World Changing :: “Design is truly alive” http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010667.html
This week, I looked on the World Changing website to find a current and new article. I found a writing by Neri Oxman (written by Ethan Zuckerman) which talks about how “Design is truly alive”. The article points out how nature has shaped so many designs, and humans have complimented them in many ways. It focuses on how designers can use nature as a building block, or a starting point, and make art from there with nature’s restraints as their restraints. The article asks “what can design do for science and technology?” In my opinion, design is something that is meant to be aesthetically pleasing primarily, and then if it can stir the minds of engineers and scientists, all the better. Encouraging deep thought should not be the initial intent though, it should randomly instigate that. For example, one of my professors freshman year made a paper folding project that was incredible by itself. Then, a chemical engineer saw it, and saw that it was perfect for describing the movement of certain cells. Something like that makes sense, but for the science world to look to designers for their technical inspiration, I just don’t see that as a smart thing to do. Our minds work in two different methods
World Changing :: “The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis In Global Land Use” http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010586.html
This article begins with the line that I absolutely hate – An Inconvenient Truth. I hate it because the inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, stated it. I also hate it because it tries to mildly and faux-intelligently stir panic that we’re all going to die here real soon. This author seems to have stumbled upon World Changing and decided to claim his “Fifteen minutes of lame”, I mean “Fifteen minutes of fame” by using what Al Gore did awhile ago.
Let’s go through what this article says and really take a hard look at what it’s trying to do. First off, the author wants us to stop using all the land to an extreme amount. Alright, how do we go about doing that? We decrease the amount of people on the planet, and we literally tell them to use less materials and area. Does this really seem feasible, telling India and Asia to breed less and telling an American that they can’t have their estate? No, and I don’t think one article is going to be the rock that crumbled that Great Wall of China. In essence, good for you Mr. Author for having good intentions but come back to us with something manageable.
Lastly, the author leaves us with “We must acknowledge that we have more than one problem.” Really, what does that do for us? We’re 6 billion people, of course we have some problems. And you want to put land use at the top? Sorry, you’re not convincing me, please write your articles somewhere else.
It seems that talking about something is often the first step in coming up with solution or solving a conflict. New technology has allowed for conversation to happen across countries and around the globe. Yet, with the new technology it has become easier for people to only listen to one side of the issue. This makes it important that there is diversity in the group and those new perspectives are brought to the table. No one group has the one right solution to many of the complex problems that we are currently faced with. Therefore we must think more collectively and we can by first having conversations.
World Changing Response Trisha Previte ADP III: James Rotz
"Nanotechnology" page 106
Now, I have heard of nanotechnology before, and frankly, it fascinates me. I know Michael Crichton’s novel Prey is just a work of fiction, but he manipulated and presented the concept of microscopic robots slowly but surely killing the human race just so compellingly that I have been intrigued ever since. Thus, when I picked up World Changing and found an article on nanotechnology, I naturally felt the need to read it. Unfortunately like before, I am still as baffled as ever. I understand the concept behind nanotechnology, I understand the clearly stated uses and possibilities for it (which sound unbelievably incredible), but I seem to lack the intelligence or maybe just the right knowledge to understand exactly how it works and is developed. Luckily for me, it is not so much how it works as what it will potentially do that matters in the grand scheme of the planet. Needless to say, beyond my lack of comprehension, I think the article itself provides plenty of needed information for better understanding of nanotechnology. For instance, I had no idea exactly how green a technology it has the potential to become, with a whole slew of ways to reduce current pollutions now and prevent further ones from poisoning our children and grandchildren’s environment. Furthermore, nanotechnology holds possibilities for cleaner manufacturing processes with less waste and better efficiency. Now, how can someone not support that? However, just like in Crichton’s book Prey, scientists warn of the possibly dire consequences that more or may not come of the newest nanotechnology. Though the extreme case of nanos outgrowing humans and taking control of our species is farfetched, unforeseen events, even those unrelated to this particular thought, can creep up and effectively ruin what was once a great concept. To best prevent such a catastrophe from happening, World Changing calls for a Precautionary Principle, a Hippocratic oath of sorts that should be remolded for the present and as working to avoid as most harm as possible when dealing with knew and unknown substances. This way, if scientists behave responsibly all along, that much less trouble or detrimental happenings will be avoided to make room for all the valuable possibilities set in motion by this wonderfully developed technology.
