A Course on Cognition and Computation of Design at National Chiao Tung University

$5,000 to expand its coverage and membership program. L.A.S.E.R. NEWS is published by the Laser Arts Society for Education and Research and is a worldwide forum for holographers and laser users. In 1995, the Shearwater Foundation developed an artists-in-residence program designed to give accomplished holographie artists access to high-quality production facilities. The 1995 program awards one $4,000 grant each to Holographies North, of Burlington, Vermont , U.S.A., and H'Ologrammi of Lyons, France. The grant will provide a paid residency to an artist in each company's facility. In addition to free studio time, the artists will receive film, chemicals, lab assistance and a stipend of $500 for travel and per diem expenses . Applications for these grants will be received by each facility and reviewed by a selection panel composed ofJohn Perry, of Holographies North; Francois Mazzero of H'Ologrammi; Ramon Benito of Madrid, Spain; Margaret Benyon of Dorset, England; John Kaufman of Point Reyes, California, U.S.A.; Ana Maria Nicholson of Long Island City, New York, U.S.A.; and Andrew Pepper of Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany. Both Holographies North and H'Ologrammi are large plate facilities that have worked for many years with artists as well as commercial clients. Manuscript received 22 December 1995. A Course on Cognition and Computation of Design at National Chiao Tung University Yu-TungLiu In March of 1994, as soon as 1 finished giving a series of lectures called "Cognition and Computation of Design" at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 1offered the same course at the Institute of Applied Arts at National Chaio Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan . A master's thesis is required for all students at NCTU; to help them learn how to conduct their theses, I introduced the first-year master's students to both the theoretical background and the current research outcomes of cognitive aspects of design and computeraided design in the light of recent advances in cognitive science, artificial intelligence and neuroscience. The central aim of this course was to explore how designers think during computerized design processes. Hence, examination of the relationship and interaction between design cognition and computer-aided design was critical. During the course, 1conducted some experiments in cognitive and experimental psychology and artificial-intelligence programs so the students could gain more concrete conceptions without having to conduct their own experiments and write computer programs. The main topics covered in this course were design knowledge and memory, design problem-solving, design shaperestructuring and design creativity. Yu-Tung Liu (designer. educator), Institute ofApplied Art. National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. 328 Art/Science Forum In the session on design knowledge and memory, 1introduced the distinction between human short-term memory and long-term memory, as well as their properties, by giving some examples from design history [1], such as the memory structure required to store the chunk of knowledge "Michelangelo designed Campidoglio in the Renaissance ." 1 then introduced different types of knowledge representational schemes, including declarative/procedural knowledge, frames, semantic networks and scripts [2]. In the session on design problemsolving , we examined various models of designing, such as Alexander's analysissynthesis model, Pena's problem-seeking /problem-solving model, Schon's seeing-moving-seeing model [3] and Simon's influential search model [4]. I also demonstrated my own knowledgeFig . 1. Parametric Mondrian paintings: computer-generated abstract paintings by Shih-Chin Lin (1994). based computer system, which I based on the search model and created in an attempt to bring cognitive results into computational thinking behaviors [5]. Special attention was paid here to the combination of the seeing-moving-seeing model and the search model in order to produce a combinatorial model of design that would include visual search and knowledge search. In the session on shape restructuring , 1 began with some background on shape recognition and its theoretical limitations in order to illustrate the differences in cognition capabilities between non-experienced and experienced designers [6]. I also showed some of the neural networks associated with necessary mechanisms of visual attention [7], which overcome limitations and provide vivid shape restructuring in terms of emergent subshapes. Finally, I briefly introduced various approaches to creativity in current research fields...