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_id	7ce5
authors	Gal, Shahaf
year	1992
title	Computers and Design Activities: Their Mediating Role in Engineering Education
source	Sociomedia, ed. Edward Barret. MIT Press
summary	Sociomedia: With all the new words used to describe electronic communication (multimedia, hypertext, cyberspace, etc.), do we need another one? Edward Barrett thinks we do; hence, he coins the term "sociomedia." It is meant to displace a computing economy in which technicity is hypostasized over sociality. Sociomedia, a compilation of twenty-five articles on the theory, design and practice of educational multimedia and hypermedia, attempts to re-value the communicational face of computing. Value, of course, is "ultimately a social construct." As such, it has everything to do with knowledge, power, education and technology. The projects discussed in this book represent the leading edge of electronic knowledge production in academia (not to mention major funding) and are determining the future of educational media. For these reasons, Sociomedia warrants close inspection. Barrett's introduction sets the tone. For him, designing computer media involves hardwiring a mechanism for the social construction of knowledge (1). He links computing to a process of social and communicative interactivity for constructing and desseminating knowledge. Through a mechanistic mapping of the university as hypercontext (a huge network that includes classrooms as well as services and offices), Barrett models intellectual work in such a way as to avoid "limiting definitions of human nature or human development." Education, then, can remain "where it should be--in the human domain (public and private) of sharing ideas and information through the medium of language." By leaving education in a virtual realm (where we can continue to disagree about its meaning and execution), it remains viral, mutating and contaminating in an intellectually healthy way. He concludes that his mechanistic model, by means of its reductionist approach, preserves value (7). This "value" is the social construction of knowledge. While I support the social orientation of Barrett's argument, discussions of value are related to power. I am not referring to the traditional teacher-student power structure that is supposedly dismantled through cooperative and constructivist learning strategies. The power to be reckoned with in the educational arena is foundational, that which (pre)determines value and the circulation of knowledge. "Since each of you reading this paragraph has a different perspective on the meaning of 'education' or 'learning,' and on the processes involved in 'getting an education,' think of the hybris in trying to capture education in a programmable function, in a displayable object, in a 'teaching machine'" (7). Actually, we must think about that hybris because it is, precisely, what informs teaching machines. Moreover, the basic epistemological premises that give rise to such productions are too often assumed. In the case of instructional design, the episteme of cognitive sciences are often taken for granted. It is ironic that many of the "postmodernists" who support electronic hypertextuality seem to have missed Jacques Derrida's and Michel Foucault's "deconstructions" of the epistemology underpinning cognitive sciences (if not of epistemology itself). Perhaps it is the glitz of the technology that blinds some users (qua developers) to the belief systems operating beneath the surface. Barrett is not guilty of reactionary thinking or politics; he is, in fact, quite in line with much American deconstructive and postmodern thinking. The problem arises in that he leaves open the definitions of "education," "learning" and "getting an education." One cannot engage in the production of new knowledge without orienting its design, production and dissemination, and without negotiating with others' orientations, especially where largescale funding is involved. Notions of human nature and development are structural, even infrastructural, whatever the medium of the teaching machine. Although he addresses some dynamics of power, money and politics when he talks about the recession and its effects on the conference, they are readily visible dynamics of power (3-4). Where does the critical factor of value determination, of power, of who gets what and why, get mapped onto a mechanistic model of learning institutions? Perhaps a mapping of contributors' institutions, of the funding sources for the projects showcased and for participation in the conference, and of the disciplines receiving funding for these sorts of projects would help visualize the configurations of power operative in the rising field of educational multimedia. Questions of power and money notwithstanding, Barrett's introduction sets the social and textual thematics for the collection of essays. His stress on interactivity, on communal knowledge production, on the society of texts, and on media producers and users is carried foward through the other essays, two of which I will discuss. Section I of the book, "Perspectives...," highlights the foundations, uses and possible consequences of multimedia and hypertextuality. The second essay in this section, "Is There a Class in This Text?," plays on the robust exchange surrounding Stanley Fish's book, Is There a Text in This Class?, which presents an attack on authority in reading. The author, John Slatin, has introduced electronic hypertextuality and interaction into his courses. His article maps the transformations in "the content and nature of work, and the workplace itself"-- which, in this case, is not industry but an English poetry class (25). Slatin discovered an increase of productive and cooperative learning in his electronically- mediated classroom. For him, creating knowledge in the electronic classroom involves interaction between students, instructors