Meneely receives UF Sustainable Solutions Award honorable mention

April 21, 2011
Jason Meneely, assistant professor of interior design, recently received an honorable mention from UF’s Sustainable Solutions Award for his creation of the “Digital Critique Cart,” a rolling computer that takes advantage of recent advances in digital pen tablet technology that make it possible to sketch directly on the surface of the computer screen with a level of sophistication and sensitivity that is quite similar to sketching on paper.

Due to a department computer requirement students use a personal laptop to develop their studio work. Meneely constructed two Digital Critique Carts so interior design faculty could sketch directly on the computer screen when giving students daily feedback on their work. A screen capturing system was utilized so that on-screen freehand drawing could be used to critique student work from any software application.

While Meneely’s work was originally developed to serve the needs of the department of interior design, the project has already been replicated by the College of Design, Construction and Planning, and in a 32-seat university CIRCA computer lab. Offering both increased educational value and reduced printer waste/maintenance the projects potential to positively impact the broader campus community remains high. This project is easily replicable across any academic unit that has a need to provide sketch-based evaluative feedback on in-process digital work.