In the words of David Bowie: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Today we had a lecture/meeting about the proposed changes to the DJCAD programme structure, with several members of the academic faculty present, along with students from Textiles, Jewellery and Metalwork and Interior and Environmental Design - although a substantial amount of JMD students were unavailable due to course commitments. 

Firstly I'd like to point out to those who read this who study in a different discipline from myself that I voiced several issues from the IED perspective - some of which are not entirely my personal issues with the changes, but are talked about in great depth amongst my fellow classmates during studio time. However, after kicking up sh*t for a meeting so we could all be properly informed about the changes - people suddenly lost their voice when it came to voicing these aforementioned concerns. 

Enter Shona. 

When busy people such as Andy Milligan (our head of IED) and Jonathan, along with Mike and Frances from Textiles give up time out of their busy days to give us a chance to question all these changes - why does the powerful voice heard so much in class suddenly evaporate as if it never existed? In fact, people changed their tune in front of the masses - but yet back in the studio, the same moans and groans can still be heard. It made me feel like the big bad wolf from IED in that lecture and left me less than impressed with the lack of voice when it mattered. 

Frustrating.

Although I can see that everyone stands to benefit from the proposed change (use of other facilities, and knowledge from other disciplines etc.), it will always feel somewhat of an odd choice of grouping. Yes "craft" may be taken as a term meaning to belong to a creative profession, it's just craft in it's main sense is rarely what we do. I don't know what my personal distaste for the word "craft" is, I just don't like it. Perhaps it's because I "use software or computers and stuff" - the irony of being described as that amused me, as this was said while trying to convince me IED is a craft. Furthermore, having even more people using the woodwork workshop will probably render our furniture module obsolete as space is already an issue during this project - which ironically is the IED project that has the strongest tie to the damned "craft" word that's getting banded about. 

Another thing that is bothering IED more than the other disciplines is the loss of our first year. A huge amount is learnt during this crucial learning curve, and, on thinking back to the knowledge I came in with and the level of IED we are currently at now - it is difficult to expect newcomers to maintain 2nd-4th year levels when only entering in their second year. The "T" shaped graph of knowledge that was talked about is all very well, but we struggle to get our projects complete as it is. We have for example just been given an extension over the Easter break to accommodate for the masses of work within our discipline that is due, let alone a module here and there based in other fields. I guess what I am ultimately concerned for is the final outcome of our degrees, and not just for our individual years, but the course as a whole - by giving us these new options and opportunities to learn new skills across varying areas, are we diluting our specialised knowledge and therefore jeopardising the strength and quality in each field come degree show? This isn't even just from an IED perspective, the same goes for all disciplines.

It feels like a car sales man's trying to persuade me, sell it to me, make me think it's good - when really we've all got a sinking feeling and a knot in our stomaches, wether it's voiced or not.

I'm scared all courses will end up a mish mash of several inter disciplinary modules that leave you graduating a jack of all trades, master of none - and I don't think anybody, from any field, would like this to happen to what they are passionate about.

Design Studies: The Tipping Point

As previously mentioned two posts ago (in My Tipping Point), there are some things I need to add in order to complete my tasks for Design Studies.

The tasks are as follows (all relating to Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point"):
Read the book
Mind map the book as a whole in small groups
Mind map an area of interest individually
Harvard Reference the end notes of your area of choice
Annotate your references
Highlight said references within your area of choice
Tie the references in to your mind maps
Post as a blog post

Jonathan had also warned us that merely ticking the above boxes would only gain us a pass at a D level. In order to increase our grade we must take things further, which I suppose is reasonable.

I have chosen to reference the entire book, as I don't like having just bit's of something like that done. I suppose normally it would annoy me but, since it will hopefully aid my final grade, I guess I don't mind so much.

As I have read the book, and posted my joint mind map previously, I will cut to my individual mind maps. I chose to map the whole chapter of "The Law of the Few". I subcategorised these into the subtitle of the chapter Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. The assignment had stated we do not need to do a whole chapter, just a selected area of interest, but as I couldn't decide I have done all 3. I have also chosen to map out the Airwalk case study and the Baltimore Syphilis outbreak.

