Website: Dialectic
Deadline for submissions: 24 July 2017
Authors are invited to submit works for the THIRD issue of Dialectic, a biannual journal devoted to the critical and creative examination of issues that affect design education, research, and inquiry. Michigan Publishing, the hub of scholarly publishing at the University of Michigan, is publishing Dialectic on behalf of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Design Educators Community (DEC). The third issue will be published between November 15 and December 31, 2017.
Dialectic’s third issue seeks papers and visual narratives that highlight and explore convergences focusing on design-led interdisciplinary scholarship, inventive teaching, and transformational activities. This thematic outline is purposefully aligned with the presentations, workshops and poster sessions that animated the recent AIGA DEC-sponsored “Converge: Disciplinarities and Digital Scholarship” conference at the University of Southern California’s (USC’s) School of Cinematic Arts (SCA).
Dialectic’s Editorial Board hopes that conference attendees will consider submitting papers based on their conference presentations, and that they are joined by other educators or practitioners who wish to contribute to this important discussion by submitting a piece for possible publication in our third issue. Authors planning to contribute to this issue, be they conference attendees or others, are reminded that such works should be framed in one of the following submission types, which are described in more detail later in this call:
· original visual essays/visually based narratives/visual storytelling
· research papers
· long-form case study reports/case series reports
· position papers
· criticism of designed artifacts, systems, and processes
· reviews of books, exhibitions, and conferences
· survey papers
· theoretical speculations
Each piece that Dialectic will publish must be based on fundamentally sound scholarship and inquiry, written or designed so that is broadly accessible, and focused on topics relevant to its audiences.
Questions to shape submissions for possible publication in Dialectic Issue 03
The third issue of Dialectic seeks papers and visual essays/narratives of interest to a diverse audience of design educators and practitioners. Example prompts for authors include (but are not limited to):
How can design converge with digital scholarship in more than a superficial way?
How might aspects of digital scholarship impact design research?
What are key issues operating at the intersection of design and the humanities?
How might designers learn to construct knowledge and develop fluencies in digital scholarship?
How might designers develop tools and platforms to facilitate digital and/or analog projects?
What are promising areas where design thinking can lead digital learning situations and collaborations?
How might digital research methods inform the design of user experiences?
Dialectic’s web address for submissions: https://dialectic.submittable.com/submit.
Submitters are hereby advised to peruse the contents of the entire Dialectic website to ensure that their submissions meet ALL of Dialectic’s criteria for publication BEFORE they submit work for consideration. Work that is not formatted (including citations) according the Chicago Manual of Style will be rejected, as will work that is not grammatically and syntactically well-crafted. Authors are strongly encouraged to enlist the aid of an editor with scholarly publishing experience to help them effectively “draft and craft” their prose!
Dialectic’s inaugural issue/”Issue 01” was published in March of 2017 and is available online at Amazon.com, or as an online entity.
Dialectic’s second issue/“Issue 02” is being edited and designed as of this writing, and will be published between July 24 and September 11, 2017.
All submissions to Dialectic MUST be made through the “Submittable” website hosted by Michigan Publishing listed above. Please DO NOT attempt to send any type of submission as an e-mail attachment to any of Dialectic’s Editorial Board members, its Producer, its AIGA DEC liaisons, or members of its Advisory Committee. Instructions for formatting ALL types of submissions are embedded (per category) in this “Submittable” website. Submissions that are NOT formatted according to these instructions will be rejected. (Examples of properly formatted manuscript pages are available here; examples of Dialectic’s citation styles are available here.) All submissions must be created in keeping with the editorial policy of Dialectic, which is articulated here.
Dialectic will publish visual essays/narratives and papers that satisfy the following categorical descriptions:
Original visual essays/visually based narratives/visual storytelling: Dialectic invites submissions from designers or teams of designers that are comprised primarily or solely of imagery (photography and/or illustrations), typographic structures, “type-as-image,” or some combination of these that visually communicate one or more types of narrative/storytelling. The logistical criteria specified in the “Illustrations, Graphics, and Photos” section of the “2016-17 Submissions Guidelines for Dialectic” document must be met (re: image resolutions, physical sizes, bleeds, etc.), and submissions that are assessed by the Editorial Board and/or external reviewers to be visually compelling and conceptually provocative will be considered for publication, pending the availability of page space in a given issue.