and course materials through the medium of interactive written discourse. These interactions lead to a new and persistent understanding of the course materials and of the participants' relation to the materials and to one another. The work of the course is to build relationships that, in my view, constitute not only the meaning of individual poems, but poetry itself. The class carries out its work in the continual and usually interactive production of text (31). While I applaud his strategies which dismantle traditional hierarchical structures in academia, the evidence does not convince me that the students know enough to ask important questions or to form a self-directing, learning community. Stanley Fish has not relinquished professing, though he, too, espouses the indeterminancy of the sign. By the fourth week of his course, Slatin's input is, by his own reckoning, reduced to 4% (39). In the transcript of the "controversial" Week 6 exchange on Gertrude Stein--the most disliked poet they were discussing at the time (40)--we see the blind leading the blind. One student parodies Stein for three lines and sums up his input with "I like it." Another, finds Stein's poetry "almost completey [sic] lacking in emotion or any artistic merit" (emphasis added). On what grounds has this student become an arbiter of "artistic merit"? Another student, after admitting being "lost" during the Wallace Steven discussion, talks of having more "respect for Stevens' work than Stein's" and adds that Stein's poetry lacks "conceptual significance[, s]omething which people of varied opinion can intelligently discuss without feeling like total dimwits...." This student has progressed from admitted incomprehension of Stevens' work to imposing her (groundless) respect for his work over Stein's. Then, she exposes her real dislike for Stein's poetry: that she (the student) missed the "conceptual significance" and hence cannot, being a person "of varied opinion," intelligently discuss it "without feeling like [a] total dimwit." Slatin's comment is frightening: "...by this point in the semester students have come to feel increasingly free to challenge the instructor" (41). The students that I have cited are neither thinking critically nor are their preconceptions challenged by student-governed interaction. Thanks to the class format, one student feels self-righteous in her ignorance, and empowered to censure. I believe strongly in student empowerment in the classroom, but only once students have accrued enough knowledge to make informed judgments. Admittedly, Slatin's essay presents only partial data (there are six hundred pages of course transcripts!); still, I wonder how much valuable knowledge and metaknowledge was gained by the students. I also question the extent to which authority and professorial dictature were addressed in this course format. The power structures that make it possible for a college to require such a course, and the choice of texts and pedagogy, were not "on the table." The traditional professorial position may have been displaced, but what took its place?--the authority of consensus with its unidentifiable strong arm, and the faceless reign of software design? Despite Slatin's claim that the students learned about the learning process, there is no evidence (in the article) that the students considered where their attitudes came from, how consensus operates in the construction of knowledge, how power is established and what relationship they have to bureaucratic insitutions. How do we, as teaching professionals, negotiate a balance between an enlightened despotism in education and student-created knowledge? Slatin, and other authors in this book, bring this fundamental question to the fore. There is no definitive answer because the factors involved are ultimately social, and hence, always shifting and reconfiguring. Slatin ends his article with the caveat that computerization can bring about greater estrangement between students, faculty and administration through greater regimentation and control. Of course, it can also "distribute authority and power more widely" (50). Power or authority without a specific face, however, is not necessarily good or just. Shahaf Gal's "Computers and Design Activities: Their Mediating Role in Engineering Education" is found in the second half of the volume, and does not allow for a theory/praxis dichotomy. Gal recounts a brief history of engineering education up to the introduction of Growltiger (GT), a computer-assisted learning aid for design. He demonstrates GT's potential to impact the learning of engineering design by tracking its use by four students in a bridge-building contest. What his text demonstrates clearly is that computers are "inscribing and imaging devices" that add another viewpoint to an on-going dialogue between student, teacher, earlier coursework, and other teaching/learning tools. The less proficient students made a serious error by relying too heavily on the technology, or treating it as a "blueprint provider." They "interacted with GT in a way that trusted the data to represent reality. They did not see their interaction with GT as a negotiation between two knowledge systems" (495). Students who were more thoroughly informed in engineering discourses knew to use the technology as one voice among others--they knew enough not simply to accept the input of the computer as authoritative. The less-advanced students learned a valuable lesson from the competition itself: the fact that their designs were not able to hold up under pressure (literally) brought the fact of their insufficient knowledge crashing down on them (and their bridges). They also had, post factum, several other designs to study, especially the winning one. Although competition and comparison are not good pedagogical strategies for everyone (in this case the competitors had volunteered), at some point what we think we know has to be