Below are my mind maps of Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen respectively (including their references). Click to enlarge:

Connectors

Mavens

Salesmen

Above, in the Salesmen map, I have added in some well known salesmen that I have come up with, as I felt my map was not as full as the others.

My mind map of the Airwalk case study:

Airwalk Case Study

and finally, my Baltimore Syphilis outbreak map:

Baltimore Syphilis Outbreak

Below are my references by page they occur throughout the book. I have annotated the references used during "The Law of the Few" and the "Airwalk Case Study" in blue. References for the entire book can be found on my page entitled "Tipping Point Bibliography".

CHAPTER TWO: THE LAW OF THE FEW
Page 30:
Fischer, D. H. (1994). Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press.
This reference is used throughout the book to put Paul Revere into context as not only a Connector but also a Maven.

Page 34:
Milgram, S.(1967). The Small World Problem. Psychology Today. Vol. 1, p.60-67.
Relates to how are humans connected. Six degrees of separation test. 160 people from Omaha, NB to get their letter to a stockbroker in Sharon, MA. 24 made it, via the use of a Connector.

Kochen, M. (1989). The Small World Problem. New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corp.
Six degrees of separation.

Page 35:
Werner, C. & Parmlee, P. (1979). Similarity of Activity Preferences Among Friends: Those Who Play Together Stay Together. Social Psychology Quarterly. Vol. 42 (1), p.62-66.
Study showed 88% of people living in the Dyckman projects in N. Manhattan have their closest friends in the same building. People chose similar ages and races to them as friends. Univ. of Utah found people say they make friends with people who have "similar attitudes" when really it is that they live in a close proximity. 

Page 47:
Tjaden, B. Brett Tjaden Project. Available: www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/.
"Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. Tjaden created calculations to work out most connected actor, at the Univ. of Virginia. 

Page 53:
Granovetter, M (1995). Getting a Job. Chicago, USA: University of Chicago.
Sociologist found that 56% of technical and professional workers found their job via a connection. Only 20% applied directly.

Page 60:
Inman, J. J., McAlister, L. & Hoyer, W. D. (1990). Promotion Signal: Proxy for a Price Cut? Journal of Consumer Research. 17, p74-81.
Examples of things Mavens take note of. Signage in shops advertising low prices, but not actually cutting the price. Mavens would notice that this appears as false advertising. 

Page 61:
Feick, L. F. & Price, L. L. (1987). The Market Maven: A diffuser of Marketplace Information. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 51, p83-97.
Linda Price of Univ. of Nebraska pioneered in Maven research. Videotaped interviews with several Mavens. 

Higie, R. A., Feick, L.F. &  (1987). Types and Amounts of Word-of-Mouth Communications About Retailers. Journal of Retailing. Vol.63 (no.2), p260-278.
Research into what how Mavens shop.
Price, L.L., Feick, L.F. & Guskey, A. (1995). Everyday Market Helping Behaviour. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. Vol.14 (2), p225-266.

Maven personality research, backing up the above.

Page 74:
Mullen et al, B. (1986). Newscasters' facial expressions and voting behaviour of viewers: Can a smile elect a President? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol.51, p291-295.
1984 Presidential election. Pro Reagan ABC anchorman Peter Jennings persuasive news casting. Survey conducted between ABC, NBC and CBS viewers showed ABC viewers voted more towards Reagan. Salesmen example. 

Page 77:
Wells, G. L; Petty, R. E. (1980). The Effects of Overt Head Movements on Persuasion. Basic and Applied Social Psychology. Vol.1 (3), p219-230.
How persuasion can be subtle. Headphone test - students told to nod/shake their heads while "testing" headphones that played messages about rising education fee's. Nodders were pro edu. fee rise, shakers were against. 

Page 84:
Hatfield, E., Cocioppo, J. T. & Rapson, R. L. (1994). Emotional Contagion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Mimicry is how this book claims humans infect one and other with their emotions. Emotions are not inside to out, they can be "caught" from outside and work inwards.

Page 85:
Friedman, H. (1980). Understanding and Assessing Nonverbal Expressiveness: The Affective Communication Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol.39 (2), p333-351.
Univ. of California developed the "Affective Communication Test" which aims to measure ones emotional "contagiousness'. Also related to persuasiveness. Highest mark is 117. Tom Gau, example salesmen scored 116.

