Other Online Projects

The Collabor8 Project

Visit the 2009 Collabor8 Project

COLLABOR8 was an eight-week long fully online education non-profit initiative that aimed to establish a basis for collaborative online art and design projects between universities in Australia and China.

COLLABOR8 is about creating awareness about the importance of cross cultural design practice and sustainability in design. This project achieved this by challenging students to work together to design graphics for contemporary, environmentally friendly and sustainable ceramics, textiles, products and environments.

Design students from Australia and China joined forces for eight weeks, with project convenors, teachers and special guests worldwide, to work collaboratively within a fully online learning environment. Participants formed connections with colleagues in Australia and China, receiving regular feedback and support from peers, teachers and established professionals, using the Internet as their sole communication tool.

COLLABOR8 comprised online lectures, discussions and forums for design students to discuss their ideas and produce design concepts and viable design solutions. The students were placed in teams and worked together online respecting each other’s cultural background to meet the challenges of working in different geographic locations to create solutions to a design brief.

COLLABOR8 was produced, directed and funded by The Omnium Research Group at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (Australia). The project was conceived in collaboration with the School of Design East China Normal University, Shanghai (PRChina).