challenged within the society of discourses to which it belongs. Students need critique in order to learn to push their learning into auto-critique. This is what is lacking in Slatin's discussion and in the writings of other avatars of constructivist, collaborative and computer-mediated pedagogies. Obviously there are differences between instrumental types of knowledge acquisition and discoursive knowledge accumulation. Indeed, I do not promote the teaching of reading, thinking and writing as "skills" per se (then again, Gal's teaching of design is quite discursive, if not dialogic). Nevertheless, the "soft" sciences might benefit from "bridge-building" competitions or the re-institution of some forms of agonia. Not everything agonistic is inhuman agony--the joy of confronting or creating a sound argument supported by defensible evidence, for example. Students need to know that soundbites are not sound arguments despite predictions that electronic writing will be aphoristic rather than periodic. Just because writing and learning can be conceived of hypertextually does not mean that rigor goes the way of the dinosaur. Rigor and hypertextuality are not mutually incompatible. Nor is rigorous thinking and hard intellectual work unpleasurable, although American anti-intellectualism, especially in the mass media, would make it so. At a time when the spurious dogmatics of a Rush Limbaugh and Holocaust revisionist historians circulate "aphoristically" in cyberspace, and at a time when knowledge is becoming increasingly textualized, the role of critical thinking in education will ultimately determine the value(s) of socially constructed knowledge. This volume affords the reader an opportunity to reconsider knowledge, power, and new communications technologies with respect to social dynamics and power relationships.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	b0e7
authors	Ahmad Rafi, M.E. and Karboulonis, P.
year	2000
title	The Re-Convergence of Art and Science: A Vehicle for Creativity
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2000.491
source	CAADRIA 2000 [Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 981-04-2491-4] Singapore 18-19 May 2000, pp. 491-500
summary	Ever-increasing complexity in product design and the need to deliver a cost-effective solution that benefits from a dynamic approach requires the employment and adoption of innovative design methods which ensure that products are of the highest quality and meet or exceed customers' expectations. According to Bronowski (1976) science and art were originally two faces of the same human creativity. However, as civilisation advances and works became specialised, the dichotomy of science and art gradually became apparent. Hence scientists and artists were born, and began to develop work that was polar opposite. The sense of beauty itself became separated from science and was confined within the field of art. This dichotomy existed through mankind's efforts in advancing civilisation to its present state. This paper briefly examines the relationship between art and science through the ages and discusses their relatively recent re-convergence. Based on this hypothesis, this paper studies the current state of the convergence between arts and sciences and examines the current relationship between the two by considering real world applications and products. The study of such products and their successes and impact they had in the marketplace due to their designs and aesthetics rather than their advanced technology that had partially failed them appears to support this argument. This text further argues that a re-convergence between art and science is currently occurring and highlights the need for accelerating this process. It is suggested that re-convergence is a result of new technologies which are adopted by practitioners that include effective visualisation and communication of ideas and concepts. Such elements are widely found today in multimedia and Virtual Environments (VEs) where such tools offer increased power and new abilities to both scientists and designers as both venture in each other's domains. This paper highlights the need for the employment of emerging computer based real-time interactive technologies that are expected to enhance the design process through real-time prototyping and visualisation, better decision-making, higher quality communication and collaboration, lessor error and reduced design cycles. Effective employment and adoption of innovative design methods that ensure products are delivered on time, and within budget, are of the highest quality and meet customer expectations are becoming of ever increasing importance. Such tools and concepts are outlined and their roles in the industries they currently serve are identified. Case studies from differing fields are also studied. It is also suggested that Virtual Reality interfaces should be used and given access to Computer Aided Design (CAD) model information and data so that users may interrogate virtual models for additional information and functionality. Adoption and appliance of such integrated technologies over the Internet and their relevance to electronic commerce is also discussed. Finally, emerging software and hardware technologies are outlined and case studies from the architecture, electronic games, and retail industries among others are discussed, the benefits are subsequently put forward to support the argument. The requirements for adopting such technologies in financial, skills required and process management terms are also considered and outlined.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	aa83
authors	Aho, Alfred V., Hopcroft , John E. and Ullman, Jeffrey D.
year	1976
title	The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms
source	x, 470 p. : ill Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Weslely Pub. Co., 1976. includes bibliography: p. [452]-462 and index.
