Community Exploration
Transitioning Disability Advocacy within Community Settings through the Development of Virtual Reality View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dawn Armfield, James Ingram, Shadow Armfield
Individuals with intellectual disabilities are often acted upon by outside sources. Through this work individuals become creators and owners of interactive artifacts aligning with the disabilities study mantra of “nothing about us, without us.” The research objective is to develop an understanding of how adult individuals with intellectual disabilities, who are transitioning from high school to work, can be self advocates through the development of virtual reality (VR) training tools that provide learning for themselves and others on using public transportation and engaging in job training and duties. This interdisciplinary research builds on disability studies and visual communication frameworks using phenomenological research that examines the experiences of individuals, 18 to 22 years old, who live with intellectual disability. The project utilizes VR tools to allow the participants to experience and share this training process in a manner that reduces barriers for this population. Data consists of interviews of 4 to 6 participants designed to uncover their perspectives of vocational experiences as well as the impact of VR components for training at job sites. Analysis includes a review of the accounts given by the participants in order to discover points of resonance and commonalities of experience. This research provides insight into the lived experiences of this population as they transition into adulthood and limitations include a small sample size and communication difficulties. Future work will analyze the utilization of VR and its impact on this population's agency to explore global interactions in spaces that are rarely made available to them.
Redistribution of Knowledge and Reconstruction of Urban Landscapes in Contemporary China: Craftsmanship and the Case of Jingdezhen (Capital of Porcelain)
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chengjie Xiao
This project proposes a cultural study of craft to remap China's creative economy and the production of urban space. This paper shows how craftsmanship has been appropriated to remap local history and urban landscape. The success of traditional handcraft and the local culture and people who make it possible are exhibited to demonstrate the promise of success of the local modern manufacturing industry. Looking into these museums and creative spaces, this paper questions how local crafts are collected, excluded, displayed, written, remembered, and transformed into history, heritage, folklore, and creative resources. How are crafts displaced and excluded spatially in the context of deindustrialization and de-skilling? This paper attempts to analyze the redistribution of crafts (skills) in creative cities and the new knowledge management systems. Secondly, inspired by Ingold’s conception of skill, this paper will also look into the interaction between craftspeople and the environment. Thirdly, urban planning in China is often a top-down practice, and the planning of creative space copies models from other countries and cities, which is not compatible with the local environment. This paper suggests that urban planning can also be seen as a craft and craftsmanship can be a potential strategy to modify urban planning.
