Assignment 4A + B - Essay

The first journal article I chose to look at in further detail was ‘AGING, NEIGHBOURHOOD ATTATCHMENT, AND FEAR OF CRIME: TESTING RECIPROCAL EFFECTS’ from the journal of community psychology, Vol. 37, 2009. The article focuses on conducting a study which looks at whether the elderlys fear of crime causes a decrease in the strength of their neighbourhood attachments. The study converges neighbourhood attachment and aging among urban residents to predict fear of crime. The author attempts to address if fear of crime in older residents affects social relationships being formed with their neighbours.
The author deals with the fact that there are several aspects in life which may cause an elderly individual to fear crime in addition to (or as well as) lack of neighbourhood attachments. These include physical restrictions that older people encounter with age making them more frail and vulnerable and not enabling them to get out as much, which can play a big part in increasing their fear of crime, this being backed up in several other articles referenced in the article that have looked at this specifically including Baumer,1985, Skogan and Maxfield, 1981 and several others. Also, elderly people tend to have less social connections in general as social networks decline with age causing further social isolation. Being alone with a lot of spare time and less friends can also appear to intensify fear of crime (OH, 2009:24) Although, the author does frequently look at the other side of things as well, for example, he investigates how older people having more spare time can also be an advantage in relation to social cohesion as it is quoted from results of a previous study that “older adults help maintain social order in their neighbourhoods because they are home during the day, are more likely to visit and maintain social ties with their neighbours that help maintain control in the community..” (Ross & Mirosky, 1999, p. 424).
The writer used examples of several other secondary sources initially to explain previous findings to similar studies and what has already been discovered in relation to the current study. Studies including Sampson et al, 1999, are referred to when stating that trust can be increased by having stronger relationships with neighbours and that behavioural attachment (in the form of friendships, neighbouring) can have a direct effect on attitudinal attachment (trust, social control etc.) (OH, 2009:23) The writer appears unbiased and considers many other aspects that can affect fear of crime other than age, referencing many sources to justify each point made, making the article accurate and reliable.
The study measures the frequency of contact with other neighbours using a scale system for response, the study is conducted on an individual basis as opposed to studying the community as a whole. I think this is a good way of conducting it as it allows individual circumstances and opinion to be taken into account as they can vary dramatically between people even if they do live in the same neighbourhood. The article seems to be some what contradictory at times when reaching the conclusion. There are several models as a result of the study, each showing different results - findings appear unclear at times as the author uses phrases such as “in one sense”, “in another sense”, when referring to results (OH, 2009:36). The conclusion suggests that some models prove that ‘age plays a vital role in raising fear of crime’ which is supported by referencing a study with the same findings(OH, 2009:34). On the other hand some models appear to suggest that neighbourhood attachment does not affect fear of crime with aging alone but is a factor among several others, making it confusing when reaching a solid conclusion. Although the author seems to initially assume that it is lack of neighbourhood attachment that increases fear of crime he also considers that fear of crime could also actually be the cause of poor social neighbourhood ties(OH 2009:34). Even though the writer has a relatively clear line of thought he doesn’t make assumptions without considering alternative ideas. I think that the author intends to convey the concept that although it is possible for age to have an affect on fear of crime it is only one aspect among many.