summary	A text book for a first course in design and analysis of algorithms. The emphasis is on ideas and ease of understanding rather then on implementation details or programming tricks. It starts with formulating several models that include random access register machine, random access stored program machine and variants of these, so one can establish analytical results and at the same time accurately reflect on the salient features of real machines
keywords	algorithms, programming
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 13:58

_id	186e
authors	Blinn, J.F. and Newell, M.E.
year	1976
title	Texture and Reflection in Computer Generated Images
source	Communications of the ACM 19 10 542-547
summary	In 1974 Catmull developed a new algorithm for rendering images of bivariate surface patches. This paper describes extensions of this algorithm in the areas of texture simulation and lighting models. The parametrization of a patch defines a coordinate system which is used as a key for mapping patterns onto the surface. The intensity of the pattern at each picture element is computed as a weighted average of regions of the pattern definition function. The shape and size of this weighting function are chosen using digital signal processing theory. The patch rendering algorithm allows accurate computation of the surface normal to the patch at each picture element, permitting the simulation of mirror reflections. The amount of light coming from a given direction is modeled in a similar manner to the texture mapping and then added to the intensity obtained from the texture mapping. Several examples of images synthesized using these new techniques are included.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/11/21 15:16

_id	62c4
authors	Blinn, James F. and Newell, Martin E.
year	1976
title	Texture and Reflection in Computer Generated Images
source	communications of the ACM October, 1976. vol. 19: pp. 542-547 : ill. (col.). includes bibliography.
summary	In 1974 Catmull developed a new algorithm for rendering images of bivariate surface patches. This paper describes extensions of this algorithm in the areas of texture simulation and lighting models. The parametrization of a patch defines a coordinate system which is used as a key for mapping patterns onto the surface. The intensity of the pattern at each picture element is computed as a weighted average of regions of the pattern definition function. The shape and size of this weighting function are chosen using digital signal processing theory. The patch rendering algorithm allows accurate computation of the surface normal to the patch at each picture element, permitting the simulation of mirror reflections. The amount of light coming from a given direction is modeled in a similar manner to the texture mapping and then added to the intensity obtained from the texture mapping. Several examples of images synthesized using these new techniques are included
keywords	algorithms, computer graphics, shading, hidden surfaces, texture mapping, curved surfaces, rendering
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 13:58

_id	ecaade2014_113
id	ecaade2014_113
authors	Burak Pak and Johan Verbeke
year	2014
title	ICT-enabled Civic Empowerment and Participation: in Design, through Design
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2014.1.089
source	Thompson, Emine Mine (ed.), Fusion - Proceedings of the 32nd eCAADe Conference - Volume 1, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK, 10-12 September 2014, pp. 89-97
summary	This paper aims to discuss the potentials of novel modes of participatory design in relation to the latest developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The first part of the study involves the extraction of the basic principles from the extraordinary cases of the Medical Faculty Housing by Lucien Kroll (1976) and Cedric Price's Fun Place (1965) in which various forms of ICT-enabled participation were conceived. In the second part, we reframe the existing ICT tools and strategies and elaborate their potentials to support the modes of participation performed in these two cases. As a result, by distilling the created knowledge, we introduce a model of ICT-enabled design participation which exploits a set of collective action tools to support sustainable ways of self-organization and bottom-up design.
wos	WOS:000361384700008
keywords	Participatory architectural design; crowdsourcing; crowdfunding; self-organization
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	2866
authors	Clark, James H.
