Reciprocal giving is a deeply rooted tradition in East African cultures. Reciprocity between Keny... more Reciprocal giving is a deeply rooted tradition in East African cultures. Reciprocity between Kenyans and foreign students is built into the learning process but continues, voluntarily, after the students leave our program. In this paper/presentation, I explore African and American concepts of equitable and acceptable reciprocity and how these are played out in the academic and post program contexts. Focusing on two coastal communities and Kibera (slum of ‘Constant Gardener’ fame) I show projects that have been initiated and carried out by SIT students and explain how this trend began. Informal, individual or family to family reciprocity has also taken root among our students though this form is seldom noted
In recent years, many governments have introduced the concept of Universal Design (UD) in their t... more In recent years, many governments have introduced the concept of Universal Design (UD) in their transportation planning systems. At the global level, the application of Universal Design application in countries such as USA, China, Norway, Ireland and Japan continue to grow. However, in Africa, accessibility to the built environment and public transport systems is still a major challenge including Kenya. While steps have been undertaken through legislative initiatives calling for implementation of accessible transit systems, finding solutions and standards that can be adapted for local use is still a work in progress and thus a priority area for research. In Nairobi City, for example, efforts at improving accessibility are visible but they seem more of afterthoughts rather than beforehand and purposeful. This paper explores challenges and practical strategies that can be adopted to bring Universal Design into the mainstream of urban planning and implementation into the public transpo...
2. possesses the intellectual sensibility and skill, nurtured through professional experience and... more 2. possesses the intellectual sensibility and skill, nurtured through professional experience and educational training, to create designs or images for reproduction by any means of visual communication. 3. contributes to shaping life and the visual landscape of commerce and culture towards a peaceful balance. 4. creates meaning for a community of diverse clients and users, not only interpreting their interests but offering conservative and innovative solutions as culturally, ethically and professionally appropriate. 5. identifies and frames problems, and solves them collaboratively exploring possibilities through critical thinking, creativity, experimentation and evaluation. 6. conceptualises, articulates, and transmits identity, messages, ideas and values into new, updated or mashup products, systems, services and experiences. 7. uses an inclusive approach that emphasises difference; respects human, environmental, and cultural diversity; and, strives to achieve common ground. 8. applies ethics to avoid harm and takes into account the consequences of design action on humanity (individuals and communities) and the environment. 9. advocates bottom-up (through DIY 02 and DIWO 03 facilitation and technology appropriation) or top-down (through policy) for the betterment of humanity and the environment. 10. adapts to technological change with ease and embraces the challenge of learning and mastering new ways to visualise and communicate concepts across different media and new smart-materials. 11. is a 'designer' with a disciplinary focus and brings that expertise to interdisciplinary collaborations with anthropologists, software programmers, scientists, engineers, architects and other experts. Design education is evolving from one to many instruction into many to many. As a result, it should: 1. instill a compassionate and critical mentality and nurture a self-reflective attitude and ability to adapt and evolve through innovative learning tools and methods for communication and collaboration. 2. include the following dimensions: image, text, context, space, movement, time, sound and interaction. Communication design 01 Communication design is an intellectual, creative, strategic, managerial, and technical activity. It essentially involves the production of visual solutions to communication problems. Communication design has become more and more a profession that integrates the idioms and approaches of other disciplines into a multidimensional and hybrid visual competence. Today the boundaries between design disciplines are more fluid, thanks to the sharing of advanced digital tools and knowledge. As the multiplayer working process assumes a higher complexity, communication designers need to redefine their role and purpose for an expanded media context dominated by a many to many conversation mode. New opportunities and challenges confront the designer. Social, cultural, technological, environmental, and economical changes over the last decade have profoundly affected communication design education and practice. As a result, the variety and complexity of design issues have increased. Emerging technologies (e.g. augmented reality, the smartphone, and social media) have broadened the way that designers communicate to include intersensory expressions-visual, aural, somatosensory, gustatory and/or olfactory components. Multi-platform content delivery is now the norm. Direct, open, and instantaneous dialogue with individual end users (coupled with economic recession in many countries) has created opportunities for authorship and invention. Copyright, patent, and creative commons are now all a part of the communication designer's intellectual property lexicon. Designers can virtually serve and interact with the world. Rapid advancements in communication and information technologies have globalised the professional context of design and bridged cultural divides with social networks in spite of perennial language barriers. There is a dire need for a more advanced ecological balance between human beings and their natural environments. This environmental challenge has brought about the need for more sustainable design materials, methods, and outcomes. 