Research papers (3,000 to 4,500 words): These articles will recount how designers and design teams identified a situation that was problematic, formulated and operated research to understand the various factors, conditions and people involved that were affecting the situation, and then used their analysis of the data gathered from this research to guide design decision-making toward improving this situation. This type of writing should be grounded in evidentiary processes, and should clearly explicate a hypothesis, as well as posit and support a methodology and some form of a measurable data set.
Long-form case study reports or case series reports (3,000 to 4,500 words): These articles will describe how a particular person, group, project, event, experience or situation has been studied and analyzed, using one or more methods, during a specific span of time. These contributions should posit insights that exist as logical subsets of a larger category, and that are at least tangentially generalizable to the category. A case series report collectively describes how a group of individuals have responded to a particular type of treatment, experience or interaction. They can be used to help analyze and assess the responses of a cross-section of individual users to one or more iterations of an interface design, or an environmental graphics or wayfinding system, or a series of data visualizations.
Position papers (2,000 to 3,000 words): These essays will present the readership of Dialectic with an opinion—of the author, or of a specified group of people or organization—about an issue or set of issues in a way or ways that make particular values and the belief systems that guide them known.
Design criticism (as long-form essays of between 2,000 and 3,000 words): The goal of these pieces is to critically analyze design decision-making, and the affects that making and using what has been designed have on the operation and evolution of social, technological, economic, environmental and political systems.
Reviews of books, exhibitions, conferences, etc. (750 to 1,500 words): These shorter articles are written to critically analyze the efficacy of the structure, content, style, and relative merit of their particular subjects in ways that combine the author’s personal reactions and arguments to it with his/her assessment of how effectively it fulfilled or failed in its purpose.
Survey papers (2,000 to 3,000 words): These pieces are written to clearly summarize, organize, and analyze a select, topical grouping of scholarly articles, research papers, or case studies in a way that integrates and adds to the understanding of the work in a given discipline or field of study.
Theoretical speculations (3,000 to 4,500 words): These contributions will consist of attempts by their authors to explain a particular phenomenon, set of circumstances, or situational construct based on their ability to utilize observations rather than hard evidence to fuel speculative thoughts and suppositions. These contributions should be grounded in a viable paradigm, or use theory as a viable justification for what has been observed, and should be internally coherent and advance logical conclusions.
Editorial responses from Dialectic readers (750 to 1,200 words): Dialectic encourages its readers to submit critical responses to specific articles, editorials, or visual pieces that have been published in previous issues. Authors are also welcome to bring any issues that they believe are pertinent to the attention of Dialectic’s readership. Editorial commentary relative to specific published articles and pieces will be sent to their author(s) so they can respond.
Important dates:
Deadline for full versions of papers written that meet Dialectic Issue 03’s categorical descriptions and “research by, for and through design education” theme: 5:00 pm CST, July 24, 2016
Initial/Desk reviews of submissions to Dialectic Issue 02 complete: August 21, 2017
External reviews of submission to Dialectic Issue 02 complete: October 2, 2017
Authors responses/revisions to external reviewers’ suggestions re: their manuscripts due: October 30, 2017
Dialectic Issue 03 published: November 15–December 31, 2017
Dialectic’s managing editor: Keith M. Owens, The University of North Texas
Dialectic’s producer: Michael R. Gibson, The University of North Texas
Dialectic’s editorial board:
Anne Burdick, Art Center
Heather Corcoran, Washington University at St. Louis
Kenneth FitzGerald, Old Dominion University
Deborah Littlejohn, North Carolina State University
Keith M. Owens, The University of North Texas
Stacie Rohrbach, Carnegie Mellon University
Dialectic’s AIGA Design Educators Community liaisons:
Eric Benson, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Amy Fidler, Bowling Green State University
Michael R. Gibson, The University of North Texas
Dialectic’s advisory committee:
Kim Erwin, The Illinois Institute of Technology Institute of Design
Brockett Horne, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
Ann McDonald, Northeastern University
Paul Nini, The Ohio State University
Elizabeth Resnick, Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt)
Holly Willis, The University of Southern California
Deadline for submissions: 24 July 2017
Dialectic’s third issue seeks papers and visual narratives that highlight and explore convergences focusing on design-led interdisciplinary scholarship, inventive teaching, and transformational activities. This thematic outline is purposefully aligned with the presentations, workshops and poster sessions that animated the recent AIGA DEC-sponsored “Converge: Disciplinarities and Digital Scholarship” conference at the University of Southern California’s (USC’s) School of Cinematic Arts (SCA).