The second Journal I selected to look at in more detail was ‘RESIDENTS’ EFFORTS AT NEIGHBOURHOOD STABILIZATION: FACING THE CHALLENGES OF INNER-CITY NEIGHBOURHOODS. The article is focused on a case study which explores how residents in Five Oaks, a ‘racially and economically diverse’ neighbourhood positively responded to an increase in crime and disorder in the area by successfully integrating members of the community with city officials to devise a successful plan to reduce it (Donnelly, 1998).
The writer expresses several times that this is a relatively unusual case and that more frequently, progressive increased disorder in a neighbourhood lessens morale and as a result can cause less people to be active in the community. He uses examples of other case studies throughout the article to back up information given, in this case for example, he cites that Skogan(1990) has proved that an increase of crime leading to progressive neighbourhood decline leads to a lack of activism, people tend to give in or give up and move away. It is key to note that against the odds a neighbourhood in decline pulled together and worked hard to get a high level of activism and co-operation, not only among residents but with current group FONIA (Five Oaks Neighbourhood Improvement Association), local institutions and city officials.
The writer stresses that the importance of communication and involvement is vital in the success of reducing the problem of crime in the neighbourhood. The plan was to divide the neighbourhood into smaller sections that would be easier to control (Newman, 1972).Although Newman was brought in to help with the plan, residents were encouraged to attend meetings and were given full opportunity to have control in what they wanted from the plan, this I think was crucial to the success of the plan. I found it important that although several meetings were held and all residents were welcome to attend, not all did but even if they chose not to go to meetings there was still door to door contact and a monthly newsletter “hand delivered to every household”(Donnelly, 1998:198) So even if the residents didn’t attend to give their active input, they were still being continuously informed suggesting communication was a vital aspect of the plan to reduce crime and disorder. It is not just an assumption that everyone can or will play an active role but the writer shows it is still important to attempt to make everyone feel included.
The writer is sensitive towards both the causes and consequences of crime in the area and also why it was so important for the neighbourhood to take action against it. Increasing unemployment rates, decreasing population, mounting levels of poverty and changes in ethnic composition were all established as likely root causes of increasing crime and disorder in the area, backed up by a study (Wilson, 1987). The consequences that the writer highlighted were that as a result of continually diminishing surroundings and increased levels of crime people begin to develop a less caring attitude, a point which is well explained as ‘the broken window theory’ in the book The Tipping Point. “If a window is broken and left unrepaired people walking by will conclude that no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes” (Gladwell 2000:141) showing that problems simply escalate in a context that is run down already. Another important point that the writer makes is the importance of racial diversity in Five Oaks. Although it is suggested racial diversity causes less unity in a neighbourhood, in Five Oaks it was vital in bringing people together, people wanted to preserve it rather than move away and this actually became an attraction for new people moving to the neighbourhood, which the writer is sensitive towards.
The findings in the conclusion are clear, although the writer makes it clear that the strong activism of the community was vital, co-operation and obtaining support from external sources was also as important. Information supplies from another study shows that if the public can obtain support from external sources it increases the likelihood of success (Hunter, 1985). Also, the communities strong desire to maintain a racially diverse neighbourhood was important in raising morale to be active and also in bringing people together. The study also concludes that crime prevention organizations need to be a constant ongoing feature of the community, it needs to be monitored long term for the positive changes to be maintained as it has been proved by a previous study (Fowler and Margione, 1986) that short term improvements that are not maintained diminish and pre-existing organisations can more effectively activate a plan when problems do come up. The study showed that an equal partnership between members of the neighbourhood, the local volunteer group (FONIA) and external sources was very important in the success of improving crime in the neighbourhood of Five Oaks.




I found both articles very interesting, and although they are on separate topics relating to crime they have findings which do relate. The importance of neighbourhood cohesion is stressed in the results of both papers. The first paper discusses how important it is for elderly people to have strong relationships with neighbours and how in return it reduces their fear of crime whereas the second paper shows that how although increasing levels of crime and disorder cause people to lose morale in taking action, it is possible for big positive changes to be made in reducing crime if they take a cooperative approach. In other words, if people in a neighbourhood work cohesively in combating crime related problems, they can be reduced. Both paper are efficient in making references to several other studies to show that concepts they are discussing are backed up by previous research and are not just passing comments. Equally, the articles look at many contributing factors that can have an effect on the outcome of the study and it is interesting to note that both paper found reverse effect, for example, in the first paper it was found that crime can be a cause for older people to fear making neighbourhood ties but also an effect as having neighbourhood ties can also be a reason for older people to fear crime. Interestingly, in the second paper, it was suggested that increasing levels of crime cause morale towards taking action to decrease but alternatively it can cause people to react in the opposite way and pull together. I personally found the second paper more successful, since it was a case study as opposed to a study using collected data, it allowed observation to be conducted over a longer period in a more natural setting. The study used key data as well such as census information and crime figures. It appeared to have less background information than the other study, but seeing as it was an individual study with results out with the expected norm I think this is acceptable and there is enough substantial information to make it reliable. It was also interesting to see how consistency pays off in this case. Reducing crime in Five Oaks was not the result of quick fixes, it took time and effort from a lot of people and it seems likely that the community will need to maintain the levels of commitment to maintain the positive effects. In other words time and effort pay off, you get out what you put in and if the majority people want change then change can be made. It is clear to see what the results are, increased community involvement, although among other things, helped to reduce crime in this circumstance whereas the results are ‘unsupported’ and unclear at times in the other study (OH, 2009:37). Although this case study is quite limited as it only shows what happened in one circumstance, in one city and it is said t be quite a unusual reaction to the normal, generalizing it. Although, it is still helpful to see how a community reacted positively instead of what is usually expected when a community has a rise in crime, it continues to get worse, its nice to see a more positive exception.