World Changing Response #3 Trisha Previte ADP III: James Rotz
Reinventing the Refugee Camp p. 207
Outside of the inklings brought to me by the media, until last year I had not had much exposure to the growing problems of refugees around the world. Then I met my roommate, whose own personal work with refugees taught me much more than the small amount of dry statistics ever could have. After reading this particular article, I now have an even better understanding of the problems refugees face and how even the smallest of inventions can make the biggest of impacts. In fact, sometimes (actually much more often than not recently) I wish the things I create had more of an immediate impact on those who need the immediate help. Sometimes the simplest of designs can be the most innovative and most life-changing, especially to those who don’t have the resources for such innovations. For instance, the LifeStraw invention discussed in this article is just so inspiring to me, it almost sounds too good to be true. Clean water is one of the basic human essentials, and being able to provide that to the most desperate of human beings can really only be considered incredible, if not heroic. In general, I found all of the inventions in this article extremely inventive and relevant to the rapidly expanding problem of refugees around the world. Some obviously seem more helpful than others. For instance, the Food Force game just seems like a manipulated version of the Sims, just another video game for kids to get addicted to. A video game certainly does not seem to have the impact that a nutritional substance like Plumpy’nut may; however, I do still see the game’s relevance. Perhaps the game may inspire even one of these children to get involved with social justice issues like refugee aid. Perhaps that one kid may grow up to revolutionize the way we aid refugee around the world. I do not know how probable that scenario is, but hey, it could happen. Lastly, I loved how this article touched on the importance of providing these communities of refugees with the knowledge, skills, technology and resources to pick themselves up on their own feet. Sure, we can give them aid, but without proper instruction these misfortunate people’s lives may only regress into further tragedy from where they began. Leapfrogging and the like not only seem logical but also completely necessary in an age where Western society’s abundance of advanced technology has surpassed our wildest imaginations. To me, when having clean water is always expected, when flying thousands of feet into the air across thousands of miles seems normal, when food is plentiful year round, no matter the season, we have the responsibility to provide our fellow human beings with at least the basic necessities we so often take for granted.
Craft It Yourself-pg. 90 My mother taught me at a young age the power of making something with your own hands. I see this as a separate entity from my own art, but it had no less influence on my life. This power came to me from altering a hand me down dress into something of my own, or taking a headboard from the side of the road and turning our garden into a real bed. Now I feel like in some artistic situations “crafting” can be looked down upon. Even a meaningful medium of art, fibers, is often overlooked as handiwork. People think of fibers and associate it with quilts and knitting. Fibers can be more of a powerful mode of express than more traditional mediums such as painting and photography. DIY projects, while not art that is shown in galleries, have artistic merit. They are a great and accessible way of exploring anyone’s imaginative side. People who claim they can’t draw a line find working with their hands to create fulfilling. I have seen it with children at camp who learn how to make candles or widdle walking sticks. In some ways DIY allow people to realize that they can create and therefore will lead to more artistic endeavors.
Engineer it Yourself- pg. 93 I chose this article because of my 300 studio course, which is Interactivity and Kinetics. Before taking this class I always had accepted that lights turned on because of switches or Roombas worked based on magic. Now, working with Arduino (check on Instructables for sweet Arduino projects) I could potentially control lights from a remote distance or create my own robot that might not vacuum but could react to the sound in the room. A problem I have with this article is that it says “We’re seconds away in Internet time from being able to literally fabricate our ideas almost immediately”. That is a gross understatement. While we have access to technology that could control lasers or some other sweet art piece, a lot of effort goes into understanding why that works. Unlike the Craft It Yourself article, this one under estimates how much people time, effort and money most people will put in. And unlike more crafty DIY projects, working with electronics more often ends in failure. With crafts you can reuse and reuse. With electronics you can solder a relay wrong and never be able to reuse it. In my class the frustration has lead to some pretty nice moments when I finally get the programming to strobe a light or react to heat. In that way it is gratifying.
Shelby Roback ADP III World Changing 1 Consumerism
We all consume and we all share responsibility for what we are doing to the earth. It is truly amazing to see the number of things that people actually own, like in the picture in this chapter where a family places all of their belongings in their front yard. We buy a lot of stuff that we don’t need, and that doesn’t contribute any bit of happiness to our daily lives, even though we assumed that it would when we bought it. I also learned a lot about this while doing the “My Stuff” project. What angers me most about consumerism is how hard it is to be environmentally (and human) friendly even as an informed consumer. This is something that seems almost impossible if you are poor and can’t afford to buy the more expensive organic vegetables and recycled material furniture. Buying American made products used to assure people that there was no slave labor during the manufacture of their items, but as is pointed out on World Changing, even America has sweatshops, and many American companies still put ‘made in America’ on the tag even if their products and made in 3rd world country sweat shops. In this world of buy more pay less, it is getting harder and harder to be a responsible consumer.
