desirable things

Responsible Design

From Question Technology come this story of grocery-carts with built-in TVs for your kids to watch while you shop.

OK so this does not have the same dignity as the mobile execution centers (death vans) but what were the designers thinking? What are the store owners thinking? and finally what are the parents thinking?

Does the designer who creates something like this even stop to reflect about the long-term effects of his/her ideas? Or is everything just a cool wacky idea? In Swedish we have a phrase which fits perfectly just now: Jag blir trött translated this means: I become tired. The phrase reflects the tired feeling one gets when acts of stupidity abound and your personal energy to fight is on the decline.

I WANT RESPONSIBLE DESIGN!!!!

Sorry for shouting but this pisses me off. Boy I am grouchy this morning…

Posted on by mklang

Not a fashion blog

This is not a fashion blog. I have no intention of attempting to bore you with pictures of what I am currently wearing (or not wearing) but I want to share with you my latest purchase.

After looking at these online I was very happy to find them being sold in a store locally. The shop is called Minni Ekoaffair on Sveagatan 3 in Göteborg.
We’re using 100% organic hemp, which is processed with natural methods such as water retting, eliminating the need to use chemicals. The Blackspot Sneaker has a rubber sole and a toe cap that is 70% biodegradable, whereas The Unswoosher has a sole made from recovered car tires. We’re not currently using water-based glues, as they lack permanence so shoe longevity suffers. The white anti-logo and the red splotches are hand-painted, and the soles are stitched, glued and embedded for extra durability.
This makes it one of the world’s most environmentally friendly shoes. In addition to this they are union friendly and anti-corporation.
The Blackspot Anticorporation and the Blackspot Shoes venture are projects of Adbusters Media Foundation.

Posted on by mklang

Tech-Junk

In April I wrote a short entry about the growing problems of high-tech trash. One way of understanding the problems is to look at Chris Jordan‘s photographs of our discarded tech-junk. Take a look at the piles of cell phone chargers or the sea of cell phones. These photographs show how quickly yesterday’s technology of desire becomes tomorrows garbage – and next weeks environmental crisis.
There seem to be few solutions to what we should be doing with our discarded high-tech junk but some companies are working on small scale remedies to the problem. Recellular is a company that buys and sells used mobile telephones in bulk. While this does not really prevent high-tech junk it at least ensures that we get the most milage out of our technology before it ends up in the pile.

Obviously a good first step, but what do we do next?

Posted on by mklang

Glowing Review

I came across a glowing review on Amazon for Human Rights in the Digital Age (edited by Andrew Murray and myself). Getting a glowing review is a very nice feeling! So good that I naturally feel the need to reprint it here!

I read this book following Conor Gearty’s advice in his 2005 Hamlyn Lecture Series “Can Human Rights Survive?” that this book “should be required reading for all those interested in the future good health of our subject”. Although it drew on a wide variety of contributors, some better than others, overall I found the book filled a void in the current literature and for this reason alone it would be a must read. That aside though I found the contributions to be thought provoking and useful. Some of the better chapters come from Mathias Klang who discusses Cyber-activism and online civil disobedience, Douglas Vick who puts US and European views of free expression to the test and Andrew Murray who challenges the orthodox views that government should look after itself – at least when it comes to controlling the information flow about itself.

This is an excellent collection of essays and I simply echo Conor Gearty’s words – buy it if you are interested in the future good health of the discourse on human rights.

Posted on by mklang

Social Innovation

It’s a sad truth that most of the world needs technology to resolve immediate serious mundane problems. But most technology development is focused on gadgets.

John Voelcker has chosen 10 innovative technologies which are aimed at solving chronic problems. The article Creating Social Change – 10 Innovative Technologies appears in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (Summer 2006)

  1. A self-contained toilet that treats waste without water or chemicals, protecting precious drinking water from contamination. www.eloo.co.za
  2. An inexpensive kit that turns smog-belching two-stroke engines into cleaner-burning, fuel-efficient sources of power. www.envirofit.org
  3. Small-scale solar power systems that not only produce electric power, but also generate cash by enabling people to set up their own home-based businesses. www.selco-india.com
  4. An electricity-free food preservation system. www.malnutrition.org
  5. A prestigious U.S. university is making many of its academic courses available on the Internet where users can learn from them â?? free. www.ocw.mit.edu
  6. Volunteers have developed a solar-powered microfilm projector that will help tens of thousands of Africans learn to read this year. www.designthatmatters.org/k2
  7. A team of Cuban and Canadian scientists has invented an inexpensive vaccine that could save the lives of half a million infants each year. gndp.cigb.edu.cu/
  8. Low-cost eyeglasses that wearers can tune without the aid
    of an optometrist. www.adaptive-eyecare.com
  9. A Pakistani organization is selling ergonomically correct weaving looms that let adults create the same intricate rugs that children now make. www.ciwce.org.pk
  10. A Brazilian nonprofit is rolling out telecenters that provide Internet access, telephone service, computer training, and other technology-based services to the poor and working class. www.cemina.org.br, www.radiofalamulher.com

This is a good list. I disagree with nr 5 since there are several universities offering similar schemes. In addition I do not believe that it has the same impact and importance as the rest of the list. This is becuase I do not think that by making learning material available people will automatically learn.

Don’t get me wrong – I am sure that these kinds of material are of great value to teachers at other universities since they can take the ideas and adapt them to fit their own classrooms. It’s just that I don’t see that this is on par with clean water, waste disposal and helping poor people access technology.
Despite my complaints – lists such as these are important since they help us open our eyes to the fact that we could all be thinking about solving important everyday problems.
(via Question Technology)

Posted on by mklang

What is a flakmoppe?