Assignment 4C - Possible Further Research

To further build on my knowledge of how community relationships affect different aspects of crime, I could look at other studies that conduct similar studies and compare findings to see if they are consistent, perhaps studies conducted in other demographic areas or with different racial groups to broaden my knowledge on how these can affect results. Perhaps I could even look at a few of the studies mentioned within the two studies I looked at to give me a better understanding of the background information. As I also mentioned previously in another assignment the website www.mypolice.com is a very interesting idea that has been created relatively recently which is a website which aims to collect people’s opinions and stories about encounters with crime or police. I think this is a very good idea as I have learned from the studies that I looked at that public opinion and support in relation to reducing crime is very important and if a better knowledge of what people want or need from the police is gained, we can possibly figure out ways to better manage police in communities to reduce criminal activity within neighbourhoods.

Assignment 4D- Bibliography

Bibliography


Baumer, T.L. (1985) Testing a general model of fear of crime: Data from a national sample. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 22, 239-255.

Donnelly, P (1998)‘RESIDENTS’ EFFORTS AT NEIGHBOURHOOD STABILIZATION: FACING THE CHALLENGES OF INNER-CITY NEIGHBOURHOODS Vol 13, No. 2 pp. 189-213

Fowler, F.J., & Mangione, T. W. (1986) A three pronged effort to reduce crime and fear of crime: The Hartford experiment. Community Crime Prevention: 87-108. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Gladwell, M (2000) The Tipping Point. Abacus, London.

Hunter, A. J, (1985) “Private, parochial and public orders: The problem of crime and incivility in urban communities.” The challenge of Social Control: 230-242. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Newman, O (1972) Defensible Space: Crime Prevention Through Urban Design. New York: Macmillan.

Oh, JH (2009) Aging neighbourhood attachment, and fear of crime: testing reciprocal effects. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 37 (1): 21-40

Ross, C. E., & Mirowsky, J, (1999). Disorder and Decay: The concept and measurement of perceived neighbourhood disorder. Urban Affairs Quarterly, 34, 412-432.

Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F (1997). Neighbourhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficiency. Science, 277, 918-924.

Skogan, W.G., & Maxfield, M.G. (1981). Coping with crime: Individual and neighbourhood reactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Skogan, W (1990). Disorder and Decline: Crime and the Spiral of Decay in American Neighbourhoods. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Wilson, W.J. (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Iconic

I found myself watching an interesting Andy Warhol film for the South Bank Show this evening. Everyone knows the work of Warhol, his pieces based on iconic imagery have become some what iconic themselves. It was really intreguing though to see more about how he approached his work, he was a really interesting character. There was a part of the show that looked at one of Warhol's most famous pieces - the campbell's soup painting. It was said in the show that 'he believed packaging was more important that what is inside' which as a graphic designer I found really interesting - if the packaging and branding is done well and becomes well known - does it really matter about the quality of the product inside? After all it doesnt seems like the most interesting thing to paint - a tin of soup - but its not about what it is exactly for Andy Warhol, its about the underlying message or story that the image holds there is always a back story to his works and campbell's soup is iconic - its an item everyone has without even thinking about it.

wool + whale = pie!

The final part of one of my main study projects was to create packaging for a 'revolutionary food product'. I was asked to combine the material and food source from previous parts one and two of the project. My material was wool and my food source was whale. At first I was a bit clueless as to how I could combine these two extremely different items to make a brand new, exciting product. Some people in the group had materials such as plastic or cardboard which made the packaging stage a little easier so I was a little gutted at having wool initially as it is not exactly a diverse, modern material - in my mind its a material generally associated with tradition rather that revolution.

