The required reading “Long Live the Web” relates highly to our course because we are both discovering the freedom of a platform that can create sites on the web as a way to express one’s creative ideas. Using the web can be connected to millions of other sites, which is something that we are already learning by experimenting with the fundamentals of HTML. Like speech, everyone should have the right to express their inner thoughts, which can be mapped out into one single platform that is a website for all to see. People have the chance to browse around each component of a site, giving various perspectives on how the creator of the site wishes for their site to be seen. To create a basic site, like it discusses in the article, it only requires three fundamental components: writing a page in HTML format, naming it with a URI convention, and serving it up on the internet with an HTTP. These are all things that will be covered in our own class, relating it to Lee’s article. Any website is universal to the world, and there are no barriers from viewing a creator’s site. The Web is essentially one large platform for people’s art, containing any type of information, being uploaded for the whole world to see. Because the web is so open ended, the possibility for innovation is endless for anyone and everyone. Websites are not locked like apps, because apps, on one hand, limits the user to x amount of options, whereas sites on the other hand, can be linked to multiple other sites, allowing the user to jump from one location to the other. The other article, “A Network of Fragments”, educates the reader by informing them that their internet/wireless connection to the world is not solely based from large buildings that supply these resources. The internet does not exist in just one location, but rather, in constant motion, like their users. As Burrington says, the internet comes in fragments. Similar to what we learned in class, images do not transfer as a whole piece, but instead, get divided into small bits and pieces, are rearranged, and then put back into order once it reaches its final destination which is, the user’s screen. These images, videos, etc, are also, like Burrington says, fragmented just like the internet. There is a common misconception that these resources come in whole forms, but the matter of fact is that they are highly segmented and apart from one another in the process of transmission. The internet lives underground and in the ocean, never just in one single location such as a building. The internet lives just as we do, always on the move, whether that be from a tower, underneath the highways that we drive over, or beneath the seas in which we sail.
Week 2: Reading Response (Nimrah Syed)
Name: Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Date: 17th Feb-2019
Professor: Nimrah Syed
The reading was divided into the sub headings Introduction, Fashion as practices of assemblage, Practice theory and sustainability and Future Research Directions. This chapter aims to argue that “research into everyday clothing practices can be usefully developed as an approach to understanding sustainable fashion.”Moreover, they’ve also looked at how the day to day clothing of people is sustainable and how it can be further enhanced. It was interesting to see how the author used the example of the denims/ jeans which people own. They don’t replace them really quickly and instead they buy the shirts etc to suit the clothes which they already have. Therefore, this is a sustainable practice. Moreover, the author adds that the choices of the people of what to buy are based upon specifically what they own (what clothes they already have) and what would suit them better according to their culture example, Indian people would prefer to wear more of sarees and the western people would prefer to wear more western clothes such as jeans , skirts etc. Thus, this proves that “fashion does not only exist in the abstract but is also composed precisely of a series of localised practices and interactions at the level of consumption, production, distribution and design.”
If we look at the global impact of the clothing industry we see that we need to rethink about our interaction with out clothing.
Woodward suggests that rather than seeing our day to day actions as problematic, we should clearly observer them and they may help us to see the existing ones, more preferable behaviours (Woodward 2015), which would lead to the development of the preferable future solutions. Building on this idea we can say that a clothing item which we do not wear is a static object. Solutions for producing eco-friendly clothes or improving the clothing production methods are the approaches which are meant to improve the environmental impact of these objects, but it is important to see them as objective. However, the clothes which we wear on daily use are the ones which hold information that can lead to the sustainability solutions.
Overall, I would say that the main crux of the reading is that “fashion change does not have as much of a bearing on consumer behaviour as previously thought” (Woodward, 2015).
Week 2: Accidentally Sustainable? Sophie Woodward | Gabriel Chi
Sophie Woodward’s “Accidentally Sustainable?” delves into the how important consumer behaviour and tendencies are in relation to sustainable practices, and how ethnological research is the key into understanding such trends.
When reading the paper, something that stood out to me the most was the “Accidentally Sustainable” example, specifically the jeans. Woodward describes how, “Specifically in relationship to jeans, people were found to have highly personalised and long-term relationships to particular pairs, therefore not always falling in synch with the rhythms of rapidly changing fashions.” I resonated very strongly with the quote, as in the past years, I had gained quite a strong interest in the denim industry, and specifically the denim fanatics which took the garments very seriously.