1. practises identity design; editorial and book design; typography; information design; advertising; illustration; photography; calligraphy; signage and pictogram systems; packaging; animation design; broadcast graphics and film titles; product, web and game interface design; interaction, environmental and exhibition graphics; data visualisation; and any other activity of online and offline shaping of visual form. ICOGRADA DESIGN EDUCATION MANIFESTO 2011 10 11 3. relay models for cross-cultural and transdisciplinary communication and for global-market collaboration with industry, users, other design disciplines and stakeholders. 4. integrate theory, history, criticism, research, and management to increase the production of design knowledge in order to enhance innovation and efficacy in respect of environmental and human factors. 5. teach quantitative and qualitative research methods (e.g. ethnography) to frame and solve problems. 6. inspire professional practice with findings that contribute new knowledge to interdisciplinary discourse. 7. prepare students for technological, environmental, cultural, social and economical change. To this end, it should evolve from teacher-generated projects to more participatory problem definition, enabling students to democratically address their own concerns and ways of learning with student-initiated projects. 8. foster in students of all levels, including pre-college, intellectual curiosity and a commitment to life-long learning. Through outreach programs, design education should diversify the profession and create opportunities for underrepresented voices to be heard. It should also provide new continued learning programs for professionals that are ever more in need of skill updating and research methods training. 9. imbue in students a sense of personal responsibility for the environmental and social impact of their practice. Then, the role of a design educator shifts from that of knowledge provider to that of a mediator who inspires and facilitates orientation for a more substantial practice. The power to think the future near and far should be an integral part of design education and practice through research. A new conception of design aims to rebalance nature, humanity, and technology, and to harmonise east and west, north and south, as well as past, present and future into a dynamic equilibrium. In legacy with the first edition of the Manifesto presented in Seoul in 2000, we continue in respect of the essence of Oullim-the great harmony. In the following pages the Icograda Design Education Manifesto 2011 is presented in the six official UN languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Each language version has been translated and designed by a different teacher-student team in alignment with the educational nature of the Manifesto.
Regional Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 2017
Rationale of Study – Nicknames are a cultural experience. In some contexts, they are perceived as... more Rationale of Study – Nicknames are a cultural experience. In some contexts, they are perceived as 'little' names that are different from 'official' names. Therefore, a nickname is a part of personal identity. Nicknames are often discreet and sometimes opaque. This article explains the meaning of a nickname in the African context and specifically discusses Acholi nicknames (mwoch) as an indigenous way of generating, sharing and preserving knowledge. Methodology – Data for this paper was obtained through interviews. The author interviewed purposively selected respondents from Mucwini in Kitgum and other parts of Acholi sub-region in northern Uganda. It is the nicknames that were the subject of these interviews that are presented, analysed and discussed in this article. The author also tapped into his childhood experience and knowledge of Acholi culture. Findings – Overall Acholi nicknames communicate indigenous knowledge but they must be unlocked, deconstructed and exp...
Ericulture (Eri silkworm farming) is an agro-based traditional activity that has played an import... more Ericulture (Eri silkworm farming) is an agro-based traditional activity that has played an important role in generating income and employment for people living in rural areas in some parts of the world. It is ideal for rural areas as it requires low capital, is labor intensive thus creates jobs and it is commercially attractive. This type of sericulture, has shown significant promise, after moriculture, which has been the leading source of world silk. In Kenya, several types of silk exist, although only Bombyx mori (B. mori) has been commercialized. Ericulture has recently aroused interest among some Kenyan silkworm farmers and is gradually gaining popularity due to its ease of rearing when compared to B. mori silkworm. This paper therefore focuses on the state of Ericulture by looking into the regions practicing this form of sericulture and the rearing practices in Kenya. This aims boosting Kenyan sericulture industry and creating awareness of Ericulture as a supplement of moricult...