Although after brainstorming for a while I realised I could use wool to my advantage. When researching wool in the first part of the project as well as looking into its properties and functions I looked at sayings and phrases that are associated with the word wool. The most interesting one I came across was 'to pull the wool over someone's eyes' which most people know is a saying to mean to decieve or conceal the truth from someone. I thought about how some food products can have hidden ingredients or how the ingredients of a product can sometimes be misleading or slightly concealed. I thought this would be an interesting thing to look into and I began looking at food in the war time and how they put hidden ingredients into meat products as there was a lack of food, they put horrible things into meat products to bulk them out. I even discovered that they used whale meat in the war as 'one whale alone would provide alot of whale steaks'(http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/92/a1110592.shtml) I thought that using whale meat as a hidden ingredient would be an interesting route to take, although not particularly revolutionary, I thought it would be a good starting point. I then had to think about how I could put a modern twist on it, I began looking at pork products as pork was one of the main meat products used in the war and also some whale meat is said to taste like pork.

I looked into pork pies as they are small and easy to work with and seem to carry a homely,almost honest kind of feel so I decided to substitute the pork in the pies for whale meat - as an unknown ingredient. I wasn't sure if using wool just in a saying sense was enough, so I looked at how I could use it to package my food product and I came up with the idea of making a pie warmer! I decided to knit a wool cosy that can keep pie's warm while you're on the go, wool after all is a naturally very insulating material so it is perfectly fit for purpose!


I called my pie product 'porkies' as it suggests the inclusion of pork but also means lie's :) I was quite pleased with how my project turned out!


Here is a selection of pages from the 3 sketchbooks I used for the project.. :)

Bibliography

Assignment 3A for Design Studies asked us to use cross search and library resources to find appropriate journals and books related to the section we decided to focus on from the previous brainstorm. I chose to look at prisons environments initially but became more interested in crime prevention in relation to community policing so that is what i decided to investigate in this part of the assignment. I found it quite difficult to get hold of any relevant books online so all my findings are articles/journals!


Donnelly, P (1998) Residents' Efforts at Neighborhood Stabilization: Facing the Challenges of Inner-City Neighborhoods. Sociological Forum, Vol. 13, No. 2 pp. 189-213

I found this article interesting as it looks at community activism and how encouraging citizen participation in preventing crime is more effective than avoiding it and if communities work together they can make changes. The paper looks specifically at a communities response to an increase in crime in a "racially, and economically diverse neighborhood" who came together and made a plan to prevent certain types of crimes that were happening in their area.


Jackson, J (2007) Public confidence in policing - A neo-Durkheimian perspective. BRITISH JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY 47 (2): 214-233
This journal looks at how trust and confidence in the police are shaped by the moral values of communities. I find it interesting that the way in which communities are constructed affect the way in which trust can be built. It looks at how it is important that police should deal with the public in a fair and dignified way and how in doing this it allows communities to become more confident in their attitudes towards them.

Johnston, L (2003) From "pluralisation" to "the police extended family": discourses on the governance of community policing in Britain. International Journal of the Sociology of Law; 31 (3) pp.185-204
This journal is also useful for my chosen topic, it looks widely at community policing and how with government funding wardens can be placed in communities to create a "police extended family" and improve relationships between the public and local police. Having wardens allow a partnership to be created within the community with the police and allows improvements in crime and external environment to be undertaken.

Manzi, T (2005) Gated communities as club goods: segregation or social cohesion? Housing Studies; 20 (2) pp.345-359
I found this article interesting as it looks at how gated communities can prevent crime and be positive although they are normally seen in a negative light as they tend to intensify "social segregation". Gated communities in poorer areas can help to reduce crime instead of people just moving to "better" areas. It also looks at case studies and shows how if there is an increase in community participation it can contribute to preventing crime

Schneider, SR (1998) Overcoming barriers to communication between police and socially disadvantaged neighborhoods: a critical theory of community policing.CRIME LAW AND SOCIAL CHANGE 30 (4): 347-377
I also found this article very interesting, it looks at how important police relationships with socially disadvantaged neighborhoods (SDN's) is in crime prevention. It discusses how if police had a better relationship with minority groups in SDN then crime could be reduced. If community policing improves and their empathy towards SDN does too it can help to sustain a stronger relationship.

Weitzer, R (2004) Reforming the police: Racial differences in public support for change.CRIMINOLOGY 42 (2): 391-416
This article also appealed to me, it talks about public support for police reform and how police misconduct can affect confidence in policing. It looks at what types of people (including racial groups) most favor reform from the police and why. I find it very interesting that the police are occasionally the group that needs to change their behavior to build confidence as opposed to the communities themselves.

