Constructing the conditions of and environments for interdisciplinary research on perception and action

This paper suggests ways in which art processes may contribute to the interdisciplinary study of perception and action and the relationships between body, person, and environment. Artists-turned-architects Arakawa and Gins serve as the most advanced example of an interdisciplinary research project in terms of coordinating material processes with contemporary findings, methods, and orientations from across the arts, humanities, and hard and soft sciences. In the first section of the paper, I discuss Arakawa and Gins's Reversible Destiny Lofts at Mitaka as an example of their procedural approach to long-term sustainable experimental environments. In the second section, the tactics through which Arakawa and Gins have repositioned art for the nonart purposes and common research goals are posited. Finally, I briefly outline the disciplinary positions and research values needed in order to move toward a more inclusive and interdisciplinary research practice.

Evaluation of the use of Assessment Centre methodology to enhance development planning, work placement outcomes and work readiness for postgraduate students : a pilot

Background: Placements as a form of Work Integrated Learning are widely recognised for the positive impact they have on improving student employability and work readiness. Students can maximise strengths, improve areas of weakness, and develop a strong understanding of the requirements of their chosen field within the confines of a well monitored and rich learning environment. Assessment Centres (ACs) are commonly used in corporate settings for recruitment, selection and more recently to provide developmental feedback to participants. Based on a recent literature review, the present the present project evaluates the application of AC methodology as a developmental tool within the placement milieu. The review, which is also included the current conference proceedings details the benefits of utilising the AC process forming the impetus for the present pilot (Sturre; von Treuer & Keele 2010).
Aims: The primary aim of the paper was to evaluate the application of AC methodology as a tool for measuring and subsequently enhancing professional competencies in a sample of postgraduate students in organisational psychology (n=15).
Method: A longitudinal design was utilised with numerous evaluation points from placement stakeholders. This paper presents the first wave of findings. Students undertook a range of activities, including an in-tray exercise, role play, written report, leaderless group discussion and a personality assessment. Comprehensive feedback was provided by organisational psychologists who also fulfil the role of placement co-ordinators. With the assistance of Placement Co-ordinators, students prepared development plans relating to the competencies identified as requiring development. These plans were to be addressed and progress monitored during consecutive placements.
Results: Initial perceptions gathered from students regarding the AC process were very encouraging. Performance
evaluations collected to date, as measured by behaviourally based ratings scales completed by the students themselves and their workplace supervisors illustrate the positive effect of this methodology. The rigour and comprehensive techniques offered by the methodology enabled students to focus on and improve areas identified for development.
Conclusions: It is important to note that the present design formed a pilot study and as mentioned was undertaken with a limited sample. Future implementation is planned with larger samples, enabling a more comprehensive analysis of the methodology. Nevertheless, the methodology appears to provide a much needed strategy for the assessment and ongoing development of students prior to and during work placements. The application provides early intervention enabling students to address development needs with input from both university and organisational stakeholders based on an established, standardised process.

A needs based methodology for classifying construction clients and selecting contractors : comment

This note is a comment on Chinyio, E.A., Olomolaiye, P.O., Kometa, S.T. and Harris, F.C. (1998) A needs based methodology for classifying construction clients and selecting contractors, Construction Management and Economics, 16(1), 91± 8, which describes research aimed at classifying clients by their needs rather than by the traditional public/private/developer approach. The paper also proposes a new method of selecting contractors by matching clients’ needs to contractors’ ability to satisfy them. The note offers constructive criticism of some aspects of the analysis.

Picture words : toward an art-critical methodology

“Phiction: Lies, Illusion and the Phantasm in Australian Photography” is a curatorial experiment in assembling a survey exhibition from a significant collection. Its formulation, presentation and the outcomes of its tour of eleven regional and metropolitan Victorian galleries provide a case study for this paper. The exhibition Phiction (the title amalgamates photography and fiction) challenges audiences’ reading of photographs, and confronts some curatorial assumptions, by juxtaposing the images with extracts of Australian fiction instead of the usual gallery fact sheet, list of provenance or expert gloss. In this way the exhibition forces a confrontation between ‘dumb’ image and ‘blind’ text and while examples are examined, a review of the exhibition is not the purpose of this paper. A consideration its process and effect is discussed in the paper to propose a comparative tool in the study, investigation and evaluation of art. It is offered to visual art school researchers, lecturers and students contemplating the most appropriate and effective, or alternative, methodologies to employ. With reference to the dominant systems of critique which have come to us from other disciplines, the paper considers the art practitioner’s perspective by drawing on the example of Phiction to pose the open question; “How might we use one artform to explore another?”.

Researching social inequalities in education : towards a Bourdieuian methodology

The injustices of ‘allowing certain people to succeed, based not upon merit but upon the cultural experiences, the social ties and the economic resources they have access to, often remains unacknowledged in the broader society’ (Wacquant, 1998, p. 216). Cognizant of this, the authors argue that education requires researchers’ renewed examination and explanation of its involvement in the construction of social and economic differences. Specifically, they make the case for researchers to consider the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu, outlining what they understand by a Bourdieuian methodology, which is informed by socially critical and poststructural understandings of the world. Such methodology attempts to dig beneath surface appearances, asking how social systems work. By asking ‘whose interests are being served and how’ (Tripp, 1998, p. 37) in the social arrangements we find, Bourdieu can help us to ‘work towards a more just social order’ (Lenzo, 1995, p. 17).

Stakeholder analysis in urban development : the application of stakeholder circle methodology and social network analysis

The increasing research interest on stakeholder analysis in urban planning reflects a growing recognition that stakeholders can and should influence the decision-making. This paper concentrates on exploring the techniques for analysing stakeholders, especially the application of the Stakeholder Circle tool and Social Network Analysis. An urban renewal project and an infrastructure project in Australia are presented as case studies to verify the use of these two techniques. The stakeholders are identified and prioritized from two different points of view, namely, the attribute evaluations in the Stakeholder Circle tool, and the relationship network analysis. The paper ends with a discussion on the strengths and limitations of the techniques for stakeholder analysis. No method for stakeholder identification and prioritization is perfect. The selection of the approaches is an art with extensive considerations of ‘when, what, and how’ to choose methods to achieve the project objectives. Each method has its own strengths and limitations. Combining several methods when necessary is the best way to analyse stakeholders.