The Internet is a strange and wonderful place. This was additionally confirmed today when I was checking my stats and discovered that someone in China had visited my blog. This is not so uncommon. The unusual thing was the search-term used. The visitor had searched google with the phrase

what is a flakmoppe

This is the internet being used at its best for cross-cultural experiences. It is a brilliant question which touches the strange heartland of Swedish mystique and culture. The flakmoppe is a moped with a difference.

Most commonly used on small islands (but also in the countryside), this moped has been adapted to be able to transport material. The moped has three wheels (two in the front) and a small platform upon which the rider can transport small amounts of goods (or other people). The advantage of this is that on many small Swedish islands no cars could be transported there and no larger roads where built. So the islanders had to rely on something smaller for their daily lighter transport needs.

The flakmoppe used to be reasonably widespread but now remains an important mode of transportation on the islands of Sweden and in the hearts of the nostalgic and flakmoppe enthusiasts.

Posted on by mklang

No Laptops for India

The much publicised MIT project about the100$ laptop received an interesting setback last week. India has decided not to place orders. In an article in the Register (26th July 2006) The Indian Ministry of Education called the whole project â??pedagogically suspectâ??. Nigeria, on the other hand, has ordered and paid for 1 million of the MIT laptops.

This is an interesting challenge to the idea that technology will fix problems. The fundamental philosophy behind the MIT project was that by providing a cheap, robust machine which communicates and shares easily with others there will be gains in learning, literacy and computer skills.

Not everyone agrees with this view. Indian Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee said:

â??We cannot visualise a situation for decades when we can go beyond the pilot stage. We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.â??

Because the focus is on the tools and its costs the focus of what the problem is and how it should be addressed has been on the technology. With questions of what platform should be used and whether 100$ per laptop is achievable or even if it is desirable.

In the rush to discuss the number of USB ports the questions which have been forgotten is â?? how many teachers can be hired for 100$? Or in the worst case scenario â?? how many teachers will poor countries not be able to hire because they have bought cheap laptops?

(via Question Technology)

Posted on by mklang

Che Guevara Mashup

On 5th of March 1960 Alberto “Korda” Gutierrez took two pictures of Che Guevara. In 1967 the Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli received two copies of the famous print at no cost.

Che by Korda

Feltrinelli started making posters from the prints with the notice â??Copyright Feltrinelliâ?? down in the corner. The image was on itâ??s way to become an international icon â?? it has been transformed, transplanted, transmitted and transfigured all over the world.

Korda never received a penny. For one reason only – Cuba had not signed the Berne Convention. Fidel Castro described the protection of intellectual property as imperialistic “bullshit”. Does this mean that Korda’s work is in the public domain? Probably not – but it is in a serious grey area.
Today I saw a new chapter in the Korda print. Paul Frank have made their fame (at least in my opinion – but then again this is not a fashion blog) from their cartoon monkey

The Paul Frank monkey is a cultural icon. So is Korda’s Che image. Paul Frank have now playfully (?), respectfully (?), irreverently (?) created a mashup of these two icons into this inevitable (?) conclusion…

When Che t-shirts became popular again (after the fall of the Soviet Union) I remember hearing a few mumblings from people that “young people” were adopting the icons of the revolution without any knowledge about the content, struggle or ideologi – the past had in fact become a trademark belonging to no one. I tried then to argue for the role of the cultural icon – but some still stuck to their guns and argued that the young were adopting symbols without knowledge and the manufacturers were profiteering on the ideology of the revolution.

From Korda to Paul Frank…evolution?…regression? You decide…

Posted on by mklang

Powerbook Engraving

I have been interested in engraving my Powerbook since I saw this it has taken a while but now I am on the way. In much the same way as choosing a tattoo should be done with careful consideration the choice of image was not a simple one. Where to begin?

My search began online â?? where else. After looking at tons of Chinese and Japanese woodcuts I even picked up a couple of Dover image books but I still could not find anything I wanted. So it was back online for more Chinese and Japanese woodcuts, on to medieval artworks and a long digression into the history of anatomy and in particular the works of Galen and Vesalius.

The question was (and is) one of symbolism and technology. Symbolism: Do I want a skeleton, samurai, tidal wave or dragon engraved on my computer? Technology: The image has to be good and clear so as not to mess up when engraved. This last part is what got me stuck on the monochrome illustrations but I could not find the right motif.

So then I began scouring the pictures I have collected over my computer user years and I came across a wonderful drawing of Don Quixote called â??Reflectionsâ?? by Gene Colan from 1998.

Since I want to accentuate the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza I removed the background and their reflections in the water. What is left is the two riders.

The next step was permission. I realise that this is not a question of copyright law but I still would like to have permission from the artist. So an email later permission arrived. No problem. On Monday morning I am going to the engravers…

The revolution will not be televised (Gil Scott-Heron), but it will be blogged…

Posted on by mklang

Desirable Thing No. 1

New computer technology creates new desires and needs. I want to add a list of desirable things not necessarily new things but just the stuff of desire.

Desirable thing no 1. Mac Computer. I began ages ago using Mac computers at school, the first computer I bought was a Mac. Then mac died a bit and I went through a series of PCâ??s from brand names to unknowns. From Windows to Linux. But last year I bought a Mac again. Its design, functionality and all round ability to anticipate and solve problems have made me return to where I began.

Where it all began…

Posted on by mklang