research clearance making it possible for me to collect data. I want to thank the Ministry of Hea... more research clearance making it possible for me to collect data. I want to thank the Ministry of Health and Kenya NGOs AIDS Consortium who were my principal sources of the posters used in this work. I want to thank Path Finders for inviting me to a workshop that enabled me to participate while observing on the development of AIDS-posters. I also want to thank the University of Nairobi, my home institution. The University library is where I found information on design education, practice and intellectual discourse. At the end of the long list of people I wish to thank are two special people. There
As a common expression, the Luo word jaber seems to be ordinary or even casual, yet it is a capsu... more As a common expression, the Luo word jaber seems to be ordinary or even casual, yet it is a capsule of profound ideas within the context of Luo aesthetics. Jaber literally means “a person of beauty”: it is often used to describe females who have exceptional physical qualities that make them outstandingly attractive and deeply pleasurable to look at. The article advances the view that the term jaber offers us a key to understanding the aesthetics of the Luo of Kenya and of Western Nilotic-speakers in general. The author drew from personal experience, informal interviews, unpublished songs and existing literature as a basis for description and analysis of jaber . The picture that emerged suggested that visual beauty is only one layer of the meaning of jaber . Exploration of other layers and meanings in a broad context revealed that the expression points to aesthetic ideals, and can therefore be regarded as artistic. Dholuo speakers use the term to express appreciation of what they see...
Purpose This paper aims to determine the best conventional degumming technique for use by rural f... more Purpose This paper aims to determine the best conventional degumming technique for use by rural farmers practicing Eri silk fiber production in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach Three conventional silk degumming methods (water, soap and alkali) were analyzed under the factors, namely, time, pressure and degumming media, following the multilevel factorial design of experiments. The effect of variables on degumming weight loss was determined. The effects of the conventional degumming methods that produced complete sericin removal on chemical structure, surface morphology, thermal properties, crystallinity and fiber strength on Eri silk fibers produced in Kenya were then determined. The optimal degumming condition was then evaluated. Findings Soap and water degumming led to incomplete sericin removal. Alkali degumming media had the most effect, especially when pressure cooked at 103 kPa. Increasing time during alkali degumming beyond 30 min did not to have any major difference on degu...
Reciprocal giving is a deeply rooted tradition in East African cultures. Reciprocity between Keny... more Reciprocal giving is a deeply rooted tradition in East African cultures. Reciprocity between Kenyans and foreign students is built into the learning process but continues, voluntarily, after the students leave our program. In this paper/presentation, I explore African and American concepts of equitable and acceptable reciprocity and how these are played out in the academic and post program contexts. Focusing on two coastal communities and Kibera (slum of ‘Constant Gardener’ fame) I show projects that have been initiated and carried out by SIT students and explain how this trend began. Informal, individual or family to family reciprocity has also taken root among our students though this form is seldom noted
In recent years, many governments have introduced the concept of Universal Design (UD) in their t... more In recent years, many governments have introduced the concept of Universal Design (UD) in their transportation planning systems. At the global level, the application of Universal Design application in countries such as USA, China, Norway, Ireland and Japan continue to grow. However, in Africa, accessibility to the built environment and public transport systems is still a major challenge including Kenya. While steps have been undertaken through legislative initiatives calling for implementation of accessible transit systems, finding solutions and standards that can be adapted for local use is still a work in progress and thus a priority area for research. In Nairobi City, for example, efforts at improving accessibility are visible but they seem more of afterthoughts rather than beforehand and purposeful. This paper explores challenges and practical strategies that can be adopted to bring Universal Design into the mainstream of urban planning and implementation into the public transpo...
