Monarch Butterfly Phenomenon

I have been watching the BBC series 'Life' and it ceases to amaze me the amount of things going on out in the world that we wouldn't ever know about if it wasn't for programs like these. There was one thing in particular that caught my eye in a previous program and that was the migrating phenomenon of the Monarch Butterfly.

These beautiful butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico every year, a journey of 2,000 miles, to a specific group of trees among the vast mountainous forests of this state. Countless numbers of butterflies hang from these trees, covering every last millimetre of branches and leaves. They come here to escape the leathal winter freeze of Canada that could potentially kill them, the conditions in this forest however, are perfect for their hibernation. Although hundreds of thousands of these sleeping insects are killed by predators, those that survive stay huddled together for a staggering 4 months. It's not until the warmth of Spring arrives that they awaken and begin their journey back to the Northern areas of America and tranquility returns to these forests until another Autumn.

I think this is possibly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and just couldn't believe that such an incredible and beautiful specticle takes place in this world we live in.

Tweenagers

The title of this blog –Tweenagers – straight away probably has you pondering what exactly a ‘Tweenager’ is. Well, it’s a young adolescent that is not yet technically a teenager, but that is starting to act like one from a younger age. They are generally in the age bracket of 8 to 12 years old.

In this modern and highly commercialized society it has started to become very clear that today’s children are growing up a lot quicker than they used to. Is there a pressure on children to grow up a lot quicker than they should be? Are their childhoods being taken away from them?

The media plays a huge role in a child’s lifestyle, be it through television, magazines or the internet. On average, every juvenile spends around 6 hours a day involved in the media in some way. This is longer than the majority of children spend in the classroom every day. The mass media has the opportunity to take advantage of the fact that they have more time to influence children longer than their teacher.

After university each day I walk through the Overgate shopping centre and the amount you see young children between the age of 8 and 12 wearing quite an amount of make-up, designer labels and are in groups, out shopping. This should not be the way in which we see adolescents; trying to grow up far too quickly and following the footsteps of older teenager’s long before they should be. Due to the highly commercialized and consumer driven world we inhabit, it is not allowing youngster’s to have the childhood they should be having. It forces children into a forever more impressionable world that embeds stereotypical values into their minds. In their eyes you’re not ‘cool’ unless you are wearing the latest, top brand clothing and own the latest technology. This impression is vastly gained through what children see and read in the mass media.

Should something be done to reduce the amount of time that adolescents spend involved in the media? Should there be some way to censor the material that is contained within it? In addition to this, is there a way in which we can slow down the rate at which children are growing up? Is this even possible?

Assignment 4

I previously theorised that the general public is not aware of the true effects that the media has on their lives and everyday behaviour. Despite this assumption, I have no evidence to prove my theory. As a result, I have investigated this concept further in the hope that my theories are correct.

The main aim of this article is to prove that the Mass Media greatly influences human behaviour, in addition to the fact that it has a lot more control over us than we realise. It also presents findings that have strong implications towards imitation and suggestion having an immense impact on social behaviour. Classical sociologists paid a significant amount of attention to this concept of imitation and suggestion but this theory has been practically ignored in this modern age. Phillips produced this journal to prove that these concepts, in actual fact, lie greatly within modern society. The key issues addressed are what effects the media has on societies and individuals within them, after a fatal accident has been greatly publicized. It looks into depth at the effect the media truly has and how the more publication a story gets the greater the detrimental outcome.

In order to prove these theories, the main evidence used was based on the increase of suicides after a suicide story had been publicized and the effect of suggestion on drivers in motor vehicle fatalities. In a previous paper, Phillips had shown that the national level of suicides increases considerably for a brief period of time after a suicide story is published in a newspaper. An example that he uses to support this is the fact that after Marilyn Monroe’s death, the U.S suicide rate temporarily but dramatically rose by a staggering 12%. However, not only does it prove this theory but it has also shown that the increase only occurs after the publication, the more publicity a story is given the greater the national level of suicides and furthermore, that this increase in suicides primarily occurs in the surrounding region of where the story has been publicized.