In the section Start-Up 101, the author slightly changes his tone to a more instructional one where he alludes to how one would approach starting a business. This is something I plan on starting while I’m in college and plan on running a business outside of school as well. Though I know a lot of what he speaks to, he does make some interesting comments that I could easily apply to what I am doing. The part where he discusses connections as key to an entrepreneur is probably one of the most important lessons I learned this past year. I’m looking to start an activism-friendly clothing brand. I would be in dead water if it were not for the people I knew. Recently, I got in contact with someone who is basically saving the business idea and will help me project it further into the future. The funny thing about connections is, is that they rarely just fall into your lap. You must take the initiative to meet someone and discuss your idea. That person may not help you directly but will deter you to someone that will. This process continues vivaciously until you finally discover what you need.
For a portion of time my closet consisted primarily of clothing I purchased from Forever 21, a store whose garments mimic the look of brand name items but cost a fraction of the price. Everything about the clothing is cheap. It is poor quality and only lasts a season but that’s the point because as soon as the item wears “out”, its “out” of style anyway. The motif remains constant: quantity over quality. The undertones of cheap labor are successfully masked by the bright colors and chic designs of the store front. This chapter gave a general introduction to globalization. I realize that much of what I buy is made in China but it’s hard to get an accurate idea of the working conditions because it is hidden and easy to ignore. Although I have seen images similar to the one on page 43, when I studied Ed Burtynski in my CFCI class, but they never fail to catch my attention. I try and imagine what my life would be like working in a factory everyday and it hurts my heart to think people often don’t have the option to work elsewhere. I watched bagel manufacturing on How It’s Made on the science channel at my friends house the other night. Watching bagels being mass produced was incredible because we, as American consumers, are so unaware of how and where most of our things are produced.
Andrew Hainen
ReplyDeleteADP III :: James Rotz
World Changing :: “Design is truly alive”
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010667.html
This week, I looked on the World Changing website to find a current and new article. I found a writing by Neri Oxman (written by Ethan Zuckerman) which talks about how “Design is truly alive”. The article points out how nature has shaped so many designs, and humans have complimented them in many ways. It focuses on how designers can use nature as a building block, or a starting point, and make art from there with nature’s restraints as their restraints.
The article asks “what can design do for science and technology?” In my opinion, design is something that is meant to be aesthetically pleasing primarily, and then if it can stir the minds of engineers and scientists, all the better. Encouraging deep thought should not be the initial intent though, it should randomly instigate that. For example, one of my professors freshman year made a paper folding project that was incredible by itself. Then, a chemical engineer saw it, and saw that it was perfect for describing the movement of certain cells. Something like that makes sense, but for the science world to look to designers for their technical inspiration, I just don’t see that as a smart thing to do. Our minds work in two different methods
Andrew Hainen
ReplyDeleteADP III :: James Rotz
World Changing :: “The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis In Global Land Use”
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010586.html
This article begins with the line that I absolutely hate – An Inconvenient Truth. I hate it because the inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, stated it. I also hate it because it tries to mildly and faux-intelligently stir panic that we’re all going to die here real soon. This author seems to have stumbled upon World Changing and decided to claim his “Fifteen minutes of lame”, I mean “Fifteen minutes of fame” by using what Al Gore did awhile ago.
Let’s go through what this article says and really take a hard look at what it’s trying to do. First off, the author wants us to stop using all the land to an extreme amount. Alright, how do we go about doing that? We decrease the amount of people on the planet, and we literally tell them to use less materials and area. Does this really seem feasible, telling India and Asia to breed less and telling an American that they can’t have their estate? No, and I don’t think one article is going to be the rock that crumbled that Great Wall of China. In essence, good for you Mr. Author for having good intentions but come back to us with something manageable.
Lastly, the author leaves us with “We must acknowledge that we have more than one problem.” Really, what does that do for us? We’re 6 billion people, of course we have some problems. And you want to put land use at the top? Sorry, you’re not convincing me, please write your articles somewhere else.
