Mar 15, 2016
Robert Fee, Paul Fishwick and Roger Malina discuss the current discussion on the need to integrate art and design into science and engineering, STEM to STEAM. In particular the different ways that design is understood , from component design to context design. They can teach design using different approaches from problem, project, object, and topic approaches, but that university curricula are often designed backwards with the integrative approaches only occurring later in the syllabus. The discussion concluded with a nightmare scenario of the museum of the future which anticipates visitor interests and tell them what to experience, and commercial personalization of buyer needs versus customization. Fee contrasted the scenarios of going to the restaurant and experiencing the unanticipated offer of a great chef, a restaurant algorithm that anticipates what you should eat based on previous behavior, or a made-to-order menu.