Ulm Aesthetics

In order to contribute to the widening and enriching of the notion of aesthetics as it applies to design and so to the historian’s task in this field, this essay examines the theories of aesthetics promulgated at the Hochschule für Gestaltung at Ulm (1953–1968), still a much-understudied institution. In particular, it will investigate the confluence at that school of semiotics and semantics, information aesthetics, and experimental aesthetics. It looks at the break Ulm made with its predecessor, the Bauhaus, on the role of art and aesthetics in design. That break is seen as result of the HfG’s re-evaluation of the profile and substance of industrial design, a re-evaluation itself contingent on an updated understanding of the contemporary ‘environment’ (Umwelt). The article also examines the key aesthetic theories of the figures who passed through Ulm and shaped its curriculum in order to establish the influence of those figures on the wider history of design.

Towards a General Theory of Information

Contemporary society is an information society based on information sciences and information technology. Technical information is therefore the most accessed and further promoted. This chapter aims to push toward completeness the study of information by analyzing the variety of information types and by presenting the hierarchy of information levels of existence. Specific features of natural, social, and human information are highlighted. The internal information structure of distinct domains and levels of natural and social existence is explored. Information types such as structural information, systemic information, functional information, or free information are characterized and defined from various perspectives. An interdisciplinary study of information is thus accomplished by using findings from several scientific and philosophical disciplines from information epistemology or information aesthetics to neuroinformatics and neurorobotics. New research topics such as information values, information efficiency, and information responsibility are proposed at the end of the chapter.

The Pioneer of Generative Art: Georg Nees

The pioneer of computer art Georg Nees passed away on 3 January 2016, at the age of 89. He was the first to exhibit computer-generated drawings, in Stuttgart in February 1965. Influenced by Max Bense’s information aesthetics (a rational aesthetics of the object based on Shannon’s information theory), Nees completed his PhD thesis in 1968 (in German). Its title, Generative Computergraphik, is an expression of the new movement of generative art and design. Trained as a mathematician, Nees participated in many early, but also recent, displays of computer art. After retiring from his research position at Siemens in Erlangen, he again concentrated on computer-generated art and researched issues of digital coloring but also wrote several novels expressing his philosophy of a nonreligious, human-made culture.

Towards a General Theory of Information

Contemporary society is an information society, based on Information Sciences and Information Technology. Technical information is therefore the most accessed and further promoted. This article aims to push toward completeness the study of information by analyzing the variety of information types and by presenting the hierarchy of information levels of existence. Specific features of natural, social and human information are highlighted. The internal information structure of distinct domains and levels of natural and social existence is explored. Information types such as structural information, systemic information, functional information or free information are characterized and defined, from various perspectives. An interdisciplinary study of information is thus accomplished, by using findings from several scientific and philosophical disciplines, from Information Epistemology or Information Aesthetics to Neuroinformatics and Neurorobotics. New research topics such as information values, information efficiency and information responsibility are proposed at the end of article.

Post-Digital Literary Studies

Digital humanities and digital literary studies face much the same challenges as contemporary media art: what will become of them once their media are no longer “new”, and the limitations of processing art as data have become more clearly and widely understood? This paper revisits information aesthetics and computer poetics from the 1960s and 1970s, casting them as precursors of today’s digital humanities, with many of the same issues, achievements and failures, and with their own hype cycles of boom and bust. Conversely, “post-digital” and “Post-Internet” trends in music, graphic design and visual arts may anticipate possible futures of digital humanities and literary studies after the hype has passed.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2182-8830_4-1_1

An examination of the online service-profit chain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the service-profit chain (SPC) on e-service quality dimensions, online customer value (CV) dimensions, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty in an e-commerce context. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 2,813 internet customers filled in an online questionnaire after completing a specified task on one of 28 wine web sites from seven countries. Findings – The results highlight the impact of the dimensions of e-service quality (information, aesthetics, ease of use, security/privacy, and reliability) on the dimensions of online CV (functional, economic, and social value) as they affect e-satisfaction, which in turn influences e-loyalty. The results validate the SPC in an e-commerce context and also stress the partial mediating role of the dimensions of online CV between the dimensions of e-service quality and e-satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – The sample may not exactly match the customer profile of the web sites analyzed. In order to generalize the results, future research should replicate this study with a customer sample from each web site. Future research could also take into account other variables that may have an influence on the relationships identified. Additionally it would be interesting to replicate the study in other industries and undertake longitudinal studies in one or more industries. Practical implications – From a managerial point of view, online retailers, especially in the wine sector, can positively affect CV, satisfaction, and loyalty by focussing on information, aesthetics, ease of use, security/privacy, and reliability. Originality/value – This paper is the first to study the SPC by examining service quality dimensions, CV dimensions, satisfaction, and loyalty in an online context. It extends the knowledge of online retailing by validating the SPC on the dimensions of traditional service concepts, such as service quality and CV. The findings can assist online retailers to better understand the dynamics of online customer relationships and the implications for customer satisfaction and ultimately loyalty.