From insular to connective knowledge: a strategy for embedding new media for cultural applications in design education for the creative industries

Interdisciplinary practice requires an understanding of a complex set of associated fields. Within design education, the establishment of an interdisciplinary framework could be described as a series of shifts from discipline-specific to interdisciplinary knowledge. These shifts rely on articulating existing practice and defining the patterns of association which are made imperative through interdisciplinary practice. In traditional design education, disciplines have been framed by the system of education and occupation while interdisciplinarity has been viewed as knowledge without organising patterns and frameworks (Weingart and Nico, 2000). Breaking away from the binds of occupation and discipline-specific design education has been made possible by new models of education, an example being the creative industries. Using the museum exhibition environment as a testing ground for interdisciplinary theory and practice, this paper will define the new media descriptors which impact directly upon design education. This impact will consider the patterns which are present in terms of educational models which could be used to analyse them. This framework is then tested and described as a shift from insular to connective knowledge where disciplinarity is embedded within an interdisciplinary framework for new media in design education for cultural institutions.