Oh, JH (2009) Aging neighborhood attachment, and fear of crime: testing reciprocal effects. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 37 (1): 21-40
I also found this article very relevant as it looks at how neighborhood attachments ("friendship, neighboring, social cohesion and trust, informal social control") affect the fear of crime. It focuses on the element of age and how this can affect fear of crime and neighborhood attachments. It suggests that if community relationships were stronger then the elderly would feel safer.


I also came across the website http://www.mypolice.org/ which is very relevent. It is a website which allows people to submit stories about experiences, good or bad, that they have had with the police. It could be very helpful for obtaining information from the public on how the police service can be improved and to see what exactly communities want from the police. It is a good way of improving the relationship between police and the general public. There is also a related blog http://mypolice.wordpress.com/ which allows people to see regular updates on the progress of the project.

My Top 5 Useful Websites.

For assignment 3B of the Design Studies blog we were asked to come up with 2 "Top 5" lists of website - 1 that has useful websites relating to my discipline (Graphic Design) and 1 that has useful websites relating to news and information outwith my discipline. To be honest I hadn't looked at a great deal of design related websites previous to this assignment and we were given a link to a tutorial webpage which was very helpful in providing links to helpful art, design and news related websites http://tinyurl.com/dhtp-library I realised that it can be very helpful to keep up to date not only with genral news but updates within design specifically aswell.


Top 5 Websites useful for keeping up-to-date with Graphic Design

1. www.designcouncil.org.uk
A helpful website that has reliable information on a range of topics relating to design. It contains current,factual information written by professional but is also student friendly. It also contains a section of information about how design can be applied to a range of current issues (crime, health care etc) which is very relevant. There is a specific section to the website that shows how graphic design improves businesses which I found intersting (this section can be found here - http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Using-graphic-design-in-your-business/)

2. www.creativereview.co.uk
The tagline descibes this magazine website as "the best in visual communication" which is a good start for graphic designers! This website is very instant for design news and contains useful articles and reviews on various design topics. Is great for finding interesting blog entry's! Broad for all disciplines in art and design but has 'graphic design' and 'type/typography' sections that are most relevant for me.

3. www.dexigner.com
Also good for design related news and graphic design specifically. Helpful for current information on events and competitions within the design world!

4. www.variant.org.uk
Online magazine which covers art and culture in relation to 'broader social, political and cultural issues' useful for looking at art and design in relation to relevent current social issues things as designers we should keep up to date with.

5. www.positivespace.com
An interesting blog orientated website. Has a range of articles relating to graphics has some interesting examples of contemporary portfolio's. Very useful for seeing what is going on in the graphic design world in both an informative and visual sense.



Top 5 websites in relation to news and information

1. www.guardian.co.uk
Online newspaper with access to reliable news articles on a diverse range of worldly topics. Can gain access to old articles as well as the latest edition of the paper.

2. www.facebook.com
Popular social network website. I use this alot for keeping up to date and communicating with friends. Although used more for gossip than factual information it is still useful for passing on and gaining information from other people and making connections.

3. www.timesonline.co.uk
Another helpful online newpaper updated daily that allows you to keep up to date with current affairs so you can find out what important stuff is actually happening outside the studio!

4. www.bbc.co.uk/learning
Useful website for an array of learning resources which helps to build on knowledge on different topics with lots of links to other helpful online information/websites.

5. www.groups.google.com
Discussion group based website that offers access to discussions on many topics. Useful for getting opinions on a diverse range of subjects from lots of people.

Prisons.

After the brainstorm discussions for design studies, we were given a task to create a poster continuing one of the topics from the brainstorm. Since I initially looked into the Power of Context chapter of The Tipping Point I decided to carry that through. I was interested by the social context of prisons and how and if there is anything we can do to change or improve the current system and how prisoners react to current prison environments. I looked a little into service design and how this could be applied to creating a better system for prisons rehibilitation and to try and prevent so many re-offences after release.
Luckily there was a programme on tv whilst I was finishing off my poster about "america's toughest prisons". It was about a very tough prsion for young offenders, the prison used very strict boot camp style techniques, literally taunting and forcing physical activity on the prisoners until they were physically sick. Although this seems extreame you wouldnt want to go back to that and it might prevent re-offending. The prison was trying to teach the young offenders discipline and team work, if one of them slips up at all, they all pay and are punished equally. Although intimidating people in this way is so strict and one man said that prison makes you a "bigger stronger convict", it just teaches you to get more violent.