Analysis of motor vehicle fatalities proved to show that accidents on the road can have a suicidal component to them which therefore links them with the same published suicide stories. The data examined consisted of tables of daily motor vehicle accidents that are published by the state of California. If a front-page suicide story in a California newspaper stimulates a rise in motor vehicle fatalities, then a link between the mass media and human influence can be formed.

After much investigation into these tables the first analysis was proven and a second analysis was carried out to find the daily fluctuation on motor vehicle fatalities for two week periods before, during and after publicized suicides. There was also a positive correlation, therefore showing that it is evident that motor vehicle fatalities do not increase before the publicized suicide but do rise somewhat abruptly immediately after. Additionally, shown once again, is that the more publicity given to a suicide story, the greater the increase in the rise of motor fatalities from then on. Moreover, a trend within all of this that amplified all of this evidence, was that people reading these stories related themselves to the victims within them and it was revealed that stories about young males committing suicide tended to be followed by young males committing suicide, stories about older people committing suicide tended to be followed by single-vehicle crashes involving older drivers, and so on.

In this journal, Phillips has shown a vast number of positive connections between the influences of the mass media on humans but he also strongly proved that the process of imitation and suggestion greatly affects society. This implies that the mass media plays a much larger role in society and has a superior impact on individuals more than we realise. However, if for instance, none of these stories were publicized would that mean that no-one would commit suicide or crash their car on purpose? The way the author of this journal views it, is that no matter what, the media in some form have a huge impact on humans, occasionally more than we realise and the publication of such fatalities brings the contemplation of suicide and gives those with suicidal tendencies a hint of acceptance to commit it.

The second source used to prove my theory was a book called 'Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach' by James Lull. It describes and proves that the mass media has a highly influential role within society. It also stresses that the media shapes almost every action and decision made by individuals on a daily basis. Lull, cleverly places a strong piece of factual information within in each section of this book to prove these concepts and theories. The articles used are all true-life evidence where the mass media, human communication and culture are concerned. Generally speaking, he uses huge historical events from all over the world, to show how the mass media has had an effect on them. From this it was established that the media has control over the way in which messages are conveyed and as a result the public therefore, can only believe what they see or read. Two of the case studies he presents are based on two of the most recognisable brands of our modern age, McDonald’s and Microsoft. Without the media these corporate giants would not have become household names around the globe. Immediately, this book demonstrates the media’s influence over the human race.

It is openly admitted and proven that the media are a powerful unit with huge impacts on our cultures and societies. The author outlines key concepts that aren’t always openly recognised by society. Without realising, everyone has their views and perceptions of the world altered in some manner by the media and not only that, by reading this book we are quickly and honestly shown that the media affects everything from what we wear to what programs we watch on television. Despite the media’s audience trying not to conform to these subliminal inclinations towards specific fashions and trends, it’s undoubtedly a fact that the media overpower and embed several elements and values into large proportions of our society.

Lull also reminds us that technology and the media vastly advances as the year’s progress and the effect of cultural impact changes. As a result media influence is in some ways, greater than ever before. These historical changes to technology are used to emphasise this argument because they illustrate the detrimental effects they have on societies throughout the world. Moreover, it is realised that the media and hype-related news are a huge part of the modern age and in some ways have become very much accepted as this. This author illustrates that this is not how the media should be treated and that there is a lot more linking the media to present forms of communication and our culture than we may realise. One such topic of discussion is the way in which different cultures are perceived within society.

The mass media has been widely targeted with complaints throughout the years for being highly stereotypical, especially when it comes to the African-American race. Even with this bombardment of objection it still continues to pursue the stereotype route to chase corporate profits by keeping ‘characters and stories predictable’. The media also tends to have a knack for singling out images that many people, especially adolescents find attractive or that they can relate to without much thought. The media don’t want you to have to think intensely about an article or advertisement; they want it to catch your eye, be easily understood and create an in depth thought process within the audience’s mind.

