ICOHTEC will hold its next symposium in Barcelona in July 2012. Herewith I may remind that the deadline for paper & session proposals will expire on
31 January.
Please, note that I am looking for papers to a session proposal titled "Functionality of Homes and Their Appliances – Challenges for Design, Technology and Production".
You are welcome to send your paper proposal and free to distribute the attached announcement among your colleagues and students.
All the best
Timo Myllyntaus
Secretary General, ICOHTEC
http://utu.academia.edu/TimoMyllyntaus
http://www.icohtec.org/
=======================================================================================================
Call for Papers
Session on Confronting Views on Functional Housing, ICOHTEC, Barcelona, 10-14 July 2012
Invitation to contribute a Session of the Theme: Consumers’ Impact on the Dialogue between Technology, Arts and Architecture at the 39th Symposium of the International Committee for the History of Technology, ICOHTEC (Barcelona, Spain, 10-14 July 2012). Organised by Timo Myllyntaus.
Functionality of Homes and Their Appliances – Challenges for Design, Technology and Production
People furnish their homes with various connotations and give various emphases to their implications. While some appreciate the status value of their homes, others prefer cosiness and a relaxed atmosphere. Some aim to keep their homes as economical as possible, whereas others regard home as the primary investment object. Nevertheless, most people want to use home for expressing their personality. Hence there is a saying that “show me your home and I tell you what kind of a person you are”.
Despite its significance, functionality is seldom brought up as the foremost preference when people characterise their existing homes or their ideal residences. Nevertheless, an aim to reach functionality adapted to its purpose is always at present in one way or another, although the practicality of homes is a blurred concept. One reason for that is people’s tendency to see functionality from dissimilar perspectives.
Homeowners have their ideas of functionality, whereas providers of commodities attempt to anticipate what kind of home functionality consumers prefer at the moment and will expect in the near future.
This session aims to examine how consumers see functionality on one hand and how architects, house builders, designers and engineers of home appliances attempt, on the other hand to please the present sentiments of consumers or to set new trends for designing home interiors and equipping them with appliances. How much power consumers have in furnishing their homes and shaping household technology? These themes can be approached by contributors from various perspectives and time dimensions. A key viewpoint is to examine the dialogue of various stakeholders as a meeting point of challenging encounters and solving hitches innovatively.
Please, contact Timo Myllyntaus (timmyl@utu.fi) and submit an abstract
(200–400 words) of your paper and a one page CV by 28 January 2012.
Further information at: http://www.icohtec.org/annual-meeting-cfp-2012.html