Dialectic’s Editorial Board hopes that conference attendees will consider submitting papers based on their conference presentations, and that they are joined by other educators or practitioners who wish to contribute to this important discussion by submitting a piece for possible publication in our third issue. Authors planning to contribute to this issue, be they conference attendees or others, are reminded that such works should be framed in one of the following submission types, which are described in more detail later in this call:
· original visual essays/visually based narratives/visual storytelling
· research papers
· long-form case study reports/case series reports
· position papers
· criticism of designed artifacts, systems, and processes
· reviews of books, exhibitions, and conferences
· survey papers
· theoretical speculations
Each piece that Dialectic will publish must be based on fundamentally sound scholarship and inquiry, written or designed so that is broadly accessible, and focused on topics relevant to its audiences.
Questions to shape submissions for possible publication in Dialectic Issue 03
The third issue of Dialectic seeks papers and visual essays/narratives of interest to a diverse audience of design educators and practitioners. Example prompts for authors include (but are not limited to):
How can design converge with digital scholarship in more than a superficial way?
How might aspects of digital scholarship impact design research?
What are key issues operating at the intersection of design and the humanities?
How might designers learn to construct knowledge and develop fluencies in digital scholarship?
How might designers develop tools and platforms to facilitate digital and/or analog projects?
What are promising areas where design thinking can lead digital learning situations and collaborations?
How might digital research methods inform the design of user experiences?
Dialectic’s web address for submissions: https://dialectic.submittable.com/submit.
Submitters are hereby advised to peruse the contents of the entire Dialectic website to ensure that their submissions meet ALL of Dialectic’s criteria for publication BEFORE they submit work for consideration. Work that is not formatted (including citations) according the Chicago Manual of Style will be rejected, as will work that is not grammatically and syntactically well-crafted. Authors are strongly encouraged to enlist the aid of an editor with scholarly publishing experience to help them effectively “draft and craft” their prose!
Dialectic’s inaugural issue/”Issue 01” was published in March of 2017 and is available online at Amazon.com, or as an online entity.
Dialectic’s second issue/“Issue 02” is being edited and designed as of this writing, and will be published between July 24 and September 11, 2017.
All submissions to Dialectic MUST be made through the “Submittable” website hosted by Michigan Publishing listed above. Please DO NOT attempt to send any type of submission as an e-mail attachment to any of Dialectic’s Editorial Board members, its Producer, its AIGA DEC liaisons, or members of its Advisory Committee. Instructions for formatting ALL types of submissions are embedded (per category) in this “Submittable” website. Submissions that are NOT formatted according to these instructions will be rejected. (Examples of properly formatted manuscript pages are available here; examples of Dialectic’s citation styles are available here.) All submissions must be created in keeping with the editorial policy of Dialectic, which is articulated here.
Dialectic will publish visual essays/narratives and papers that satisfy the following categorical descriptions:
Original visual essays/visually based narratives/visual storytelling: Dialectic invites submissions from designers or teams of designers that are comprised primarily or solely of imagery (photography and/or illustrations), typographic structures, “type-as-image,” or some combination of these that visually communicate one or more types of narrative/storytelling. The logistical criteria specified in the “Illustrations, Graphics, and Photos” section of the “2016-17 Submissions Guidelines for Dialectic” document must be met (re: image resolutions, physical sizes, bleeds, etc.), and submissions that are assessed by the Editorial Board and/or external reviewers to be visually compelling and conceptually provocative will be considered for publication, pending the availability of page space in a given issue.
