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research_report_theun_karelse [2008-02-21 19:32] – theunkarelseresearch_report_theun_karelse [2008-02-21 19:59] – theunkarelse
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 That is the tragedy in which the inventor [[Martin Brolin]] is caught in the Tsunamipants project. Martin engages the extreme weather conditions that are associated with future climate changes and tries to engineer his way out-off  danger. In his work Mr. Brolin suffers from lack of expertise, lack of budged, oversized ambition and being over-all mediocre. These are common human traits that run beneath the surface of positive social change. To be able to construct anything realistically and therefor longlasting, I suggest we start by acknowledging that there is nothing inherently wrong with being mediocre. I realise that this goes against giant forces in popular culture, but Martin is deliberately portrayed as a mediocre inventor, although I only later became fully conscious of why I was doing this. That is the tragedy in which the inventor [[Martin Brolin]] is caught in the Tsunamipants project. Martin engages the extreme weather conditions that are associated with future climate changes and tries to engineer his way out-off  danger. In his work Mr. Brolin suffers from lack of expertise, lack of budged, oversized ambition and being over-all mediocre. These are common human traits that run beneath the surface of positive social change. To be able to construct anything realistically and therefor longlasting, I suggest we start by acknowledging that there is nothing inherently wrong with being mediocre. I realise that this goes against giant forces in popular culture, but Martin is deliberately portrayed as a mediocre inventor, although I only later became fully conscious of why I was doing this.
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 == Precautionary principle. == == Precautionary principle. ==
-The elimination of risk can slow down society when attention goes only to possible negative out-comes. This is the Precautionary Principle, it says, in essence, 'when in doubt, don't.' The 1998 Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle summarizes the principle this way: //"When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."// ((The Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle was convened by the Science and Environmental Health Network)) The Precautionary Principle, Al Gore's sustainability and Bush's Pre-emtive Strike are examples that demonstrate reflexive modernization. Philosophies like these brought us the stupid instructions on rear-view mirrors.+The elimination of risk can slow down society when attention goes only to possible negative out-comes. This is the Precautionary Principle, it says, in essence, 'when in doubt, don't.' The 1998 Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle summarizes the principle this way:\\ 
 + //"When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."// ((The Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle was convened by the Science and Environmental Health Network)) \\ 
 +The Precautionary Principle, Al Gore's sustainability and Bush's Pre-emtive Strike are examples that demonstrate reflexive modernization. Philosophies like these brought us the stupid instructions on rear-view mirrors.
  
 == Social risk positions. == == Social risk positions. ==
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   * external risks: natural disasters.   * external risks: natural disasters.
   * manufactured risks: technological disasters.   * manufactured risks: technological disasters.
-He suggests people have 'social risk positions' that are achieved through aversion, which differs from wealth positions that are gained through accumulation. He also sees a boomerang effect where people producing risk are the most vulnerable to those risks. Some delicate reasoning goes behind this and I refer anyone who is interested to go to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_society| Risk society page on Wikipedia]] (also page mentioned below).+He suggests people have 'social risk positions' that are achieved through aversion, which differs from wealth positions that are gained through accumulation. He also sees a boomerang effect where people producing risk are the most vulnerable to those risks. Some delicate reasoning goes behind this and I refer anyone who is interested to go to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_society| Risk society]] page on Wikipedia (also page mentioned below).
  
-Psychometric research has shown some funny methods people tend to use when they asses a risk. If the threat is easily imagined it looks more dangerous. People will piece together unknown risks form parts that they do know. People make very interesting choices when they way the possibilities of gaining or loosing; they rather loose a little all the time (insurance). And research has revealed that the risk-assesment of experts is often not much better than that of a lay-person.+Psychometric research has shown some funny methods people tend to use when they asses a risk. If the threat is easily imagined it looks more dangerous. People will piece together unknown risks form parts that they do know. People make very interesting choices when they way the possibilities of gaining or loosing; they rather loose a little all the time (insurance). And research has revealed that the risk-assessment of experts is often not much better than that of a lay-person.
  
 Douglas and Wildavsky's Cultural Theory of Risk discerns four types of people: Douglas and Wildavsky's Cultural Theory of Risk discerns four types of people:
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 == International organisations. == == International organisations. ==
-Switzerland has even formed an International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) +Switzerland has even formed an International Risk Governance Council (IRGC)\\ 
-'The IRGC is an independent organisation whose purpose is to help the understanding and management of emerging global risks that have impacts on human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large. IRGC’s work includes developing concepts of risk governance, anticipating major risk issues and providing risk governance policy recommendations for key decision makers.' +//'The IRGC is an independent organisation whose purpose is to help the understanding and management of emerging global risks that have impacts on human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large. IRGC’s work includes developing concepts of risk governance, anticipating major risk issues and providing risk governance policy recommendations for key decision makers.'// http://www.irgc.org \\
-http://www.irgc.org/+
 And the World Economic Forum has a Global Risk Network which brings out annual reports on global risks. And the World Economic Forum has a Global Risk Network which brings out annual reports on global risks.
  
 == Safety engineering. == == Safety engineering. ==
-Safety engineering usually is seen as a part of system engineering. It studies the working of a system when a part of it fails. The dynamics of this are visualized in a fault tree diagram. So this study is limited to faults that occur in the category of manufactured risks. Martin Brolin works mostly with external risks or with manufactured risks that result from external risks.+Safety engineering usually is seen as a part of system engineering. It studies the working of a system when a part of it fails. The dynamics of this are visualized in a fault tree diagram. So this study is limited to faults that occur in the area of manufactured risks. Martin Brolin works mostly with external risks or with manufactured risks that result from external risks.
  
