Assignments for Monday, 14 February 2011

RR06:

It was somewhat appalling to start out by reading about the effects of the industrial revolution.  It was interesting reading about how around 90% of products are designed to be cradle to grave.  Manufacturers are designing products that last only a certain amount of time so that consumers will have to keep buying.  From a business perspective, it is brilliant, but from an eco-friendly perspective it is absolutely terrible.  It's also terrible that now a days, we hardly take products to a shop to get them fixed.  We tend to just buy a new product because it often costs just as much to repair the product.  It's awful, but I forget that sometimes because that's just the world we live in.  I also enjoyed reading more about the productivity and eco-friendly systems of the ants.  It's sad to say that we, as humans, have a lot to learn from nearly microscopic ants.  Reading about books and how bad they are for the environment also made me think about how good the new e-readers such as the nook may be for the environment.  I personally hate them because I like holding an actual book, but Cradle to Cradle definitely has a point.  We buy books and read them one time and that's the end of the product use.  While they are made of recyclable products, they also have deadly chemicals that are fatal if burned or decomposed.  I guess I should rethink my stance on books.



CR06:

This week we discussed the legal and business side of design.  Not super exciting, but definitely super important.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around all of the current issues surrounding legalities, patents, copyrights, etc. because it's really hard for me to "pick a side."  I recognize the positives and negatives surrounding both sides of the issue.  For example, in the movie we watched in class, I find it nearly impossible to pick a side.  I think Girl Talk is awesome, but at the same time I can see how other recording artists would be pissed off.  But who is at fault?  I'm glad that's not up to me to decide.  Overall, I did enjoy the film.  Although it was slightly biased, it still educated me as to how both sides of the spectrum were at fault.