathic Design. This deep understanding of the user’s circumstances is temporary, and the designer then steps back out, with an enriched understanding of the user, enabling better design solutions. However, the interactions with the user - in order to gain this deep understanding - can also raise ethical concerns at stages during the design process.
The aim of this position paper is to explore the interaction moments, between designer and user, or designer and community within the design process. The Double Diamond design process will be analysed with a view to looking at characteristic tools in each stage, in order to reveal activities that require empathetic considerations. The contribution of this research will be an empathy map of the double diamond design process, with ethical implications. The significance of the analysis will be to highlight ethical concerns for individual designers, design researchers as well as those in Design Education.
students’ digital literacies in digitally saturated contexts. Increasing access to freely
available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies
have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This article reports
on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both
quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students’
perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and
student backgrounds. Bourdieu’s (1986) notions of field, habitus and capital as well
as Yosso’s (2005, 70) idea of ‘community cultural wealth’ were applied to understand
students’ perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project.
The authors argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are
potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students
with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: (1) technical barriers are
lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned
by or easily accessible to students; (2) that the appropriate model is chosen based on
these students’ social and cultural capital; and (3) that the community cultural wealth of
students is considered in curriculum delivery.
professional Industrial Designer include the ability to frame issues, explore creative and contextually relevant solutions, and critically assess possibilities and potential solutions. Democratic practices can give students a stronger hand in shaping their future. These
practices can promote democratic values and stimulate the learning (Mathews, 2014:119) that allows students to combat many of their own problems. In design education, focus is placed on collaborative projects and group work scenarios to
facilitate and develop students’ interpersonal and communication skills, including active listening and democratic decision-making. These skills are key in enabling empathetic and active participation between designer and community members (or users). The goal of this case study was two-fold; firstly to develop student issue-framing skills for application in community based projects, and secondly to identify and explore group work issues within the
student community. Findings from the workshop informed the creation of an Issue Framework which can be used as the impetus for further research into the impact of democratic practices
and deliberative dialogues in design education.
available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This article reports
on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students’
perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and student backgrounds. Bourdieu’s (1986) notions of field, habitus and capital as well
as Yosso’s (2005, 70) idea of ‘community cultural wealth’ were applied to understand students’ perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project.
The authors argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students
with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: (1) technical barriers are lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned
by or easily accessible to students; (2) that the appropriate model is chosen based on these students’ social and cultural capital; and (3) that the community cultural wealth of
students is considered in curriculum delivery.
The increasing importance of understanding the user in the design process is a key feature of human- centred design. Empathy is often described as “stepping into someone’s shoes”, however the full value of this process is described in Empathic Design. This deep understanding of the user’s circumstances is temporary, and the designer then steps back out, with an enriched understanding of the user, enabling better design solutions. However, the interactions with the user - in order to gain this deep understanding - can also raise ethical concerns at stages during the design process.
The aim of this position paper is to explore the interaction moments, between designer and user, or designer and community within the design process. The Double Diamond design process will be analysed with a view to looking at characteristic tools in each stage, in order to reveal activities that require empathetic considerations. The contribution of this research will be an empathy map of the double diamond design process, with ethical implications. The significance of the analysis will be to highlight ethical concerns for individual designers, design researchers as well as those in Design Education.
students’ digital literacies in digitally saturated contexts. Increasing access to freely
available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies
have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This article reports
on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both
quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students’
perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and
student backgrounds. Bourdieu’s (1986) notions of field, habitus and capital as well
as Yosso’s (2005, 70) idea of ‘community cultural wealth’ were applied to understand
students’ perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project.
The authors argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are
potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students
with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: (1) technical barriers are
lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned
by or easily accessible to students; (2) that the appropriate model is chosen based on
these students’ social and cultural capital; and (3) that the community cultural wealth of
students is considered in curriculum delivery.
professional Industrial Designer include the ability to frame issues, explore creative and contextually relevant solutions, and critically assess possibilities and potential solutions. Democratic practices can give students a stronger hand in shaping their future. These
practices can promote democratic values and stimulate the learning (Mathews, 2014:119) that allows students to combat many of their own problems. In design education, focus is placed on collaborative projects and group work scenarios to
facilitate and develop students’ interpersonal and communication skills, including active listening and democratic decision-making. These skills are key in enabling empathetic and active participation between designer and community members (or users). The goal of this case study was two-fold; firstly to develop student issue-framing skills for application in community based projects, and secondly to identify and explore group work issues within the
student community. Findings from the workshop informed the creation of an Issue Framework which can be used as the impetus for further research into the impact of democratic practices
and deliberative dialogues in design education.