Name Generator

http://breadlinedesign.com/naming_machine/index.htm

This is a fun little website that generates design company names, someone recommended it to me to get a more interseting name for my blog :) I went with my second go Red Leopard Ltd as my first combination that came up was Evil Weasel Studios...not so catchy!

Concept over Craft?

I came across an interesting article today in the guardian about artist Damien Hirst, who has recently admitted he would not be on the concept beats craft side if he was initially talented enough to be a good painter. I find it quite amusing that Hirst has made a good living out of making pieces of conceptual 'modern art' that he agree's shouldn't really be classed as 'real art' at all. I do agree that preserving a dead animal in a display box shouldnt really be classed as great art because it doesnt really involve any true talent, despite whatever "concept" Hirst has put behind the pieces of this kind. I think that alot of "modern art" these days is a bit of a charade but on the other hand I think the honest talent of the 'old master' painters has been lost in the modern day. It is a shame though that he really wants his work to be compared with the great painters of the past but he is just simply not very good at painting! I think he probably should have kept this fact to himself however, because since Hirst is never going to be the great painter he desires to be he has gained all his money and recognition through what he is now claiming to be a mere replacement for art he simply isnt talented enough to produce!

here's the link to the article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/oct/26/damien-hirst-modern-art

The New Nazi's

After all the controversy on the news this week about British National Party (a political party continuosly under scrutiny for racist views) leader Nick Griffin being on the panel of the BBC show 'Question Time' I decided to watch it! The BNP believe that Britain is for the British - jobs are for British people, housing is for British people etc. but where exactly does race come into "being British" not all Britons are white, many people of black or asian race are born and are as true British as any white person, one Asian man in the audience said "I was born here, educated here, where do you want me to go?" Britain is home to many races, we are a multi-cultural, diverse nation, an inviting country...and thats whats makes us...well Britain! As Jack Straw( MP also onthe panel) said "no one is true British" - we all have backgrounds that stretch to different cultures and races whether we have grown up in Britain our whole lives or not.

Although extreamly evasive and defensive initially at the questions being thrown to him, Nick Griffin said- in relation to cultural minorities- we are "shut out in our own country" but as he also claimed on the show he is christian - isnt being a christian a minority? Its certainly not the norm these days in modern Britain. Not that there is anything wrong whatsoever with being Christian but theres absolutly nothing wrong with belonging to any other religion or race either. Nick Griffin is in another minority - a very small one with his ridiculous, fascist views. Nick Griffin was also quizzed about why he said Islam was a "wicked, viscious faith" and in responce he claimed it was because he disagree's with woman being treated as 2nd class citizens which is so hypocritical - yes its wrong to take a group of people (in this case woman) and treat them as lower group of people than another but this is exactly the kind of thing his party stands for, it might not be woman they are treating like 2nd class citizens but its people who have contributed towards making Britain the country it is today and shoukd be treated on the same level as anyone else. As Chris Huhne (MP Liberal Democrats) rightly said "all of us find ourselves in a minority" we all have different views and belong to different groups- there is no 'ideal' British citizen.

At the end of the day, there are many immigrants who come to Britain for work - and although people argue this is unfair, many immigrants work harder and appreciate jobs far more than some "indiginous" Britons who sit on their ass recieveing benefits because they simply cant be bothered to get a job - it does happen, iv seen people around me like that. I do agree that immigration control has been a bit of a shambles as of late and Labour has failed in being efficient in this area. Maybe we could implement something similar to the US green card system or have people carrying proper ID cards?

Some members of the audience and panel believe that the BNP have only gained seats in parliament this year as a result of public backlash towards current goverment problems, people have voted out of frustration as opposed to actually agreeing with their policies and I agree. The only thing that Nick Griffin said that I actually agree with was we shouldnt have put soldiers in Iraq - fighting doesnt solve anything, not really, and people are just being pointlessly killed and nothing is being resolved.

When accused of being just like a "Nazi", Griffin replied by saying "Im not a Nazi, I never have been" - a washy answer like most of his but he isnt much different from a Nazi, he is fighting against groups of people who he feels do not belong here amoungst "ordinary" Britains - whats ordinary about that view!? I dont see the point in people getting too worked up about this however, they seem to strive on people's reactions, it gives them more coverage, I wasnt even that familiar with the policies of the BNP before this week - its highly unlikely the BNP will ever have much control in the running of the British govenrment....and thank god for that!

info and links about the show can be found here :) twitter.com/bbcquestiontime

Autumn?

