Possible topics for my paper and sources:
1. I wanted to talk about something with the campus going green. I think it would be cool to see what other campuses are doing and what small things UF can do; how it will help our campus grow and be better to our environment; Something I can include would be this Thursday’s speech with Oberlin.
2. I am interested in technology obsolescence. Doing research on what little things actually change in a product to make an advertiser say “All new, nothing like this product!” Technology is growing fast; I want to know what the future is like. What current products now will be obsolete?
3. I’m also interested in fashion obsolete. I think this topic will be fun for me since I’m interested in fashion in general. I would look at the history of fashion and see what is out of date now, what’s currently fashionable and what the future may be like. I’m interested in researching what the short video had said about fat heels and skinny heels changing each year to get us to buy something new. What brings back fashions from the past- flare jeans, skinny jeans, 80’s colors, hair styles… and who decides what’s “in?” Along with the technology topic- what little things have actually changed in a product that makes the previous product not fashionable anymore? Planned obsolescence is definitely a case here because how clothes are made says a lot. I store that makes their clothes cheaply is purposely making you come in and buy more clothes when they tear. Prices are an issue- those cheaply made clothes generally aren’t a bad price, so shoppers don’t realize that they’re being scammed. I want to know why stores then can do the opposite- charge us a butt load of money for one t-shirt. I’m thinking of Hollister. These clothes seem to be in fashion, but they cost so much money and they are little material (atleast for girls). Why do we spend this much money just to stay in fashion? I guess because companies can because they know we like their clothes. Why not go to a different store with similar clothes for a cheaper price. This brings in the topic of branding….
4. I’m not too familiar with the topic of global warming. It may be interesting for me to research about what little things we can do as a country to delay the effects of global warming. My first topic ties into global warming. I don’t really know what an argument would able this other than if we don’t do something now, global warming will hit us fast and hard and we won’t be ready. I’d research about global warming first to get more points down and to come up with a question or an argument.
For now, I’m choosing to research about fashion obsolescence.
I found sources such as in Time magazine:
-An article titled “The look of the new” is a small article, but mentions planned obsolescence.
-An article in Time, “Buyers swing to quality” talks about how we’re now paying attention to quality of products that will last us a longer time that may cost more money now, than paying attention to a product that is priced cheap and made cheap that probably won’t last as long. This ties into my topic by the pricing of a shirt and the quality of the fabric and how it was made. Instead of buying something because it’s “in,” look at the t-shirt in a different way before you buy it.
Something that brings up what changes when and who decides brings up this article:
-“Unpredictable weather 'means seasonal fashion is now obsolete'” from the bnet business network. This talks about how unpredictable weather isn’t letting us get specific clothes anymore for each season. It mentions how “the whole fashion industry will have to change…”
From Lexis Nexis:
-I found a list of articles when searching under “obsolescence.” I’m going to not only search under “fashion obsolescence” but tie in the first search of the general topic with my specific topic.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Reaction to FGCI
Dr. Reed’s presentation on Findlay Green Campus Initiative fits into the themes of the English class very well. The themes of the class are future of oil, technology obsolescence and global warming. One of the things Dr. Reed talked about was lowering our carbon footprint. First, oil is carbon. Second, lowering the footprint means using less of it. It also means using fewer materials, less resources and completely a task the quickest and most efficient way possible to the Earth’s benefit. “To the Earth’s benefit” ties FGCI and the themes of the class together. Lowering our carbon footprint can mean driving to local stores instead of farther away stores. This saves gas and it helps your local economy. Why drive? Save gas completely and ride your bike if possible. Making your tasks more efficient and beneficial to the Earth also means being aware of what you’re doing is doing to the environment. Are you putting toxic waste into the land? Are you using toxic substances that can be harmful to people? Make your tasks and finished products energy efficient, such as heating and cooling insulation and power savers. Being efficient means being smarter with what energy you use. We use energy in many forms and tend to waste it. We use it to drive, take a shower, yard work, cooling and simple things that waste energy a lot such as a garage door opener. To not waste gas and not put harmful substances in the air means slowing down global warming. Plan your trips better to drive less and car pool. This will put less pollution in the air. Watching how you build a product and not put harmful chemicals in the ground will reduce the harmful substances going into the air and land. Technology obsolescence increases because urbanization. We waste land by having spread out suburbs. We waste gas by driving to the city and back to the suburbs for work. It takes more energy to bring materials and products to the many different locations. Driving everywhere increases obsolescence because many new cars are developed each year to accommodate drivers’ tastes. Cars are taking over bikes when it comes to driving to and from the city and suburb. What we can do to help keep the Earth green and what ties into the class themes is: recycling, watch our water usage, lowering the thermostat, turn off the house lights and use energy efficient bulbs, ride your bike and drive less, eat local foods, avoid fast foods, when you shop- bring your own bag, and don’t drink bottled water. All these are not sacrifices, they are bout living differently and looking at the world in a different way.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Obsolete Experience
I've had many instances where products have become obsolete in my life. One that definitely comes to mind are cell phones. I finally received my first one junior year in high school. A number of my friends already were on their second one. There are so many choices of different kinds of phones it's overwhelming. Once I picked one and used it for about 6 months, there were so many new types of phones out there again.