The denim jean’s allure, as alluded by Woodward, is due to it’s longevity, and its personalization. As the wearer continues to wear the same garment over the period of several years, the jeans themselves become personalized and custom to their owner. Additionally, the denim jean has gained quite the cult status within fashion, where denim fanatics age their pairs of jeans for years before washing them, all in order to personalize their own pairs.
I specifically think this strong personalization and customization should continue to spread in other types of clothing, and are one of the key methods to promote sustainability. By targeting certain consumer tendencies and human behaviour, we can drastically change the presence of sustainability within the fashion industry.
CPD Week 1 – Sabrina Goodman
“Ainu Success: the Political and Cultural Achievements of Japan’s Indigenous Minority” reveals the extent to which the Ainu hold agency over and revere their identity as indigenous peoples of Japan. In particular, I found the Marimo Festival to be one poignant instance where the Ainu “took conscious agency and control regarding the relation between modern social and ecological phenomena… [and subsequently] reshape[d] their cultural identity in order to successfully respond to the demands of their contemporary situations” (Wielding Culture). I can imagine some aspect of this festival manifesting into a short documentary style film or informative web game illustrating the Ainu’s cultural negotiations as they engage with the Japanese government.
“A Four-Century Retrospective of Marine Fauna and Fisheries Around New York City” was particularly interesting in that it provided detailed accounts and histories of particular species within the New York City area. As previously mentioned in class, I could certainly envision a digital inventory of all the menus advertising oysters (pg. 11) during the early-mid 20th century, or perhaps an animation or film featuring a first-person account (from the animal’s perspective) of the six shark sightings mentioned on pg. 14. The content delivered in this report contained a wealth of knowledge on specific species that may serve as a starting point for our projects.
MARCO’s EFH Highly Migratory Species dataset “provides information on where any EFH life stage occurs for a given species” which may be helpful in further developing a project based on the shark sighting anecdotes found in the above-mentioned report. We might use this data, for instance, to visually contrast the shark species existing during the late 19th through early 20th centuries (based on previous shark literature) with present shark species in similar areas. Using MARCO’s vessel counts data from 2011 through 2017, we might also overlay a map of vessel traffic in the Mid-Atlantic as it relates to and potentially impacts current shark habitats.
Link to past project – BioGraphics, an interactive case study on Chinese identity:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J5eyx1lOdGiS8Xu1pYo19rGvLvrGVoMs/view?usp=sharing
Week 1: Video & Reading Response (Nimrah Syed)
Name: Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Date: 17th Feb’2019 (late submission due to late enrollment in the class)
Professor: Nimrah Syed
Reading Response:
I really liked this article because previously I did not have an idea about what was the difference between slow and fast fashion. Kate Flectcher in vague words describes fast fashion as the one with link to greed, power, speed and slow fashion as the one which is considered not very popular but holds great importance as it focuses more over the quality and the needs of the consumers. She further adds, how the fast fashion has so many cons such as exploitation of natural resources and about. For example, a good is cheaply sold in the market than it definitely shows that they might have cut costs in the factors of production such as labour etc. We should really support the campaigns against the fast fashion because they are the result of greed and lead to nothing but exploitation. If there is a shift from fast to slow fashion then there would be more focus on the quality of the goods . Moreover, “it allows suppliers to plan orders, predict the numbers of workers needed and invest in the longer term. It gives companies time to build mutually beneficial relationships. No longer will suppliers have to employ temporary or subcontracted workers, or force workers to do excessive overtime to meet unpredictable orders with impossible deadlines. Instead, workers will have secure employment with regular hours and the opportunity for promotion.” This will help to save the rights of the workers and give them better opportunities in life and with that the consumers will also receive high end products for which they wouldn’t have to look for replacements soon.
Video Response:
I found the video really interesting as Li Edelkoort speaks about fashion in the 21st century. She believes that with the advancements in the current world fashion has not been able to be at the same level instead it has moved way back. She further adds that, “Fashion is old-fashioned,”. I totally agree with her in this and believe that no doubt fashion system needs a great change to move the society forward.
She puts up various thoughts such as the plagiarism of ideas by the designers, Marketing has taken over, but fashion advertising is obsolete, Low prices are enslaving workers and destroying cultural value, The retail model needs reinventing etc. I also believe that in the past there were some revolutionary designers who did a lot for the fashion industry and were an agent for change however, the designers today just bring out what had already been famous in the past. For example, in my home country Pakistan what designers do is that they just bring again the same type of clothing Line which was popular/ trending at the time of my parents. This clearly shows lack of innovation in the fashion industry. Moreover, we can see that Edelkoort explains“With this lack of conceptual innovation, the world is losing the idea of fashion.”Therefore, it is very important to have fresh ideas in the fashion industry.