I was reading an article today about combating climate change on the online Guardian website and it reminded me of a conversation me and my mum had the other day. We were talking about how the seasons all seem to have blurred into each other now (we seem to miss out the majority of summer) When I was a bit younger the sun was always shining in "summer" and snow fell in winter, but now we get a few days a year that we can barely call summer and snow appears in April! I remember being taught about the seasons in primary school, we would make bright colourful pictures in the summer and snowy xmas cards in the winter. But what do we teach children now that the seasons are barely separated from one another? When does summer end and autumn begin? Afterall its a bit unfair to psych children up for a white christmas when snow doesnt come until the latter part of "spring". Obviously teaching children about the seasons its a tiny part of this global problem. We need to seriously crack down on carbon emission and other contributing factors to the global warming thats slowly but surely altering our planet for the worst. Money needs to be invested by the government if we are "to show we are serious about enabling the massive transformation to clean future we'll be in touble without" (guardian). Serious investments need to be made if we are going to save the future of the planet, not just cash investments but investments in a new ways of life, we cant continue as a global nation to use more resources that we have or give off more carbon than the world can cope with. Clearly some countires have a much larger carbon footprint that other and we do need to see bigger changes from the big offenders but when it comes down to it we all need to pull together and try and tackle this together. The sad thing is everyone knows this, everyone knows something has to be done, everyone can see that the planet is in far from perfect condition but not enough is being done. We need to "think big" not just as designers but as a whole global nation, we need some big changes to happen if we are ever going to sustain our planet for future generations and ... I want summer back!

The Guardian article can be found here: :)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/oct/20/combating-climate-change-funds

Tattoo

Its 3 weeks today since I got my very first tattoo. Iv been really wanting a tattoo for the past few years so I eventually picked a nice small swallow to get tattoo'ed on my right foot. I absolutly love it, although its safe to say I will not be getting any more! I thought long and hard about what I was getting and where - its easy to cover up and its nothing that has a meaning that could change. There's nothing worse than seeing someone plastered in a tattoo that you know they are gonna regret by the time they are 30! It was pretty painful to get done, Im not gonna lie...but It wasnt unbareable and actually not as bad as I expected. It was healing good for the first week, I kept it clean done everything you are "supposed" to do to keep it healing well. Its started to get itchy after this...I mean, I know they are supposed to be a little itchy in the healing process but this was unbareable - cant sleep or think kind of itchy! By the second week I had a massive rash right around the tattoo and in the following days it spread right over both legs and my other foot, the rash was very raised and looked hideous! Turns out Im allergic to my tattoo....I never even knew it was possible to be allergic to a tattoo...but of course in typical Ruth fashion im one of a small handful of people who have bad reactions to being inked! After researching tattoo allergies online I discovered that red ink is the only colour that is not yet hyopallergenic (my tattoo has the tiniest amount of red in it). Red ink also apprently contains an element of the metal nickel. Nickel is the same metal that is in cheap earrings and other nasty cheap jewellery. I dont really have any other allergies but I remember always being very sensitive to cheap earrings - they would always be extreamly irritating and I'd have to take them out. I have my ears pierced several times and have worn the same silver earrings in them for years for this reason. I never even considered this when thinking about getting a tattoo though! Its interesting that all the other colours of ink have been developed into hypoallergenic versions to stop this kind of reactions from happening - I wonder why red is the colour that still isnt developed in this way. Maybe its something I could look into at some point as a Design student. I went to the doctors about it (they are very un-sympathetic and gave me the "well its your own fault" kinda attitude- I guess they're right!) Im currently on a course of anti-biotics and anti allergy pills to help clear up the inflammed scabby mess that is my legs and feet! Its got alot better over the past few days but because my tattoo is obviously permanent, it might flare up again at any point in my life which is annoying as its really uncomfortable. So just a little warning...not only should you be careful about what you get tattoo'd on your body for life....you should make sure you're not gonna be allergic to it for life too!

Brainstorm

Mind Map Madness!