One of the most common types of mass media research is quantitative analyses of ‘audience behaviour’. However, not much of this type of research has been carried out by Lull because of the enormous number of statistically based studies over the past 50 years, which proved to unearth few significant insights into this discipline. There is simply no way of measuring the impact a particular piece of media has on a human or what impact it has on their consciousness and behaviour. Using evidence from other researcher’s of this field has concluded that ‘on a whole the mass media do more to reinforce human behaviour rather than change it’ (Joseph Klapper). On the other hand, in saying this there can be uncertainties of the media effect theory as stated in a sentence by Wilbur Schramm, ‘the media influence some people, some of the time, about some things’.

Before examining my chosen book and journal, I had previously theorised that advertising and the mass media can greatly influence human beings and help form trends within cultures and societies. Through this in depth study it became apparent that both of my sources supported this theory. However, the book ‘Media, Communication, Culture; A Global Approach’ in some ways simply stated ideas that were already thought about the media, where as the journal ‘Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion’ further advanced my perception of the media and to a great extent showed that it plays a highly influential role not only on society but indeed on the individual lives of each and every person within it.

The book ‘Media, Communication, Culture; A Global Approach’ shows a clear and positive connection between the media and their influence over individuals; from telling them what trends to follow, what clothes to wear and what they should be watching on their television set. Previous information obtained from Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Tipping Point’ brought to my attention a race of people that had never witnessed a suicide for decades; however, as a result of an adolescent male killing himself within this community, the media headlines transformed this culture. The fatality was published on front pages of newspapers throughout the local area and soon other young males began to carry out the act of suicide and imitate the way the boy in the story committed suicide. This alone shows that a single article publicized in a newspaper can have a detrimental effect on culture and society. The first suicide article in this society got the word out about suicide and those reading it soon began associating themselves with the story. In turn, this made every reader think about this awful act and gave those with suicidal tendencies someone to relate to and in a subliminal manner, a sense of allowance to follow in this person’s footsteps. This is only one form of how the media influence the human race, advance their audience’s thoughts and imbed perceptions into their minds. Undoubtedly, this increase in fatalities after the publication is by no means coincidence.

Further studies carried out by the journal ‘Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion’ advances what ‘The Tipping Point’ and my chosen book had previously stated. It showed that by publishing fatalities in newspapers, the percentage of similar fatalities rose immensely due to the topics resonance within popular culture at the time. All three of these sources support each other comprehensively and provide strong evidence that the media does indeed have a very superior power over humans and culture.

Another strong social trend that is greatly influenced by the media world and advertising is ‘Smoking’. Although there are no direct references to smoking in either of my sources, the book declares that the media often portrays images which adolescents find attractive and intriguing without any concern for their wellbeing. This huge influence on extremely impressionable teenagers is an easy target for the mass media. Daniel Cortese’s journal ‘Tobacco Industry Lifestyle Magazines Targeted to Young Adults’ investigates the media’s influence on teenagers and the glorifying of this extremely unhealthy trend. These sources support each other as they both understand and express the concept that images portrayed within the media are absorbed by their viewers and eventually imitated. Subsequently, social trends are able to start and as a result of this, cultures are soon moulded and transformed by the media. Once again this is an incredibly similar scenario to the suicide trends I referred to earlier. Therefore, the media undoubtedly shapes the world we live in today, with or without considering the consequences.

To advance my knowledge in this topic, considering exactly how the media works and its power within society would be vital. Two books that may be of value to furthering my theories are: ‘Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences’ by David Croteau and William Hoynes and ‘Media and Power’ by James Curran. Furthermore, by investigating deeper into the roles of advertising, imagery and the use of stereotypes I may be able to prove exactly how the media influences individuals. In addition to this, I could organise focus groups to determine exactly how people understand the extent to which the media controls them. This focus group could also be used to find out how current media and advertisements affect them on a day to day basis. All of this could conclude an even stronger collaboration of evidence towards my initial assumptions.