Technology is advancing and it's great but it just seemed like right when I got my phone, it became old news and out of date. Companies just want to create new products so the ones consumers have now, they think are no good and they want the next great thing. Companies are just trying to make more money off consumers making them think the product they have is old, when really, the phones consumers have now are perfectly fine. No one really needs a phone that has a complete internet system, companies just want to make us think we do by producing a product with internet and calling it a "must need product."
A positive from obsolete phones can be good for the economy. By companies convincing to buy these new products, its putting money back to the economy and helping everyone out. By creating these new products, it does help with communication. Faster, more reliable communication is a need for our society now. Companies are simply doing their job and molding to society and making changes that will benefit everyone.
Technology is advancing and it's great but it just seemed like right when I got my phone, it became old news and out of date. Companies just want to create new products so the ones consumers have now, they think are no good and they want the next great thing. Companies are just trying to make more money off consumers making them think the product they have is old, when really, the phones consumers have now are perfectly fine. No one really needs a phone that has a complete internet system, companies just want to make us think we do by producing a product with internet and calling it a "must need product."
A positive from obsolete phones can be good for the economy. By companies convincing to buy these new products, its putting money back to the economy and helping everyone out. By creating these new products, it does help with communication. Faster, more reliable communication is a need for our society now. Companies are simply doing their job and molding to society and making changes that will benefit everyone.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Made to Break - Ch. 2 reflection
Second unit of English class: “Made to Break” and E-waste.
The theme for chapter 2 of Made to Break, is about planned, psychological and technological obsolescence of automobiles in the 20’s and changing the make and appearance annually: “national automobile championship.” It talks about Ford’s and GM’s competition for customers and the difference of values that Henry Ford and Alfred Sloan had. First it was about the quality of the cars and selling techniques and then moving to the style and looks of cars. Beauty became the new business tool. Companies worked on outdating their own models more than trying to compete with other older company models. GM moved to developing dynamic obsolescence- what I call fast obsolescence. Psychological obsolescence was featured by the use of the “out-of-fashion” technique. Not only Ford and GM but movies, songs and books worked on the technique of repetitive consumption.
I was not aware of the competition Ford and GM went through: from quality to appearance to fighting with each other for customers. Ford was ahead but stubborn and stuck with his values while Sloan went with the flow of sales and grew quicker. In just a few years cars grew so much with technology and style. I also was not aware that people analyzed the fall of Ford and success of GM’s products and why everything happened with quality and style. I didn’t know that people took cars so seriously as a need to “satisfy their pride.” People would size up one another based on disposable income and taste (the intro and chapter 1 was about the development of the disposable income).
This chapter is parallel to the e-waste videos we watched in class because by making new models of cars annually, leaves consumers to trade their cars to upgrade or it leaves them to throw the cars away if they don’t run well anymore. Throwing them away is harmful to the environment. Other products that chapter 2 refers to is other electronics and makings of better technology leaves consumers to throw away obsolete products when new ones are introduced. One example is where the book talks about how electricity began to replace steam as the driving force of industry.
The theme for chapter 2 of Made to Break, is about planned, psychological and technological obsolescence of automobiles in the 20’s and changing the make and appearance annually: “national automobile championship.” It talks about Ford’s and GM’s competition for customers and the difference of values that Henry Ford and Alfred Sloan had. First it was about the quality of the cars and selling techniques and then moving to the style and looks of cars. Beauty became the new business tool. Companies worked on outdating their own models more than trying to compete with other older company models. GM moved to developing dynamic obsolescence- what I call fast obsolescence. Psychological obsolescence was featured by the use of the “out-of-fashion” technique. Not only Ford and GM but movies, songs and books worked on the technique of repetitive consumption.
