The domain layer for mixed-initiative interaction in generative design

The design space exploration formalism has developed data structures and algorithms of sufficient complexity and scope to support conceptual layout, massing, and enclosure configurations. However, design remains a human enterprise. To support the user in designing with the formalism, we have developed an interaction model that addresses the interleaving of user actions with the formal operations of design space exploration. The central feature of our interaction model is the modeling of control based on mixed-initiative. Initiative is sometimes taken by the designer and sometimes by the formalism in working on a shared design task. The model comprises three layers, domain, task, and dialogue. In this paper we describe the formulation of the domain layer of our mixed-initiative interaction model for design space exploration. We present the view of the domain as understood in the formalism in terms of the three abstract concepts of state, move, and structure. In order to support mixed initiative, it is necessary to develop a shared view of the domain. The domain layer addresses this problem by mapping the designer's view onto the symbol substrate. First, we present the designer's view of the domain in terms of problems, solutions, choices, and history. Second, we show how this view is interleaved with the symbol-substrate through four domain layer constructs, problem state, solution state, choice, and exploration history. The domain layer presents a suitable foundation for integrating the role of the designer with a description formalism. It enables the designer to maintain exploration freedom in terms of formulating and reformulating problems, generating solutions, making choices, and navigating the history of exploration.

Tree façades : generative modelling with an axial branch rewriting system

The methods and algorithms of generative modelling can be improved when representing organic structures by the study of computational models of natural processes and their application to architectural design. In this paper, we present a study of the generation of branching structures and their application to the development of façade support systems. We investigate two types of branching structures, a recursive bifurcation model and an axial tree based L-system for the generation of façades. The aim of the paper is to capture not only the form but also the underlying principles of biomimicry found in branching. This is then tested, by their application to develop experimental façade support systems. The developed algorithms implement parametric variations for façade generation based on natural tree-like branching. The benefits of such a model are: ease of structural optimization, variations of support and digital fabrication of façade components.

Glimpses of generative practice : constructing pre-service teachers' learning in partnership

In this paper, the authors describe a program to enhance pre-service teachers' mathematical and pedagogical knowledge through a partnership with middle years teachers and learners in a primary school. The authors wanted to investigate how pre-service teachers' experience of teaching mathematics could enhance both their knowledge of mathematics and the development of generative practices. The findings have inspired the development of similar partnerships with other primary schools.

Generative models for automatic recognition of human daily activities from a single triaxial accelerometer

In this work, we compare two generative models including Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier for the recognition of six human daily activity (i.e., standing, walking, running, jumping, falling, sitting-down) from a single waist-worn tri-axial accelerometer signals through 4-fold cross-validation and testing on a total of thirteen subjects, achieving an average recognition accuracy of 96.43% and 98.21% in the first experiment and 95.51% and 98.72% in the second, respectively. The results demonstrate that both HMM and GMM are not only able to learn but also capable of generalization while the former outperformed the latter in the recognition of daily activities from a single waist worn tri-axial accelerometer. In addition, these two generative models enable the assessment of human activities based on acceleration signals with varying lengths.

Research in practice : an exercise in generative urban massing

The following paper explores practice based research as a means of identifying issues within current urban design methods. It considers the application of parametric systems as a means of addressing these issues. These systems are developed and tested across both Australian and international urban design projects within Grimshaw Architects. A methodology is proposed for the development and application of these parametric tools across multiple scales of design resolution. It reports on the application of a set of parametric urban scale massing tools in real world design projects. This exploration is carried out in distinct phases of design defined by the scale of resolution. The phasing allows for discrete problems to be addressed more effectively at different stages of the design process while still encouraging a seamless, bi directional workflow through a digital master model.

Generative experimentation and social simulation : exploring gaming for model vVerification and validation

The agent-based modelling paradigm has been actively applied to address social normative issues such as values, cognition, morality and behaviours. The abstraction of human and human-like social processes and mechanisms result in misalignment of computational model with existing verification and validation techniques and expose significant challenges. We argue that human sources represent a sound approach for verification and validation of agent-based social simulation models. We propose a novel conceptual gaming framework that extracts required information from relevant sources as part of game play

Organisational learning as an emerging process: the generative role of digital tools in informal learning practices

 Increasing attention is paid to organisational learning, with the success of contemporary organisations strongly contingent on their ability to learn and grow. Importantly, informal learning is argued to be even more significant than formal learning initiatives. Given the widespread use of digital technologies in the workplace, what requires further attention is how digital technologies (eg, massive open online courses—MOOC) enable informal learning processes. Drawing from Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory, in this paper we advance a conceptual model for examining this important topic. The two dimensional matrix and the micro-level description of informal learning activities presented provide a framework for both further research on technology-mediated practices for informal learning, as well as the design of formative contexts for learning to occur.