Bibliography

Cortese, Daniel K, Ph.D., Lewis, Jane, Dr.P.H., and Ling, Pamela M, M.D., M.P.H., 2009, Tobacco Industry Lifestyle Magazines Targeted to Young Adults, Elsevier

Gladwell, Malcolm, 2002, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference, Abacus

Lull, James, 1995, Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach, Polity Press in Association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Phillips, David P, 1979, Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion, The University of Chicago Press

Sukitooru Yume Exhibition

'Sukitooru Yume' is a multimedia exhibition created by Daniel De Fazio, based on women in japanese contemporary arts. The motivation to create such an exhibition was to allow the participants to share and engage in Japanese arts and culture. The atmosphere was formatted to create an environment for the stimulation of art and ideas.

In the middle of the centrespace at the DCA, there was a huge division in the form of an image projected on a solid screen. This divided the room into two halves; one containing seating to watch the projection with a very dull atmosphere and japanese art around the walls; the other contained a slightly lit area with computer screens to look up information and a middle, square section that had multiple numbers of books placed on it. 

The projection was a glodfish swimming across screen changing into images of Japanese women. It was to represent 'A Riot of Goldfish' by Kanoko Okamoto, who tells of the impossible love of a goldfish breeder’s son for the daughter of a wealthy patron and his obsession to create a fish that will capture and reflect her beauty.

This exhibition was nothing at all like I had imagined, knowing that it was based on Japanese art and culture I expected to walk into a vastly coloured, bright room filled with interesting and remarkable peices of oriental artwork. This however was not the case. Instead I walked into a dark and dingy room, with a bizarre goldfish projection that contained an oriental sound playing over in the background. The area was so dark for the projection that the artwork on the walls could barely be seen.

I was glad I visited the exhibition to see what it was about but at the same time I felt greatly disappointed that it wasn't what I thought it was going to be and also wasn't as successful as it could have been. In my opinion, the layout just didn't seem right and the lighting did not create the right atmosphere for the audience.

101 Theory

In the current Furniture project the main route that our group of 3 have decided to go down was Public Seating. When I say public seating I know, straight away, that probably the first thing you thought of was a bench in a park or some kind of outdoor seat. But why when public seating is suggested do our minds not think of a seat at a train station or an airport or a bench in a shopping centre?

So we decided to work on indoor seating and the principal of engagement. I’m sure you have noticed that if there is a bench with 3 seats and one person is sitting at one of the edge seats, the next person comes along and sits at the opposite edge seat. Another person comes along wanting a seat but will very rarely sit in that one remaining, middle seat. Why is this? Strangers do not want to sit beside each other; they find this kind of engagement with people they don’t know very uncomfortable and intense. I called this the 101 Theory.

This concept of how people will sit can be transferred to any public seating with any number of seats but 9 out 10 times no-one will sit directly beside someone they don’t know.

Our answer to this was to create single seats, that move to wherever you want, within a specific area, that connect to each other so that if people want to sit by themselves they can but they also have the option to connect with another seat and sit with someone, either who they already know or someone who they only just met while engaging with our seating.

Ice Jewellery

This Ice Jewellery has been created by Katharina Ludwig. Some of her pieces have little cup like sections to them to catch the drops of water when the jewellery is melting, however, the rest tend to allow the ice to melt directly onto the wearer. Also everytime it melts it must be recreated and formed before it can be worn again.

If I'm going to be honest when I first came across this, I thought to myself 'Really, what is the point in this?!' To me making jewellery out of ice is just totally useless and I know it is the concept and the meaning behind it that can make this design acceptable but why use ice? why not use glass? it gives the same look and effect to the jewellery only it doesn't soak the wearer in the process and make them have to recreate their beloved piece of jewellry before they can wear it the next time they want to.