Tools for Talking
ReplyDeleteIt seems that talking about something is often the first step in coming up with solution or solving a conflict. New technology has allowed for conversation to happen across countries and around the globe. Yet, with the new technology it has become easier for people to only listen to one side of the issue. This makes it important that there is diversity in the group and those new perspectives are brought to the table. No one group has the one right solution to many of the complex problems that we are currently faced with. Therefore we must think more collectively and we can by first having conversations.
World Changing Response
ReplyDeleteTrisha Previte
ADP III: James Rotz
"Nanotechnology" page 106
Now, I have heard of nanotechnology before, and frankly, it fascinates me. I know Michael Crichton’s novel Prey is just a work of fiction, but he manipulated and presented the concept of microscopic robots slowly but surely killing the human race just so compellingly that I have been intrigued ever since. Thus, when I picked up World Changing and found an article on nanotechnology, I naturally felt the need to read it. Unfortunately like before, I am still as baffled as ever. I understand the concept behind nanotechnology, I understand the clearly stated uses and possibilities for it (which sound unbelievably incredible), but I seem to lack the intelligence or maybe just the right knowledge to understand exactly how it works and is developed.
Luckily for me, it is not so much how it works as what it will potentially do that matters in the grand scheme of the planet. Needless to say, beyond my lack of comprehension, I think the article itself provides plenty of needed information for better understanding of nanotechnology. For instance, I had no idea exactly how green a technology it has the potential to become, with a whole slew of ways to reduce current pollutions now and prevent further ones from poisoning our children and grandchildren’s environment. Furthermore, nanotechnology holds possibilities for cleaner manufacturing processes with less waste and better efficiency. Now, how can someone not support that?
However, just like in Crichton’s book Prey, scientists warn of the possibly dire consequences that more or may not come of the newest nanotechnology. Though the extreme case of nanos outgrowing humans and taking control of our species is farfetched, unforeseen events, even those unrelated to this particular thought, can creep up and effectively ruin what was once a great concept. To best prevent such a catastrophe from happening, World Changing calls for a Precautionary Principle, a Hippocratic oath of sorts that should be remolded for the present and as working to avoid as most harm as possible when dealing with knew and unknown substances. This way, if scientists behave responsibly all along, that much less trouble or detrimental happenings will be avoided to make room for all the valuable possibilities set in motion by this wonderfully developed technology.
World Changing Response #3
ReplyDeleteTrisha Previte
ADP III: James Rotz
Reinventing the Refugee Camp p. 207
Outside of the inklings brought to me by the media, until last year I had not had much exposure to the growing problems of refugees around the world. Then I met my roommate, whose own personal work with refugees taught me much more than the small amount of dry statistics ever could have. After reading this particular article, I now have an even better understanding of the problems refugees face and how even the smallest of inventions can make the biggest of impacts. In fact, sometimes (actually much more often than not recently) I wish the things I create had more of an immediate impact on those who need the immediate help. Sometimes the simplest of designs can be the most innovative and most life-changing, especially to those who don’t have the resources for such innovations. For instance, the LifeStraw invention discussed in this article is just so inspiring to me, it almost sounds too good to be true. Clean water is one of the basic human essentials, and being able to provide that to the most desperate of human beings can really only be considered incredible, if not heroic.
In general, I found all of the inventions in this article extremely inventive and relevant to the rapidly expanding problem of refugees around the world. Some obviously seem more helpful than others. For instance, the Food Force game just seems like a manipulated version of the Sims, just another video game for kids to get addicted to. A video game certainly does not seem to have the impact that a nutritional substance like Plumpy’nut may; however, I do still see the game’s relevance. Perhaps the game may inspire even one of these children to get involved with social justice issues like refugee aid. Perhaps that one kid may grow up to revolutionize the way we aid refugee around the world. I do not know how probable that scenario is, but hey, it could happen. Lastly, I loved how this article touched on the importance of providing these communities of refugees with the knowledge, skills, technology and resources to pick themselves up on their own feet. Sure, we can give them aid, but without proper instruction these misfortunate people’s lives may only regress into further tragedy from where they began. Leapfrogging and the like not only seem logical but also completely necessary in an age where Western society’s abundance of advanced technology has surpassed our wildest imaginations. To me, when having clean water is always expected, when flying thousands of feet into the air across thousands of miles seems normal, when food is plentiful year round, no matter the season, we have the responsibility to provide our fellow human beings with at least the basic necessities we so often take for granted.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCraft It Yourself-pg. 90
ReplyDeleteMy mother taught me at a young age the power of making something with your own hands. I see this as a separate entity from my own art, but it had no less influence on my life. This power came to me from altering a hand me down dress into something of my own, or taking a headboard from the side of the road and turning our garden into a real bed. Now I feel like in some artistic situations “crafting” can be looked down upon. Even a meaningful medium of art, fibers, is often overlooked as handiwork. People think of fibers and associate it with quilts and knitting. Fibers can be more of a powerful mode of express than more traditional mediums such as painting and photography. DIY projects, while not art that is shown in galleries, have artistic merit. They are a great and accessible way of exploring anyone’s imaginative side. People who claim they can’t draw a line find working with their hands to create fulfilling. I have seen it with children at camp who learn how to make candles or widdle walking sticks. In some ways DIY allow people to realize that they can create and therefore will lead to more artistic endeavors.