Research papers (3,000 to 4,500 words): These articles will recount how designers and design teams identified a situation that was problematic, formulated and operated research to understand the various factors, conditions and people involved that were affecting the situation, and then used their analysis of the data gathered from this research to guide design decision-making toward improving this situation. This type of writing should be grounded in evidentiary processes, and should clearly explicate a hypothesis, as well as posit and support a methodology and some form of a measurable data set.
Long-form case study reports or case series reports (3,000 to 4,500 words): These articles will describe how a particular person, group, project, event, experience or situation has been studied and analyzed, using one or more methods, during a specific span of time. These contributions should posit insights that exist as logical subsets of a larger category, and that are at least tangentially generalizable to the category. A case series report collectively describes how a group of individuals have responded to a particular type of treatment, experience or interaction. They can be used to help analyze and assess the responses of a cross-section of individual users to one or more iterations of an interface design, or an environmental graphics or wayfinding system, or a series of data visualizations.
Position papers (2,000 to 3,000 words): These essays will present the readership of Dialectic with an opinion—of the author, or of a specified group of people or organization—about an issue or set of issues in a way or ways that make particular values and the belief systems that guide them known.
Design criticism (as long-form essays of between 2,000 and 3,000 words): The goal of these pieces is to critically analyze design decision-making, and the affects that making and using what has been designed have on the operation and evolution of social, technological, economic, environmental and political systems.
Reviews of books, exhibitions, conferences, etc. (750 to 1,500 words): These shorter articles are written to critically analyze the efficacy of the structure, content, style, and relative merit of their particular subjects in ways that combine the author’s personal reactions and arguments to it with his/her assessment of how effectively it fulfilled or failed in its purpose.
Survey papers (2,000 to 3,000 words): These pieces are written to clearly summarize, organize, and analyze a select, topical grouping of scholarly articles, research papers, or case studies in a way that integrates and adds to the understanding of the work in a given discipline or field of study.
Theoretical speculations (3,000 to 4,500 words): These contributions will consist of attempts by their authors to explain a particular phenomenon, set of circumstances, or situational construct based on their ability to utilize observations rather than hard evidence to fuel speculative thoughts and suppositions. These contributions should be grounded in a viable paradigm, or use theory as a viable justification for what has been observed, and should be internally coherent and advance logical conclusions.
Editorial responses from Dialectic readers (750 to 1,200 words): Dialectic encourages its readers to submit critical responses to specific articles, editorials, or visual pieces that have been published in previous issues. Authors are also welcome to bring any issues that they believe are pertinent to the attention of Dialectic’s readership. Editorial commentary relative to specific published articles and pieces will be sent to their author(s) so they can respond.
Important dates:
Deadline for full versions of papers written that meet Dialectic Issue 03’s categorical descriptions and “research by, for and through design education” theme: 5:00 pm CST, July 24, 2016
Initial/Desk reviews of submissions to Dialectic Issue 02 complete: August 21, 2017
External reviews of submission to Dialectic Issue 02 complete: October 2, 2017
Authors responses/revisions to external reviewers’ suggestions re: their manuscripts due: October 30, 2017
Dialectic Issue 03 published: November 15–December 31, 2017
Dialectic’s managing editor: Keith M. Owens, The University of North Texas
Dialectic’s producer: Michael R. Gibson, The University of North Texas
Dialectic’s editorial board:
Anne Burdick, Art Center
Heather Corcoran, Washington University at St. Louis
Kenneth FitzGerald, Old Dominion University
Deborah Littlejohn, North Carolina State University
Keith M. Owens, The University of North Texas
Stacie Rohrbach, Carnegie Mellon University
Dialectic’s AIGA Design Educators Community liaisons:
Eric Benson, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Amy Fidler, Bowling Green State University
Michael R. Gibson, The University of North Texas
Dialectic’s advisory committee:
Kim Erwin, The Illinois Institute of Technology Institute of Design
Brockett Horne, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
Ann McDonald, Northeastern University
Paul Nini, The Ohio State University
Elizabeth Resnick, Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt)
Holly Willis, The University of Southern California
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