Friedman, H. & Riggio, R. (1981). Effect of Individual Differences in Nonverbal Expressiveness on Transmission of Emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour. Vol.6, p96-104.
Further research into the above by Gladwell.

CHAPTER SIX: AIRWALK CASE STUDY
Page 196:
Ryan, B. & Gross, N. (1943). The Diffusion of Hybrid Seed Corn in Two Iowa Communities . Rural Sociology. Vol. 8, p.15-24.
Few famers were willing to take the risk with a new hybrid seed, however the when the risk paid off, the majority of famers followed suit. Example of "Early Adopters".

Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion on Innovations. New York: Free Press.

Continued research into the survey above.

Page 197:
Moore, G. (1991). Crossing the Chasm. New York: HarperCollins. p.9-14.
Further research into the workings of the "Early Adopters" and their incompatibility with the "Early Majority". High end technology is used here an an example of products that have not "taken off" yet.

Page 201:
Allport, G. & Postman, L. (1947). The Psychology of Rumor . New York: Henry Holt. p.135-158.
Explores the rumour surrounding the Chinese tourist in 1945 Maine who was soon mistaken as a Japanese Spy during World War II. Three aspects - levelled, sharpened and assimilated.

Page 204:
Valente, T., Foreman, R. K. & Junge, B. Satellite Exchange in the Baltimore Needle Exchange Program. Public Health Reports.
The needle exchange program provided drug addicts with a clean way to use. "Super-exchangers" of drug Mavens used their connections around town to sell clean needles 24/7, when the van was unavailable. Dual outcome: addicts made money (employment), and the service also benefitted as it was more readily available. 

Design Studies: My Tipping Point

Epidemics.

When most of us hear that word we think disease. Media induced mayhem. Catch it, bin it, kill it. Quick, you might catch something. Keep your children indoors and immediately phone round all your elderly relatives to make sure they aren't feeling a little "off".

Swine flu. Foot and mouth. Sars. Even in my relatively short life I have been exposed to several epidemics.

But, after reading Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" I have come to understand epidemics in another fashion. Not only disease, but society's behaviour is also susceptible to epidemics, epidemics of trend. Human nature after all, is imitation.

Contagious. There is another disease ridden word. Again though, after reading The Tipping Point I have come to understand that epidemics of trends are contagious. Not unlike a virus. It takes over, spreading through the population, working it's way through vast distances.

The kid wearing the shoes you don't think are "cool" anymore. What are they thinking? Well, 5 months later those same so called "uncool" shoes are on your feet. Trends start by special people, rare people. People who don't mind being out there, different. The thing is, these trends may drift by, unnoticed in the business world. A huge opportunity missed, as not only did they miss a chance of propelling their own product onto the stage under the beaming lights of mainstream, but they of course, and perhaps more importantly to them, missed out on profit.

Airwalk did not miss out. They spotted it. Trendy Southern Californian teens were wearing their brand. They were making a reasonable profit out of this but they were hungry for more. But how to catapult you're brand into the mainstream, yet keep it's underground original cool-ness? Mainstream after all, it not where trends are set. Mainstream is where the lingering dregs of trends hang out. By the time it's in you're local mall, it's not the newest, coolest thing out there.

This was Airwalk's issue.

So they hired a marketing company to create innovative adverts. Not unlike the viral adverts seen today, they created odd, off the wall adverts, that were highly contagious. But this took a lot of behind the scenes leg work to make sure the right topics were brought up via the adverts. They needed the topics that the underground hipsters were interested in, before it hit the fan of mainstream. This is where DeeDee Gordon comes into the picture, as she was another special type of person. Infact doubly special as she was two types out of the three types that The Tipping Point splits people into. Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. These are the three categories rare people fit into, and the types of people who are required in order to tip a trend over the edge and into an epidemic. She is both a Connector - somebody who collects acquaintances and knows many more people than the average person - and a Maven. A Maven is someone who knows a lot. She is somewhat of a fashion Maven. Somebody who has the power of knowledge and has the ability to know when something is going to take off. Due to these traits, she was able to keep tabs on underground trends and use them through Airwalks adverts, early enough that it was new to Joe Public, but cool to the underground scene.

