Design 21: Social Design Network

A. Identify 2 possible issue/problem areas for your thesis project that you have passion for 1. Poverty in Africa 2. Domestic Violence Therapy

B.What’s the context/understanding you have about the issue/problem 1. Poverty in Africa is an on going issue that is looked at by many organizations but lack the funding and awareness for the amount of help needed. Despite what people think, poverty is getting worse in these areas. Little or no rain kill the crops that provide food for these communities, the spread of disease such as malaria, HIV, AIDS, etc is growing because of the lack of medicine, money, and the awareness to prevent these devastating deaths. Starvation and mal nutrition also plays a great role in killing many of those who are still living in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty refers to those with no means of survival. Those who live in these situations rarely rise above to standardized living situations. It is unacceptable that there are still people dying from sickness that can be cured. 2. Domestic Violence is everywhere. When abuse enters a household, everyone around the violence is affected by the outcome. Although there are various organizations to help those in these situations, many families, women especially are too afraid to escape the household and look for help. Although it is impossible to get victims to speak out, we can help those who have spoken and asked for help. Many organizations use therapy to help th...

The first image, this is a physical idea and concrete approach that a patient who needs wheelchair is able to stand and do something by himself or herself. The point is they can do something beyond disadvantages and be more close to others. The second image is more advanced technology used. This wearable support suit enables a patient do same as other people. However, those items solve just physical disadvantages of them. The true problem is communication between people involves care people and patients. One fact of their issues is miscommunication or no-communication. For example, a wheelchair is one of product that is in between patient and care person. There is a conversation while they are walking, this is good communication to grow their relationship. However, if one of two do not want to talk to anyone or cannot talk, one huge gap would appear between them.

Looking into their daily tasks, a care person help patient’s tasks such as wearing, eating, going restroom, and walking around, but basically those tasks do not need conversation, in other words, “just doing their daily job”. This might be no problem for ordinary people, however, this is such a huge problem for those care people and patients. From my previous posting ’one story of my thesis’, one guy who is working mental hospital is claiming this “just doing their daily job”. This is not only for mental hospital, but also other care facilities, miscommunication influences even care people and both of their mental ...

The way i looked at design changed when i went to see the 'Design for the Other 90%' exhibition at the cooper Hewitt about 2 years ago.

A project that connects well to come of the ideas i have right now is the Kinkajou Projector.
My current interests are in teaching tools especially dealing with learning how to read and write, and this specific one transforms "night-time learning environments in rural, non-electrified areas"

lightweight, low-power projection system, which uses a microfilm cassette to store 10,000 pages of information at a fraction of the cost of paper books It is targeted at adults in rural west africa where 75% of the adult population is illiterate.

"Literacy contributes decisively to improving a community’s quality of life through improved health and child nutrition. Kinkajou projectors have helped more than 3,000 adults in forty-five rural villages in Mali learn to read."

there is more information on the 'design that matters' website http://www.designthatmatters.org/

According to Barbara Garner of World Education, “It’s the lack of resources”—specifically access to books and lighting—rather than a lack of interest in education that contributes to illiteracy rates.

1. Identify 2 initial Thesis Project:

A. Identify 2 possible issue/problem areas for your thesis project that you have passion for

1. Prevention of HIV and improving the care of HIV patients in Africa
2. Redesigning products and their manufacturing techniques without harmful chemicals and methods.

B. What’s the context/understanding you have about the issue/problem?

1. The epidemic of HIV infection became one of the biggest problems of the people in Africa for decades. Already struggling with other difficulties such as drought, hunger and poverty, HIV takes a great number of people to be unable to work and support the community while needing so much care and medical help that is hard to get in the region and breaking the society with early deaths in families.
2. The production methods of the past are still being used in many areas of the industry. These methods make use of heavy metals, Brominated flame-retardants, and other catalyzers that are not essential or necessary in the new ways of production. The products that contain the harmful chemicals affect the eco-system and create toxic waste that can irreversibly damage the environment and health of the living things.

C. Identify initial ideas or existing products for addressing this problem by product design:

1. Wind-up radio by Trevor Baylis
2. Samsung F268

D. What’s the premise/reasoning that makes your solution ideas a viable response to the problem?

1. The wind-up radio uses the renewable energy source of human power a...

As might have come across in my previous posts, I have a strong belief in education. It is not that I believe that all people should go to university or have a degree.. it is a way of thinking, an ability to open one’s mind, to interact with others you age and older, to learn how to read and therefore open yourself to the ideas and theories of great minds before yourself, and then write and express yourself. For lack of a better explanation and to get a better understanding of what the world we use excessively really means, I turned to the dictionary:

1. The activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill;
2. Knowledge acquired by learning and instruction; "it was clear that he had a very broad education"
3. The gradual process of acquiring knowledge; "education is a preparation for life”
4. The profession of teaching (especially at a school or college or university)
5. The result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of correct social behavior);

reading these- I just smiled to myself.

The ideas that I would most like to work on are 1, 3 & 5 With 1, I could create an educating/interactive piece For 3 I could work with a library of some sort. (maybe develop a library concept we have arrived to at last spring’s Habitorium class with Robert)

However I wish I could develop upon number 5 I think parents have the most effect on their children’s lives and too much of the time they are not equipped/ don’t have time/ don’t have...