Sure these pieces of jewellery have strong aesthetic qualities but has the true practical side of this concept really been thought through??

HIV Travel Ban Lifted

HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

HIV infects and gradually destroys an infected person's immune system, reducing their protection against infection and cancers.

AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

It is not a single disease or condition. It's a term that describes the point when a person’s immune system can no longer cope because of the damage caused by HIV and they start to get one or more specific illnesses. A misconceived perception is that people actually die from AIDS but infact they actually die from the cancers, pneumonia or other conditions that may take hold when their immune system has been weakened by HIV. They don't actually die solely because of AIDS.

I read an article in NewScientist magazine titled 'US Lifts HIV Travel Ban' and I couldn't believe what I was reading. The article went on to say that President Obama has lifted a ban that excluded visitors living with HIV from visiting, staying or gaining residence in the United States of America. This ban has been in power for 22 years - over two decades!! - and will only be lifted next year. Throughout the world other countries also impose this HIV ban including China, South Korea and Ukraine, all of which are being urged to follow in Obama's footsteps.

In some ways I can see why these countries have imposed this ban, in a way protecting their people from transmission but at the same time nothing can condone human exclusion and this high level of discrimination. Not only does it clearly violate both human rights and public health needs, in my eyes it is a ban that should never have been in power in the first place, anywhere. HIV/AIDS is without a doubt an awful thing to have to go through and simply because someone has to suffer from this, does not mean that they should also have to under go the process of social rejection from whole countries. In my eyes this ban is a total disgrace and I just could not believe that such a regulation was in place in our world.

It's CHRISTMAS!!!

It's nearly christmas - the rush is on to buy presents, the panic of not being prepared has started and the thought of this time of year has us more excited and stressed than ever. We are all guilty of this rush of christmas spirit and personally I love this time of year but has the true value of christmas been lost?

As time has went on Christmas has become a very commercialised time of year, with companies realising this human weakness and taking advantage of every parent, child, teenager and grandparent all over the world. When it hits the month of October, if not before, it's obvious it's coming up to that time of year again as everyone, all over the world, starts to decide what they're buying and for who and nearly every advert on television is new cd or dvd releases and the latest toys and gadgets for children.

Christmas used to be about buying a present for those dear to you, that they have wanted and probably hinted at all year round but in this modern age it's about having the most recent and 'must have' gift around.

Is there any need for this mayhem? Fighting in shops over products, degrading ourselves over a material possession and hurting, even killing people in human stampedes. This time of year is meant to be a time for family and appreciating those around you. Sadly, in this day and age this does not seem to be the case.

To me this time of year isn't about joining those huge queues and fighting in a shop but more buying a gift for loved ones, spending as much time as I can with them and seeing the smile on their face when they tear open that wrapping paper. This is what, in my eyes, Christmas is all about.

Hands On Chair

When I first saw this design I thought it was not only an amazing but simple design, I thought it was also very clever. Seating sometimes can be a very public specticle and there has been plenty of times I've been out and about simply wanting a seat that you could sit on, relax and not have everyone staring at you on their way past. In my eyes this is the perfect solution to private seating in a public area. It can be for one on one or arranged so that a whole group of people can sit together.

Above is a picture of the chairs joined together, to create a private space by allowing the chairs to 'hold hands'. The sides of the chairs function as shutters that can be open, closed or connected to other chairs by way of magnets.

This chair has been created by designer Joon Soo Kim from South Korea. When I further tried to research this designer I found it quite difficult because as it turns out he owns a company with another designer and the 'Hands on Chair' was one of this first individual pieces of work.

If you want to look at more work by them go to their website at www.joonjung.com

They are Conceptual Product Designers based in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Their abstract level of design is mainly based on humans and everyday affairs.