I was not aware of the competition Ford and GM went through: from quality to appearance to fighting with each other for customers. Ford was ahead but stubborn and stuck with his values while Sloan went with the flow of sales and grew quicker. In just a few years cars grew so much with technology and style. I also was not aware that people analyzed the fall of Ford and success of GM’s products and why everything happened with quality and style. I didn’t know that people took cars so seriously as a need to “satisfy their pride.” People would size up one another based on disposable income and taste (the intro and chapter 1 was about the development of the disposable income).
This chapter is parallel to the e-waste videos we watched in class because by making new models of cars annually, leaves consumers to trade their cars to upgrade or it leaves them to throw the cars away if they don’t run well anymore. Throwing them away is harmful to the environment. Other products that chapter 2 refers to is other electronics and makings of better technology leaves consumers to throw away obsolete products when new ones are introduced. One example is where the book talks about how electricity began to replace steam as the driving force of industry.
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Prize themes
An overall theme to me from The Prize is: how oil production made the world what it is today…
To divide this concept up into 3 main categories I’d say 3 themes are: greed/power; economic growth; and connections.
Many of the characters in The Prize had characteristics of greed. With the discovery of oil, along came the want for power. Everyone wanted land to drill. The search for new land was a big deal. Any new discovery brought everyone a step closer to more products such as clothing, heat, and machines. Oil meant money and money meant more power. For politics, if you had oil in your land, you had power. Countries would pay to have your oil shipped to them. If any country had trouble, a recurring event in the book was war. Countries declared war on each other whenever there was an oil issue. One major part of the power theme is that countries would use oil as a weapon when in war. It was the start of war and then it made it worse by being used as a weapon. Countries would threaten other countries to block their oil supply trades. Just to look like big shots, countries would use oil as something to hide behind. Because of oil and the negative impact on the globe, life became less simple and more about how to get more supply that we rely on so much.
Oil production meant economic growth. As a society, everything expanded. Because of oil, we were able to heat homes safely and not use coal; create cars and use oil for gasoline; more oil companies were discovered and rapidly grew in numbers right away and their building sizes grew; roads and highways were built to get to other cities for goods and services. Gas stations were founded and soon were on every corner in towns. The gasoline market became huge and is the base of advertising, logos and publicity around the world. Suburbs in America were a big part of the growth that America went through. Suburbs and highways changed the way we lived. Traveling was now an option. Residents were no longer standing still in their town, they could move somewhere else. Another reoccurring event in the book was converting the globe’s usage from coal to oil. It gave many reasons why oil was better than coal and the process countries went through to convert.
The third theme of The Prize is connections. I think the book made a great point about countries connecting for goods and services because of oil. The trading industry flourished when we started to rely on each other for oil land. Because of relying on other countries, we had more reason to use transportation to other countries.
To divide this concept up into 3 main categories I’d say 3 themes are: greed/power; economic growth; and connections.
Many of the characters in The Prize had characteristics of greed. With the discovery of oil, along came the want for power. Everyone wanted land to drill. The search for new land was a big deal. Any new discovery brought everyone a step closer to more products such as clothing, heat, and machines. Oil meant money and money meant more power. For politics, if you had oil in your land, you had power. Countries would pay to have your oil shipped to them. If any country had trouble, a recurring event in the book was war. Countries declared war on each other whenever there was an oil issue. One major part of the power theme is that countries would use oil as a weapon when in war. It was the start of war and then it made it worse by being used as a weapon. Countries would threaten other countries to block their oil supply trades. Just to look like big shots, countries would use oil as something to hide behind. Because of oil and the negative impact on the globe, life became less simple and more about how to get more supply that we rely on so much.
Oil production meant economic growth. As a society, everything expanded. Because of oil, we were able to heat homes safely and not use coal; create cars and use oil for gasoline; more oil companies were discovered and rapidly grew in numbers right away and their building sizes grew; roads and highways were built to get to other cities for goods and services. Gas stations were founded and soon were on every corner in towns. The gasoline market became huge and is the base of advertising, logos and publicity around the world. Suburbs in America were a big part of the growth that America went through. Suburbs and highways changed the way we lived. Traveling was now an option. Residents were no longer standing still in their town, they could move somewhere else. Another reoccurring event in the book was converting the globe’s usage from coal to oil. It gave many reasons why oil was better than coal and the process countries went through to convert.
The third theme of The Prize is connections. I think the book made a great point about countries connecting for goods and services because of oil. The trading industry flourished when we started to rely on each other for oil land. Because of relying on other countries, we had more reason to use transportation to other countries.
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