Thanks to the series of ad campaigns, Airwalk seen their peak profit tip $175 Million a year.

Pretty clever really. All by expoiting certain personality traits. This line of attack is seen every day in todays marketing world, although done subtly enough, you probably are blissfully unaware. Yet I'll bet you trudge as I do like a robot and buy whatever has been made into a fashion must have. Be it technology, fashion or a number of other things. Some epidemics are a matter of fate, such as the Baltimore Syphilis outbreak, yet others are constructed to happen with the benefits for the tippers themselves exponential.

Airwalk is only one of several topics brought up throughout Gladwell's "The Tipping Point".  It puts several example epidemics into the context of Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen, and explains why some trends take off, while others sink. The drop of crime in New York City during the 1990's. The Syphilis outbreak of Baltimore. The Hush Puppy trend. The Suicide epidemic of Micronesia. Paul Revere during the American Revolution, the examples are endless.

For Design Studies - part of our task was to mind-map the book and then select an area in which to mind-map further. Below is my joint one with Ross, with my own one to follow shortly. I have selected Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen as I find that the most fascinating area.

Ink: The Root Of Life's Problems

Recently, while trying to scan in some of my sketchbook work to display during my latest project's presentation, I was having some technical difficulties. Feeling not unlike my grand mother who often gets addicted to johnlewis.com, and then gets flustered when she "breaks" it; I phoned my dad. Between us, we deduced that HP are profit mongering corporate pains in my side.

It was only last week that my class was exposed to a topical video on recycling and the western worlds lack of respect for being eco-friendly. Corporations around the globe build things with the intention for them to break, rendering them useless, meaning you, the customer, have to replace it. They also have to sneakily time this so it breaks at a specific point - long enough after being purchased to give customer satisfaction, causing you to still be pleased enough with it that you would buy a new one, but also must break after a reasonably short life span to maximise replacement sales. Hardly eco-friendly.

New models of things, new colours released, new shapes of products, these aren't brought out because better developed products have been designed, they are released to point out that you have the old model. The out of date model. You, personally, are out of date. Highlighting this with a colour or shape means you want to buy new one. Keep up with the Jones'.

Conveniently for Mr. Corporate that means big bucks for them. Odd that, isn't it? Or not. A good example of this is the iPod. The Shuffle was brought out in a long small remote control shape. Then developed into a small rectangle. Then a tiny blank sweetie size. Then back to the small rectangle. Same goes for the Nano. You replace it because you look out of date. But like fashion, if you keep it long enough it comes back.

Wow! have you seen Apple's
new iPod? It's called a "Shuffle"!
Wow!

Wow! Save 2cm in physical space!
Definitely worth an upgrade!

Wow! Save another 1cm in space!
Bin that brick you've got, I'm gonna
get me the new one!

Oh no wait- retro's best.
My new one looks like the old, old one but is
actually newer!

So back to my scanner issue. It turns out after much researching into HP printer-scanner-copier products, ink goes out of date. Admittedly I have not used it for a while after moving, and getting a new laptop, so it did sit in the cupboard for a while,  so therefore it could well be out of date. Annoyingly if it has expired, you cannot use any of the functions. Not even just the scanner, regardless of the requirement for ink, or in this case, not. But HP assure me it's in my best interest. It stops the printer head getting dirty and broken, apparently. Even if I don't want to print. Just scan - I just want to use one of the three functions it promises me it does. Nice of them to provide me with safety functions to prevent it from being damaged - it's just entire coincidence and lucky for them that said function increases their ink sales. At around £40 for a new set of ink, it seems a little extortionate just to use your scanner. As the ever long saga goes of the skint student - I shall make do with the scanner facilities in University for now.

Needless to say, I was a little sceptical of the video we were shown in class about Mr. Corporation, but it would seem after the above incidents I have come across, that it is highly likely to be true. It makes me quite sick really.

To think that in countries where people are so thankful to receive anything, whether it be in full working order or not. In an event where a product stopped functioning as it should, they would then find another use for it. In these scenarios, we would throw it away. Bin it. Replace it. So what. Consumerism FTW!

What a waste.