I was given an assisgnment in Design Studies to do two mind maps based around "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. At first I was a little worried as I had read the book a couple of months ago and wasn't sure If I would remember a great deal! As I started discussing it with friends though, it all came flooding back! I actually really enjoyed the book - I was intregued that the same general principles applies to an epidemic of shoes to an epidemic of STD's! I used Tony Buzan's mind map technique which is effecive in creating mind maps quickly that are simple in structure but also cohesive when looking back on them later. The first mind map was a basic overview of the book. I looked at each chapter and the key ideas included within them. The second mind map was to be focused on one specific chapter. I chose 'The Power of Context'. I found it so interesting that specific details in a persons surroundings, however small, can drastically shape their behaviour. The story of the 'Good Samaritan' was of paticular interest to me. The story describes an experiament conducted on a group of seminarians who were each asked individually to prepare a talk on a 'biblical theme' and walk to a nearby building to present it. Some students were asked to talk about the good samaritan story and all were given a questionnaire with related theological questions. On the walk to the building the students each passed a man 'slumped in an alley, head down, eyes closed, coughing and groaning'. The experiamentors were asked to tell some of the students leaving for the presentation that they were running a bit late and to hurry and others were told they had some time to spare. None of the other factors seemed to make any difference on the students playing the good samaritan themselves exept lateness - If the students were told they were running late they majority hurriedly passed by the victim without helping at all. I find it astonashing that compassion for helping someone in obvious distress is completely abandoned by being told you're running a little late for a presentaion, although I find myself wondering if I might have acted the same in that sitution.
I like how Gladwell gave real-life example like this throughout the book, they were all very interesting and helped greatly to show the principles of epidemics that he was discussing in real situations. It was also helpful that Gladwell picked up on earlier ideas throughout the whole book to make each principle make sense in the contexts he was describing. I really enjoyed "The Tipping Point' and I would definitly recommend it.

whale and wool

Wants to cry a little right now since I just typed a huge post and my crazy laptop decided to die before I posted it :( So gonna keep take two short and sweet! Got part two of one of our projects last week(part one was materials and i had WOOL) . We each had to pick a foodstuff out of a hat (graphics are pretty keen on getting us to do that but I like it because we all end up with something we probably wouldnt have chose oursleves - keeps it interesting!) As you can guess the foodstuff werent your everyday kind of foods, I ended up with WHALE. I wasnt overly enthusiastic about it at first because being a vegetarian im not too keen on researching into how animals are killed for food, its not normally something I would look into. Im really getting into it though and I find it so interesting that some nations are repulsed by the thought of eating whale but for example in Japan eating whale meat isnt completly uncommon and as it says in the brief "one person's delicacy, someone else's poison". It is horrible though how these beautiful animals are being killed in their thousands when their meat could be easily subsituted by beef or pork - which is readily available without affecting the existance of the animals. Im trying to cover the topis from many angles as I can in the time we have (which isnt much considering it is one of 5 briefs we have running at once!) including history, culture, nutritional information, whaling, art, packaging - to give myself plently to work from for part 3! :)

'Helvetica'

Went to see 'Helvitica' at the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre (DCA) yesterday. I wasn't overly excited about going to see a movie about a typeface initially but it was actually quite interesting! It was more like a documentary than a movie, it focused on the history and the modern day use of the helvetica font. I never realised how common helvetica actually is, it really is everywhere! Its used casually for signage and labelling and also used frequently for formal businesses. Its casual and inviting but also formal and clear. It was interesting to see how helvetica was initially created - the process of actually designing and producing a typeface. A lot of work goes into exactly how each letter is constructed, the width of every part of each letter, the spaces between them, how they look in relation to every other letter and even how it looks once the letters are arranged into a word - something I had never really considered before as typefaces are, well...just there! The documentary explored how helvetica has become almost an international brand for everything - we use it on signs for expensive shops but also for train station toilets, its quite strange really that it just seems to fit every purpose. A few people interviewed in the documentary spoke about how they don't feel a typeface necessarily has to have specific character in relation to its context to be successful and I agree - why not use a simple font if it is substantial and promotes the idea simply and clearly. One man said something about letters not having to made up of 'candy canes' to look good which I liked. Helvetica does seem to be overused - its become almost default for everything around us, its not particularly exciting anymore but I agree that sometimes simple (almost boring!) is what you need to promote a clear statement. So overall I enjoyed the documentary, much more than I thought I would :)