Engineer it Yourself- pg. 93
ReplyDeleteI chose this article because of my 300 studio course, which is Interactivity and Kinetics. Before taking this class I always had accepted that lights turned on because of switches or Roombas worked based on magic. Now, working with Arduino (check on Instructables for sweet Arduino projects) I could potentially control lights from a remote distance or create my own robot that might not vacuum but could react to the sound in the room. A problem I have with this article is that it says “We’re seconds away in Internet time from being able to literally fabricate our ideas almost immediately”. That is a gross understatement. While we have access to technology that could control lasers or some other sweet art piece, a lot of effort goes into understanding why that works. Unlike the Craft It Yourself article, this one under estimates how much people time, effort and money most people will put in. And unlike more crafty DIY projects, working with electronics more often ends in failure. With crafts you can reuse and reuse. With electronics you can solder a relay wrong and never be able to reuse it. In my class the frustration has lead to some pretty nice moments when I finally get the programming to strobe a light or react to heat. In that way it is gratifying.
Shelby Roback
ReplyDeleteADP III
World Changing 1
Consumerism
We all consume and we all share responsibility for what we are doing to the earth. It is truly amazing to see the number of things that people actually own, like in the picture in this chapter where a family places all of their belongings in their front yard. We buy a lot of stuff that we don’t need, and that doesn’t contribute any bit of happiness to our daily lives, even though we assumed that it would when we bought it. I also learned a lot about this while doing the “My Stuff” project. What angers me most about consumerism is how hard it is to be environmentally (and human) friendly even as an informed consumer. This is something that seems almost impossible if you are poor and can’t afford to buy the more expensive organic vegetables and recycled material furniture. Buying American made products used to assure people that there was no slave labor during the manufacture of their items, but as is pointed out on World Changing, even America has sweatshops, and many American companies still put ‘made in America’ on the tag even if their products and made in 3rd world country sweat shops. In this world of buy more pay less, it is getting harder and harder to be a responsible consumer.
In the section Start-Up 101, the author slightly changes his tone to a more instructional one where he alludes to how one would approach starting a business. This is something I plan on starting while I’m in college and plan on running a business outside of school as well. Though I know a lot of what he speaks to, he does make some interesting comments that I could easily apply to what I am doing. The part where he discusses connections as key to an entrepreneur is probably one of the most important lessons I learned this past year. I’m looking to start an activism-friendly clothing brand. I would be in dead water if it were not for the people I knew. Recently, I got in contact with someone who is basically saving the business idea and will help me project it further into the future. The funny thing about connections is, is that they rarely just fall into your lap. You must take the initiative to meet someone and discuss your idea. That person may not help you directly but will deter you to someone that will. This process continues vivaciously until you finally discover what you need.
ReplyDeleteUnderstanding Trade
ReplyDeleteFor a portion of time my closet consisted primarily of clothing I purchased from Forever 21, a store whose garments mimic the look of brand name items but cost a fraction of the price. Everything about the clothing is cheap. It is poor quality and only lasts a season but that’s the point because as soon as the item wears “out”, its “out” of style anyway. The motif remains constant: quantity over quality. The undertones of cheap labor are successfully masked by the bright colors and chic designs of the store front. This chapter gave a general introduction to globalization. I realize that much of what I buy is made in China but it’s hard to get an accurate idea of the working conditions because it is hidden and easy to ignore. Although I have seen images similar to the one on page 43, when I studied Ed Burtynski in my CFCI class, but they never fail to catch my attention. I try and imagine what my life would be like working in a factory everyday and it hurts my heart to think people often don’t have the option to work elsewhere. I watched bagel manufacturing on How It’s Made on the science channel at my friends house the other night. Watching bagels being mass produced was incredible because we, as American consumers, are so unaware of how and where most of our things are produced.