year	1976
title	Hierarchical Geometric Model for Visible Surface Algorithms
source	communications of the ACM. October, 1976. vol. 19: pp. 547-554 : ill. includes bibliography
summary	The geometric structure inherent in the definition of the shapes of three-dimensional objects and environments is used not just to define their relative motion and placement, but also to assist in solving many other problems of systems for producing pictures by computers. By using an extension of traditional structure information, or a geometric hierarchy, five significant improvements to current techniques are possible. First, the range of complexity of an environment is greatly increased while the visible complexity of any given scene is kept within a fixed upper limit. Second, a meaningful way is provided to vary the amount of detail presented in a scene. Third, 'clipping' becomes a very fast logarithmic search for the resolvable parts of the environment within the field of view. Fourth, frame to frame coherence and clipping define a graphical 'working set,' or fraction of the total structure that should be present in primary store for immediate access by the visible surface algorithm. Finally, the geometric structure suggests a recursive descent, visible surface algorithm in which the computation time potentially grows linearly with the visible complexity of the scene
keywords	hidden lines, hidden surfaces, data structures, clipping, geometric modeling, algorithms, computer graphics
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 13:58

_id	cf2009_poster_27
id	cf2009_poster_27
authors	Do, Ellen Yi-Luen
year	2009
title	Towards A Smart Living Environment: Happy Healthy Living With Ambient Intelligence and Technology
source	T. Tidafi and T. Dorta (eds) Joining Languages Cultures and Visions: CAADFutures 2009 CD-Rom
summary	Achieving wellness is a Grand Challenge. We are concerned about the quality of life for ourselves and for our society. As human beings we want to develop and cultivate our untapped potential for a happy, healthy, creative and fulfilling life. Technological innovation may be just the key to unlock human potential for the Holy Grail of wellness. Wellness has multiple dimensions: physical, emotional, occupational, social, intellectual and spiritual (Hettler 1976). Below we briefly describe interesting design computing projects employing technological innovations to contribute toward a smart living environment for wellness.
keywords	Ambient, intelligence, ubiquitous computing, smart living
series	CAAD Futures
type	poster
email
last changed	2009/07/08 22:11

_id	4d59
authors	Greer, Kenneth
year	1976
title	SPACS : Graphics Editor
source	July, 1976. 22 p. : ill. includes index
summary	SPACS is an interactive graphics editor for use with a stylus/tablet input device in conjunction with a graphics display terminal. SPACS is well suited for making tables, flow charts, logic diagrams, and other similar schematic diagrams. The user may ultimately obtain a hard copy of her work via the Xerox Graphic Processor (XGP). SPACS is composed of a large PDP-11 program, where the picture processing is performed, and a SAIL program on the PDP-10, which acts as an I/O link for saving and retrieving files. In addition there is another SAIL program for creating image files for the XGP
keywords	computer graphics, programming, software
series	CADline
last changed	1999/02/12 15:08

_id	01ed
authors	Haberman, N. and DeWayne, M.C.
year	1976
title	ADA for Experienced Programmers
source	Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
summary	A unique presentation of Ada, the powerful programming language sponsored and championed by the Department of Defense, and mandated to be used for developing all mission-critical software to used by the U.S. Armed Forces. This text is offered to experienced programmers, who most often lack the resources to learn a new language: either the existing texts are too simple, designed for beginners, or the texts are of reference quality, designed to be of use to users with extensive experience "behind the wheel," so to speak. Contains sample situations and study questions to help learners absorb Ada concepts.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	8f1d
authors	Herot, C.
year	1976
title	Graphical Input Through Machine Recognition of Sketches
source	Computer Graphics, SIGGRAPH Quarterly Report, Vol. 10, No. 2
summary	A family of programs has been developed to allow graphical input through continuous digitizing. Drawing data, sampled at a high and constant rate, is compressed and mapped into lines and splines, in two and three dimensions. This is achieved by inferring a particular user's intentions from measures of speed and pressure.Recent experiments have shown that even the most basic inference making cannot rely solely upon knowledge of the user's drawing style, but needs additional knowledge of the subject being drawn, the protocols of its domain, and the stage of development of the user's design. This requirement implies a higher level of machine intelligence than currently exists. An alternate approach is to increase the user's involvement in the recognition process.Contrary to previous efforts to move from sketch to mechanical drawing without human intervention, this paper reports on an interactive system for graphical input in which the user overtly partakes in training the machine and massaging the data at all levels of interpretation. The initial routines for data compression employ parallel functions for extracting such features as bentness, straightness, and endness. These are planned for implementation in microprocessors.Results offer a system for rapid (and enjoyable) graphical input with real-time interpretation, the beginnings of an intelligent tablet.
series	report
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	266a
authors	Klinger, Allen and Dyer, Charles R.
year	1976
title	Experiments on Picture Representation Using Regular Decomposition
source	Computer Graphics and Image Processing. 1976. vol. 5: pp. 68-105 : ill. includes bibliography
summary	The problem of building a computer-searchable data representation for a complex image and the effect of representation on algorithms for scene segmentation into regions is considered. A regular decomposition of picture area into successively smaller quadrants is defined, which involves logarithmic search. This hierarchical search and resulting picture representation are shown to enable rapid access of image data without regard to position, efficient storage, and approximate structural descriptions of constituent patterns. Examples involving solid geometrical objects and alphabetic characters are given
keywords	algorithms, image processing, search, decomposition
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 13:58

_id	fb37
authors	Knight, T.