Feature nodes : an interaction construct for sharing initiative in design exploration

Exploration with formal design systems comprises an iterative process of specifying problems, finding plausible and alternative solutions, judging the validity of solutions relative to problems and reformulating problems and solutions. Recent advances in formal generative design have developed the mathematics and algorithms to describe and perform conceptual design tasks. However, design remains a human enterprise: formalisms are part of a larger equation comprising human computer interaction. To support the user in designing with formal systems, shared representations that interleave initiative of the designer and the design formalism are necessary. The problem of devising representational structures in which initiative is sometimes taken by the designer and sometimes by a computer in working on a shared design task is reported in this paper. To address this problem, the requirements, representation and
implementation of a shared interaction construct, the feature node, is
described. The feature node facilitates the sharing of initiative in formulating and reformulating problems, generating solutions, making
choices and navigating the history of exploration.

Public participation in an environmental dispute: implications for science education

The paper, which reports the findings of a case study of an environmental dispute, focuses on the role of the key players and the way in which they interacted with the underlying science. A model is proposed that lays out some of the dimensions of the complexity of public involvement, of the understandings of the science pertinent to such socio-scientific issues, and of the way knowledge of science is represented and disseminated in such issues. The analysis focuses on the value of local knowledge in framing and engaging with the issue, on the distinction between generative and evaluative engagement, and on the type of knowledge that proved central for engagement. The implications for science education and notions of scientific literacy are discussed.

Futures for Australian curriculum studies: metaphors, genres and complicated conversations

My specific brief for the conference presentation on which this essay is based was to speak from the standpoint of a 'curriculum theorist'. However, I rarely use the terms 'curriculum theory' or 'curriculum theorising' other than in the company of US and Canadian colleagues. I prefer to speak of 'curriculum inquiry' or 'curriculum work' and I think of my work as a university teacher and researcher as being directed towards understanding curriculum. From this standpoint I interpret the theme of this Point and Counterpoint, 'Futures for Australian Curriculum', as a focus for speculation on the possible and desirable ways in which the arts of curriculum inquiry can be developed, tested and renewed. In other words, how can we sustain rigorous, vigorous and generative forms of curriculum work?
I will respond to this question by referring to three artefacts of Australian curriculum studies, the first two of which come from the Australian
Curriculum Studies Association's (ACSA) own material history; the third is (arguably) the major synoptic text of North American 'curriculum theory' published during the past decade. I will use these artefacts to illustrate three key issues concerning futures in curriculum inquiry, namely:
• the significance of metaphor;
• questions about genre and a renewed role for
the arts in our work;
• the idea of 'complicated conversation'.

Growing Up as Risky Business? Risks, Surveillance and the Institutionalized Mistrust of Youth

This paper will argue that a major problem for young people today is that they increasingly cause adults anxiety. This anxiety translates into a raft of interventions and strategies and programmes that target young people. These imaginings reflect and constitute a range of anxieties about the dangers posed by some young people, or to some young people, and how these risks might be economically and prudently managed. These institutionalized relationships of mistrust can have a range of often negative consequences (intended or otherwise) for individuals and populations of young people. I argue that Foucault's work on disciplinary, sovereign and governmental forms of power provides a generative framework for analysing what I refer to as the institutionalized mistrust, surveillance and regulation of contemporary populations of young people.

Contemporary learning environments: designing e-learning for education in the professions

Designing e-learning environments for quality professional education is a challenge for education designers, as the continuing practice of simply moving courses online can be surprisingly disabling. We argue that as universities strive to educate for excellence in professional practice, design approaches for the e-learning components must be conceptualized in a broader view of a contemporary learning environment involving integrated virtual and physical dimensions. These are comprehensively considered in an integrated way to facilitate learning experiences providing an emphasis on grounded practice. Our paper considers learning environments in the service of a broader understanding of a professional "practicum." In providing the more flexible, immediate and evolving virtual experiences, e-learning as a feature must take account of a range of education design considerations we model in a framework of elements. These are outlined, and broader issues are illuminated through a comparative case analysis of educational technology developments at Deakin University in the two professional fields of teaching and journalism. The Education Studies Online (ESO) project and the HOTcopy newsroom simulation project exemplify elements of the approach recommended in addressing the challenges of quality professional education. We highlight the generative role of the education designer in adopting an integrative and strategic stance, when creating such environments. Implications for the selection and use of various e-learning resources and corporate e-learning systems become evident as we highlight the dangers of a returning "instructional industrialism" as we risk allowing courses to "move online", rather than moving towards proposed features of contemporary learning environments.

Modeling dialogue with mixed initiative in design space exploration

Exploration with a generative formalism must necessarily account for the nature of interaction between humans and the design space explorer. Established accounts of design interaction are made complicated by two propositions in Woodbury and Burrow's Keynote on design space exploration. First, the emphasis on the primacy of the design space as an ordered collection of partial designs (version, alternatives, extensions). Few studies exist in the design interaction literature on working with multiple threads simultaneously. Second, the need to situate, aid, and amplify human design intentions using computational tools. Although specific research and practice tools on amplification (sketching, generation, variation) have had success, there is a lack of generic, flexible, interoperable, and extensible representation to support amplification. This paper addresses the above, working with design threads and computer-assisted design amplification through a theoretical model of dialogue based on Grice's model of rational conversation. Using the concept of mixed initiative, the paper presents a visual notation for representing dialogue between designer and design space formalism through abstract examples of exploration tasks and dialogue integration.