This call welcomes designers, software developers, hardware sketchers, architects, and educators to submit proposals for design-driven research to be conducted in Summer 2011 in residence in the Graduate Media Design Program studio.

The residency runs from May 2 - August 26, 2011 and includes project space within the MDP studio—a former supersonic wind tunnel—on the south campus of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

The resident will receive a $5,000 stipend and a $5,000 budget for materials and support along with access to the College's shops and production facilities ranging from letterpress to video editing to rapid prototyping. The resident will also get to work with a project team of 2-3 graduate student research assistants (media designers/ design researchers) for 7 weeks full-time or 14 weeks half-time.

For 2011, we are particularly interested in projects that explore learning in a context of pervasive computing, including mobile technologies, social networking, online systems and digital media. We will consider projects for all learning situations but are most interested in post-secondary art and design education, as an extension of our New Ecology of Things initiative.

This unique context is best for research that incorporates design and prototyping as a mode of inquiry. Outcomes may include working prototypes, speculative visions, new pedagogical models and new learning contexts.

The project may consider the full spectrum of pervasive computing's role, from additions to the traditional studio classroom, to supplemental learning outside of the classroom, to distance learning with a teacher, to completely self-directed learning.

Since the project is focused on pervasive computing, traditional browser-based online learning systems should not be central to the project.

How do the tangible interactions enabled by pervasive computing change the potentials of eLearning for art and design students who are learning how to make physical artifacts?

How might art/design critique be affected by the use of pervasive computing?

What role might tablets, smart phones, sensors, or actuators play in learning?

What role might social networking play in new learning systems integrated with ubiquitous computing?

How might contemporary educational practices such as project-based learning and collaborative learning change in a context of pervasive computing?

What role might tangible interaction play in education for non-artifact-based design such as that for experiences, plans, and systems?

Mike Kuniavsky, researcher, designer, writer about people's experiences at the intersection of technology and everyday life. Author, Observing the User Experience, and Smart Things; founder, Sketching in Hardware; founder, ThingM; co-founder, Adaptive Path; founder, Wired Digital User Experience Lab for Wired Magazine's online division.

Tara McPherson, professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts.Co-editor for two upcoming anthologies on new technology (including one for the MacArthur Foundation’s initiative in Digital Media and Learning). Founding editor of VectorsJournal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, one of the founding organizers of Race in Digital Space, an initiative supported by the Annenberg Center for Communication and the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations; core member of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory).

Phil van Allen, MDP core research faculty, director of the New Ecology of Things initiative, and creator of the NET Lab Toolkit.

Ben Hooker, multimedia artist and designer, MDP core research faculty.