year	1999
title	Applications in architectural design and education and practice
source	Report for the NSF/MIT Workshop on Shape Computation, Cambridge, Mass., 25-26 April 1999
summary	Shortly after shape grammars were invented by Stiny and Gips, a two part project for shape grammars was outlined by Stiny. In a 1976 paper,1 Stiny described "two exercises in formal composition". These simple exercises became the foundation for the many applications of shape grammars that followed, and suggested the potential of such applications in education and practice. The first exercise showed how shape grammars could be used in original composition, that is, the creation of new design languages or styles from scratch. The second exercise showed how shape grammars could be used to analyze known or existing design languages. Both exercises illustrated the unique characteristics of the shape grammar formalism that helped motivate a quarter century (almost!) of shape grammar work. General but simple, formal yet intuitive: qualities that continue to make shape grammar disciples and confound skeptics. The history of shape grammar applications in architecture and the arts for the two complementary purposes of synthesis and analysis, as well as for a third, joint purpose is sketched in the first section of this report. These three categories of applications do not have rigid boundaries. They are used in this report mostly as a framework for discussion. An overview of the roles of shape grammar applications in education and practice is given in the second section. New and ongoing issues concerning shape grammars in education and practice are discussed in the last section.
series	report
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	407caadria2004
id	407caadria2004
authors	Larry Sass
year	2004
title	Rapid Prototyping Techniques for Building Program Study
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2004.655
source	CAADRIA 2004 [Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 89-7141-648-3] Seoul Korea 28-30 April 2004, pp. 655-670
summary	This paper is original research that demonstrates new design possibilities for evaluation in the schematic phase of design through the use rapid prototyping as a tool of representation verses 2D drawing. These program shapes are created from CAD files using a threedimensional printing and laser cutting CAM tools. This way of working is in response to two dimensional plan representation and evaluation (Mitchell 1976). This research combines the best of the visual aspects of plan representation and the formal representation of solid block modeling. The models in this paper demonstrate the building’s physical scale of spaces, building use and overall form. Resulting models will demonstrate a new way of designing in CAD one that combined physical and visual ways or representation.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	4f07
authors	Leach, Edmund
year	1976
title	Culture and Communication. The logic by which symbols are connected
source	Cambridge University Press. London
summary	The recent spread of 'structuralist' writing has been hailed as the dawn of a new age and condemned as an intellectual disaster but, like all fashionable diseases, it is more talked about than understood. Edmund Leach's new book is designed for the use if teaching undergraduates in anthropology, linguistics, literary studies, philosophy and related disciplines faced for the first time with structuralist argument; it provides the prolegomena necessary to understand the final chapter of Levi-Strauss's massive four-volume Mythologiques. The objective is complex, the manner simple. Some prior knowledge of anthropological literature is useful but not essential; the principal ethnographic source is the Book of Leviticus; this guide should help anyone who is trying to grasp the essentials of 'seminology' - the general theory of how signs and symbols come to convey meaning.Although, in essence, a textbook, substantial portions of the argument are here presented for the first time; thus Section 16 contains an innovating contribution to general incest theory, and the analysis of the logic of animal sacrifice presented in Section 18 is an advance on anything previous published on this theme. The author's core thesis is that: 'the indices in non-verbal communication systems, like the sound elements in spoken language, do not have meaning as isolates, but only as members of set'; the book's special merit is that it makes this kind of jargon comprehensible in terms of our everyday experience.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	888b
authors	Levin, Joshua
year	1976
title	A Parametric Algorithm for Drawing Pictures of Solid Objects Composed of Quadric Surfaces
source	Communications of the ACM. October, 1976. vol. 19: pp. 555- 563. includes bibliography
summary	An algorithm for drawing pictures of three-dimensional objects, with surfaces made up of patches of quadric surfaces, is described. The emphasis of this algorithm is on calculating the intersections of quadric surfaces. A parametrization scheme is used. Each quadric surface intersection curve (QSIC) is represented as a set of coefficients and parameter limits. Each value of the parameter represents at most two points, and these may easily be distinguished. This scheme can find the coordinates of points of even quartic (fourth-order) intersection curves, using equations of no more than second order. Methods of parametrization for each type of QSIC are discussed, as well as surface bounding and hidden surface removal
keywords	algorithms, curves, curved surfaces, intersection, hidden surfaces, parametrization, computational geometry
series	CADline
last changed	1999/02/12 15:09

_id	e9e6
authors	Lowerre, Bruce and Reddy, Raj D.