Transportation in Urban Cities is to elevate citizens’ living standard by providing fast, varies systems that can send people to different areas in a short period of time. When the urban cities become more populated and has more private cars on the road, government built more highways to accommodate more cars in stead of limiting car number until recent years. Problems occurred by the phenomenon slow down the traffic (public and private) in the cities and create air pollutions and health issue (respiratory system, allergies...etc).

There are many ways to resolve traffic problem in the cities. For example, limiting access of cars in the cities at peak time by charging fees, recommend and reconstruct public transportation to shorten travel times and reduce emissions, or suggested alternative transportation like electric car/ bikes, bicycles, or walk.

There are two successful systems that reduce car flow or encourage people to use environmental friendly vehicles. One is the toll fee in London, UK that charge cars and trucks a minimum of eight pounds for entering the city centre has made a good success; the other is the bicycle sharing system in Paris that encourage people to ride bicycle with just a small fees by renting bicycles from the cities.

I am very interested at the idea of using alternative transportation (bicycle or electric vehicle) to reduce traffic. My plan is to design the transportation that meet certain desires or create goodness that can then enco...

Camboo by Vivian Lam She wanted to improve the quality of life among low-income families in Cambodia. Poverty is a huge problem in Cambodia, 35% of the population is living under the poverty line which affects the health and education of that segment. The solution is a line of products that help Cambodian bamboo artisans increase their sales with a new product line designed by Vivian. Her non-profits included Cambodian NTFP Development Organization, World of Good, Aid to Artisans, and Rainforest Relief. The non-profits are involved in the distribution of goods in the local and global market. Her mission was clearly stated: she wanted to take advantage of artisan skills and abundant natural resources to improve the poverty situation in Cambodia by helping to make the product more appealing and assisting the circulation of these products in the right global markets. While her mission is clear we were not convinced this problem is real, and we needed more statistics and visuals to back up her claims. The materials, designs, and technique chosen were not backed up with much evidence. How exactly is this distribution network set up? How will the economics of this work? Essentially she is trying to rebuild the economy of an entire country and this requires a thorough understanding and explanation of such things. What is special about the design, how does it stand out when compared to the original Cambodian products, what is wrong with the existing products, and what demands in th...

Group: Aron, Brett, Janet, Serdar

She wanted to improve the quality of life among low-income families in Cambodia. Poverty is a huge problem in Cambodia, 35% of the population is living under the poverty line which affects the health and education of that segment. The solution is a line of products that help Cambodian bamboo artisans increase their sales with a new product line designed by Vivian. Her non-profits included Cambodian NTFP Development Organization, World of Good, Aid to Artisans, and Rainforest Relief. The non-profits are involved in the distribution of goods in the local and global market.

Her mission was clearly stated: she wanted to take advantage of artisan skills and abundant natural resources to improve the poverty situation in Cambodia by helping to make the product more appealing and assisting the circulation of these products in the right global markets. While her mission is clear we were not convinced this problem is real, and we needed more statistics and visuals to back up her claims. The materials, designs, and technique chosen were not backed up with much evidence. How exactly is this distribution network set up? How will the economics of this work? Essentially she is trying to rebuild the economy of an entire country and this requires a thorough understanding and explanation of such things. What is special about the design, how does it stand out when compared to the original Cambodian products, what is wrong with the existing products, and what...

Camboo by Vivian Lam

She wanted to improve the quality of life among low-income families in Cambodia. Poverty is a huge problem in Cambodia, 35% of the population is living under the poverty line which affects the health and education of that segment. The solution is a line of products that help Cambodian bamboo artisans increase their sales with a new product line designed by Vivian. Her non-profits included Cambodian NTFP Development Organization, World of Good, Aid to Artisans, and Rainforest Relief. The non-profits are involved in the distribution of goods in the local and global market.

Her mission was clearly stated: she wanted to take advantage of artisan skills and abundant natural resources to improve the poverty situation in Cambodia by helping to make the product more appealing and assisting the circulation of these products in the right global markets. While her mission is clear we were not convinced this problem is real, and we needed more statistics and visuals to back up her claims. The materials, designs, and technique chosen were not backed up with much evidence. How exactly is this distribution network set up? How will the economics of this work? Essentially she is trying to rebuild the economy of an entire country and this requires a thorough understanding and explanation of such things. What is special about the design, how does it stand out when compared to the original Cambodian products, what is wrong with the existing products, and what demands in ...

During the summer, I had to think about what I am going to do in my senior year. At that time, I was thinking more environmental issues and poor people in the world for the thesis before I meet her. My thinking was just vague idea and had no-focal point. At the mid of summer vacation, I had a chance to go back to Japan only one week. I could see a friend of mine that I have made since second high school. She is one of friends who know what other old friends are doing now.

While we had a dinner, she started to talk about what other friends doing now and their situation. I already know that a few of other friends are working in public welfare, but I did not know what kind of welfare institution they belong. She told me that two of them are working in psychiatric facilities and taking care mental patients every day. I know those two men well, one guy was a pro-boxer until few years ago and another guy was a member of gang. They had some troubles during high school and always had too much energy. I was thinking they could be doing well in any area of job since they have enough stamina and patience.

However, she let me know that they want to give up their job these days, because they have an invisible problem in working condition. Concretely, they could not sustain their mental health she said. They are working as care workers and stay with mental patients everyday. She finally told me the real voice of one of them when she had a chance to talk to him.

In their conversation,...