 == The myth of happiness. == == The myth of happiness. ==
-Just as at the court of Louis the 14th introversion was unthinkable, in our society happiness is a must.((Nexus #46)) It is all fun. The Disneyfication of society deals exclusively with positive aspects of life and fits seamlessly with modernistic fears and precautions. Root to Disneyfication and risk perception is the fundamental proposition that problem should not be. They exist to be eliminated and should be got rid off as soon as possible. In tackling problems the common strategy is based on imagining a more positive, altered future. This process usually only reshapes the problem, because all your actions are shaped directly by the problem, making sure it keeps on existing in new forms. What really eliminates problems is finding ways of being the needed change now, to imagine new ways of being.+Just as at the court of Louis the 14th introversion was unthinkable, in our society happiness is a must.((Nexus #46)) It is all fun. The Disneyfication of society deals exclusively with positive aspects of life and fits seamlessly with modernistic fears and precautions. Root to Disneyfication and risk perception is the fundamental proposition that **problems should not be**. They exist to be eliminated and should be got rid off as soon as possible. In tackling problems the common strategy is based on imagining a more positive, altered future. This process usually only reshapes the problem, because your solution mirrors the problem, making sure it keeps on existing in new forms. What really eliminates problems is finding ways of being the needed change now, to imagine new ways of being. Another option that works well is to dedicate yourself to problems that inspire you. We call people who do this visionary leaders.
  
 Martin Brolin exemplifies the design strategy where solutions only change the problem to a new form. That is what makes the inventions funny. Basically Tsunamipants are a design statement, it shows with traps not to fall into. Martin Brolin exemplifies the design strategy where solutions only change the problem to a new form. That is what makes the inventions funny. Basically Tsunamipants are a design statement, it shows with traps not to fall into.
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 == Related projects. == == Related projects. ==
  
-[[Tsunami Pants]] is embedded in the European tradition of the drawn narrative. There is a long tradition of mad-scientist and eccentric inventors in fiction. There are other art and design projects, that tackle the same problem, but none offer a historic collection and none make design-series embedded specifically into the debate about climate change.\\+[[Tsunami Pants]] is embedded in the European tradition of the drawn narrative. There is a long tradition of mad-scientist and eccentric inventors in fiction. There are other art and design projects, that tackle similar issues, but none offer a historic collection and none make design-series embedded specifically into the debate about climate change.\\
 Some are closely related, use humor like: Some are closely related, use humor like:
   * The Yesmen made the survivaball, Ann de Gersem made the Life dress, Yael Mer made the Canoe dress.   * The Yesmen made the survivaball, Ann de Gersem made the Life dress, Yael Mer made the Canoe dress.
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 Others are more loosely related, and serious like: Others are more loosely related, and serious like:
-  * Adam Whinton and Yolita Nugent's project 'no-contact' selfdefence jacket for women.+  * Adam Whinton and Yolita Nugent's project 'no-contact' self-defense jacket for women.
   * Interactive clothes by XS-lab, Despina and Papadopoulos or Hussein Chalayan.   * Interactive clothes by XS-lab, Despina and Papadopoulos or Hussein Chalayan.
  
 Wikipedia has a nice page on PPE Personal Protective Equipment, which I stumbled upon when I was almost finished with my collection: Wikipedia has a nice page on PPE Personal Protective Equipment, which I stumbled upon when I was almost finished with my collection:
   * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_protective_equipment   * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_protective_equipment
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-  * expected outcomes of the research+== Expected outcomes of the research. == 
 + 
 +This project was born out-off a conversation about designing clothes for extreme weather conditions. I expected to have a range of clothing items that would be suited to surviving specific meteorological threats. These would be either drawn or prototyped. These designs should be funny, so this implied they probably would be impracticable to some extent. To show the use of the inventions I imagined short stories and perhaps a collection of stories would be the end product. Another angle of creating a character would be to see how it can function as merchandise or how it can be weaved into the realities of FoAM. 
  
-This project was born out-off a conversation about designing clothes for extreme weather conditions. I expected to have a range of clothing items that would be suited to surviving specific meteorological threats. These would be either drawn or prototyped. These designs should be funny, so this implied they probably would be impracticable to some extent. To show the use of the inventions I imagined short stories and perhaps a collection of stories would be the end product. 
  
-  * if the actual outcomes are different than the expected outcome, the reasons for this should be explained in the "discussion" section 
  
  
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 == Designing Tsunamipants, how it works. == == Designing Tsunamipants, how it works. ==
-The first step to design portable safety technology for natural disasters is to make a full list of these horrors. From this the first opportunities for design become apparent. This can be complemented by a list of controversial technologies (biofuels), activities (air-travel), objects (SUV-s)or places connected to climate change issues (holiday-resorts). By pairing disasters to items from the other lists inspiring combinations can be found. Making a collection of historic and current solutions in wearable safety systems, gives a greater scope of possibilities in this field. I also looked at protective systems used by animals, for instance the fat-layer used by sealions for insulation and food reserve. And I based Martin's design of the jelly suit on this. Another place to look for good ideas is comicbooks; the superstrenghts often mimic animal strategies.+The first step to design portable safety technology for natural disasters is to make a full list of these horrors. From this the first opportunities for design become apparent. This can be complemented by a list of controversial technologies (biofuels), activities (air-travel), objects (SUV-s) or places connected to climate change issues (holiday-resorts). By pairing disasters to items from the other lists inspiring combinations can be found. Making a collection of historic and current solutions in wearable safety systems, gives a greater scope of possibilities in this field. I also looked at protective systems used by animals, for instance the fat-layer used by sealions for insulation and food reserve. And I based Martin's design of the jelly suit on this. Another place to look for good ideas is comicbooks; the superstrenghts often mimic animal strategies.
  
 == Character development of Martin Brolin. == == Character development of Martin Brolin. ==
  • research_report_theun_karelse.txt
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