year	1976
title	The Harpy Speech Understanding
source	1976. pp. 1-19
summary	Harpy is one of the first systems to demonstrate that high performance, large vocabulary connected speech recognition systems can in fact be realized economically for task- oriented (restricted) languages. In this chapter the authors present, using simple examples, the principles of organization of the Harpy system. They illustrate how knowledge sources (KSs) are specified, how the knowledge compiler integrates the KSs into a unified directional graph representation, and how this knowledge is utilized. In conclusion, they discuss many of the limitations of the present system and how these can be eliminated or reduced in future systems
keywords	speech recognition, AI
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 10:24

_id	c7e0
id	c7e0
authors	Maria Gabriela Caffarena Celani
year	2002
title	BEYOND ANALYSIS AND REPRESENTATION IN CAD: A NEW COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO DESIGN EDUCATION
source	Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Architecture: Design & Computation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
summary	This thesis aims at changing students' attitude towards the use of computer-aided design (CAD) in architecture. It starts from the premise that CAD is used mostly for analysis and representation, and not as a real design aide, and that architecture students have a bias against learning computer programming. For this purpose, a prototypical instruction system that mixes computer-aided design and computational design theory was developed, based on a series of fundamental concepts that are common to both fields. This system was influenced by Mitchell's (1987) The Art of Computer Graphics Programming and Stiny's (1976) shape grammars. Despite being based on solid theoretical foundations, CAD has progressively become an exclusively practical tool, since its origins in the 50's and 60's, while computational design theories have been mostly restricted to the academic circles. This thesis proposes an inversion in the present situation: the study of CAD theory, and the application of computational design into practice. The system proposed provides a conceptual framework that can be adapted to different circumstances, including course formats and resources, as well as students' background and technical training. It is based on seven fundamental concepts from computational design theories that are also important to the study of shape grammars: symmetry, recursion, rule-based compositions, parameterization of shapes, generative systems, algorithmization of design procedures, and shape emergence. These concepts are introduced within a CAD context, where their practical implementation and experimentation are possible, focusing the understanding of the computational nature of design. During this research, the proposed system was tested in two case studies with students from schools that had contrary orientations in terms of the importance of CAD in the architectural curriculum. In these experimental courses, students' activities evolved from using a commercial CAD tool in an innovative way, to the use of programming techniques for creating meaningful tools. Despite not having a statistical reach, the fieldwork allowed drawing preliminary conclusions about the proposed system's efficacy, since virtually all the students reported changing their understanding of the role of CAD in architecture, while some also acknowledged a conceptual influence in other subjects and in the way they see architecture.
keywords	Symmetry
series	thesis:PhD
type	normal paper
email
more	http://www.fec.unicamp.br/~celani/
last changed	2004/11/17 20:51

_id	485f
authors	Maver, T.W.
year	1976
title	Democracy and Design Decision Making
source	Proceedings of CAD76, London. IPC, 308-312
series	other
email
last changed	2003/06/02 15:00

_id	acadia03_046
id	acadia03_046
authors	Maze, J., McGlothlin, M. and Tanzer, K.
year	2003
title	Fluid (in)form:Influencing Design Through Dynamic Particle Simulation
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2003.357
source	Connecting >> Crossroads of Digital Discourse [Proceedings of the 2003 Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture / ISBN 1-880250-12-8] Indianapolis (Indiana) 24-27 October 2003, pp. 357-363
summary	“My earliest childhood memories are related to a ranch my family owned near the village of Mazamitla. It was a pueblo with hills, formed by houses with tile roofs and immense eaves to shield passersby from the heavy rains which fall in that area. Even the earth’s color was interesting because it was red earth. In this village, the water distribution system consisted of great gutted logs, in the form of troughs, which ran on a support structure of tree forks, five meters high, above the roofs. The aqueduct crossed over the town, reaching the patios, where there were great stone fountains to receive the water. The patios outside the stables, with cows and chickens, all together. Outside, in the street, there were iron rings to tie the horses. The channeled logs, covered with moss, dripped water all over town, of course. It gave this village the ambience of a fairy tale.”(Luis Barragan,qtd in Ambasz 1976)
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

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