2. possesses the intellectual sensibility and skill, nurtured through professional experience and... more 2. possesses the intellectual sensibility and skill, nurtured through professional experience and educational training, to create designs or images for reproduction by any means of visual communication. 3. contributes to shaping life and the visual landscape of commerce and culture towards a peaceful balance. 4. creates meaning for a community of diverse clients and users, not only interpreting their interests but offering conservative and innovative solutions as culturally, ethically and professionally appropriate. 5. identifies and frames problems, and solves them collaboratively exploring possibilities through critical thinking, creativity, experimentation and evaluation. 6. conceptualises, articulates, and transmits identity, messages, ideas and values into new, updated or mashup products, systems, services and experiences. 7. uses an inclusive approach that emphasises difference; respects human, environmental, and cultural diversity; and, strives to achieve common ground. 8. applies ethics to avoid harm and takes into account the consequences of design action on humanity (individuals and communities) and the environment. 9. advocates bottom-up (through DIY 02 and DIWO 03 facilitation and technology appropriation) or top-down (through policy) for the betterment of humanity and the environment. 10. adapts to technological change with ease and embraces the challenge of learning and mastering new ways to visualise and communicate concepts across different media and new smart-materials. 11. is a 'designer' with a disciplinary focus and brings that expertise to interdisciplinary collaborations with anthropologists, software programmers, scientists, engineers, architects and other experts. Design education is evolving from one to many instruction into many to many. As a result, it should: 1. instill a compassionate and critical mentality and nurture a self-reflective attitude and ability to adapt and evolve through innovative learning tools and methods for communication and collaboration. 2. include the following dimensions: image, text, context, space, movement, time, sound and interaction. Communication design 01 Communication design is an intellectual, creative, strategic, managerial, and technical activity. It essentially involves the production of visual solutions to communication problems. Communication design has become more and more a profession that integrates the idioms and approaches of other disciplines into a multidimensional and hybrid visual competence. Today the boundaries between design disciplines are more fluid, thanks to the sharing of advanced digital tools and knowledge. As the multiplayer working process assumes a higher complexity, communication designers need to redefine their role and purpose for an expanded media context dominated by a many to many conversation mode. New opportunities and challenges confront the designer. Social, cultural, technological, environmental, and economical changes over the last decade have profoundly affected communication design education and practice. As a result, the variety and complexity of design issues have increased. Emerging technologies (e.g. augmented reality, the smartphone, and social media) have broadened the way that designers communicate to include intersensory expressions-visual, aural, somatosensory, gustatory and/or olfactory components. Multi-platform content delivery is now the norm. Direct, open, and instantaneous dialogue with individual end users (coupled with economic recession in many countries) has created opportunities for authorship and invention. Copyright, patent, and creative commons are now all a part of the communication designer's intellectual property lexicon. Designers can virtually serve and interact with the world. Rapid advancements in communication and information technologies have globalised the professional context of design and bridged cultural divides with social networks in spite of perennial language barriers. There is a dire need for a more advanced ecological balance between human beings and their natural environments. This environmental challenge has brought about the need for more sustainable design materials, methods, and outcomes. 1. practises identity design; editorial and book design; typography; information design; advertising; illustration; photography; calligraphy; signage and pictogram systems; packaging; animation design; broadcast graphics and film titles; product, web and game interface design; interaction, environmental and exhibition graphics; data visualisation; and any other activity of online and offline shaping of visual form. ICOGRADA DESIGN EDUCATION MANIFESTO 2011 10 11 3. relay models for cross-cultural and transdisciplinary communication and for global-market collaboration with industry, users, other design disciplines and stakeholders. 4. integrate theory, history, criticism, research, and management to increase the production of design knowledge in order to enhance innovation and efficacy in respect of environmental and human factors. 5. teach quantitative and qualitative research methods (e.g. ethnography) to frame and solve problems. 6. inspire professional practice with findings that contribute new knowledge to interdisciplinary discourse. 7. prepare students for technological, environmental, cultural, social and economical change. To this end, it should evolve from teacher-generated projects to more participatory problem definition, enabling students to democratically address their own concerns and ways of learning with student-initiated projects. 8. foster in students of all levels, including pre-college, intellectual curiosity and a commitment to life-long learning. Through outreach programs, design education should diversify the profession and create opportunities for underrepresented voices to be heard. It should also provide new continued learning programs for professionals that are ever more in need of skill updating and research methods training. 9. imbue in students a sense of personal responsibility for the environmental and social impact of their practice. Then, the role of a design educator shifts from that of knowledge provider to that of a mediator who inspires and facilitates orientation for a more substantial practice. The power to think the future near and far should be an integral part of design education and practice through research. A new conception of design aims to rebalance nature, humanity, and technology, and to harmonise east and west, north and south, as well as past, present and future into a dynamic equilibrium. In legacy with the first edition of the Manifesto presented in Seoul in 2000, we continue in respect of the essence of Oullim-the great harmony. In the following pages the Icograda Design Education Manifesto 2011 is presented in the six official UN languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Each language version has been translated and designed by a different teacher-student team in alignment with the educational nature of the Manifesto.
Regional Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 2017
Rationale of Study – Nicknames are a cultural experience. In some contexts, they are perceived as... more Rationale of Study – Nicknames are a cultural experience. In some contexts, they are perceived as 'little' names that are different from 'official' names. Therefore, a nickname is a part of personal identity. Nicknames are often discreet and sometimes opaque. This article explains the meaning of a nickname in the African context and specifically discusses Acholi nicknames (mwoch) as an indigenous way of generating, sharing and preserving knowledge. Methodology – Data for this paper was obtained through interviews. The author interviewed purposively selected respondents from Mucwini in Kitgum and other parts of Acholi sub-region in northern Uganda. It is the nicknames that were the subject of these interviews that are presented, analysed and discussed in this article. The author also tapped into his childhood experience and knowledge of Acholi culture. Findings – Overall Acholi nicknames communicate indigenous knowledge but they must be unlocked, deconstructed and exp...
Ericulture (Eri silkworm farming) is an agro-based traditional activity that has played an import... more Ericulture (Eri silkworm farming) is an agro-based traditional activity that has played an important role in generating income and employment for people living in rural areas in some parts of the world. It is ideal for rural areas as it requires low capital, is labor intensive thus creates jobs and it is commercially attractive. This type of sericulture, has shown significant promise, after moriculture, which has been the leading source of world silk. In Kenya, several types of silk exist, although only Bombyx mori (B. mori) has been commercialized. Ericulture has recently aroused interest among some Kenyan silkworm farmers and is gradually gaining popularity due to its ease of rearing when compared to B. mori silkworm. This paper therefore focuses on the state of Ericulture by looking into the regions practicing this form of sericulture and the rearing practices in Kenya. This aims boosting Kenyan sericulture industry and creating awareness of Ericulture as a supplement of moricult...
research clearance making it possible for me to collect data. I want to thank the Ministry of Hea... more research clearance making it possible for me to collect data. I want to thank the Ministry of Health and Kenya NGOs AIDS Consortium who were my principal sources of the posters used in this work. I want to thank Path Finders for inviting me to a workshop that enabled me to participate while observing on the development of AIDS-posters. I also want to thank the University of Nairobi, my home institution. The University library is where I found information on design education, practice and intellectual discourse. At the end of the long list of people I wish to thank are two special people. There
As a common expression, the Luo word jaber seems to be ordinary or even casual, yet it is a capsu... more As a common expression, the Luo word jaber seems to be ordinary or even casual, yet it is a capsule of profound ideas within the context of Luo aesthetics. Jaber literally means “a person of beauty”: it is often used to describe females who have exceptional physical qualities that make them outstandingly attractive and deeply pleasurable to look at. The article advances the view that the term jaber offers us a key to understanding the aesthetics of the Luo of Kenya and of Western Nilotic-speakers in general. The author drew from personal experience, informal interviews, unpublished songs and existing literature as a basis for description and analysis of jaber . The picture that emerged suggested that visual beauty is only one layer of the meaning of jaber . Exploration of other layers and meanings in a broad context revealed that the expression points to aesthetic ideals, and can therefore be regarded as artistic. Dholuo speakers use the term to express appreciation of what they see...
Purpose This paper aims to determine the best conventional degumming technique for use by rural f... more Purpose This paper aims to determine the best conventional degumming technique for use by rural farmers practicing Eri silk fiber production in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach Three conventional silk degumming methods (water, soap and alkali) were analyzed under the factors, namely, time, pressure and degumming media, following the multilevel factorial design of experiments. The effect of variables on degumming weight loss was determined. The effects of the conventional degumming methods that produced complete sericin removal on chemical structure, surface morphology, thermal properties, crystallinity and fiber strength on Eri silk fibers produced in Kenya were then determined. The optimal degumming condition was then evaluated. Findings Soap and water degumming led to incomplete sericin removal. Alkali degumming media had the most effect, especially when pressure cooked at 103 kPa. Increasing time during alkali degumming beyond 30 min did not to have any major difference on degu...
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