November 11th, 2008 / 1,485 Comments » / by trong
For the final year project, we face the challenge of writing our own brief. Talented as we think we are, it is not the simple question of (a matter of) what object do we want to design, but rather to have a go at answering that question that has tempt our brains since we decided upon this educational path, that ambitious question, ‘how am I, as a designer, going to change the world?’
It has been a quite a struggle to decide on which path I’d dipped into, given the freedom of doing whatever I want. It is probably in every designer’s interest to design beautiful objects, and indeed it is very hard to resist taking that as a starting point, to experiment with form, material and process as such. In realization that this particular occasion however, is to be my last opportunity of however many I have and have had during these incredible years at the university, had led me to decide otherwise. I figured I want to design something that is truly for others. I wanted this project to be a present, to make people smile a little more, to fill the hearts of the people with gratitude from receiving good deeds and wonderment, as mine has been filled many times from so many exceptional people.
For all these reasons, I decide to look at this project as a way for me to say thank you to everyone, to design a gift.
This book is a visual documentation of my story, a project which I devoted 6 months of my life for. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
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September 22nd, 2008 / 198 Comments » / by trong
Last week, as we know, Damian Hirst smashed the record on art sale by one artist, previously set by Picasso. Here is an article about how the tiger shark which is sold under the title, “the kingdom” which sold for 9.5million pound, was purchased for 90 pound from an Australian shark hunter.
I’m not sure if it’s just me, with my limited knowledge of his works, but from what I understand, his works are all centered around the theme of death and human’s desire to overcome it. He once said ” It all boils down to the desire to live forever. Thats what art is all about”. So for his work, to sell for a ridiculous amount of money, ultimately validate Hirst’s statement. I’m pretty sure that whoever purchase this kind of work, especially by a living artist, knows better than to expect to make any profit from resaling such work. It’s about the status and the possesion of the work of the most controversial artist TODAY. not worry or even thinking about tomorrow, almost trapped in the illusion that today will last forever.
So people can criticised his works all they want, but his works still sells for as much as they do now, Damien is still the one with the last laugh.
p.s. I think the shark’s posture is beautiful
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September 2nd, 2008 / 3,792 Comments » / by trong
the meaning of sharing from wikipedia and dictionary.com
to realize the exact meaning of sharing means I can precisely evaluate my concepts and their effectiveness to achieve my goal of teaching children the value of sharing, even thought none of them probably achieve the ideal senario, but thats ok,
wikipedia says
Sharing is the joint use of a resource or space. In its narrow sense, it refers to joint or alternating use of an inherently finite good, such as a common pasture or a timeshared residence. It is also the process of dividing and distributing. Apart from obvious instances, which we can observe in human activity, we can also find many examples of this happening naturally in nature. When an organism takes in nutrition or oxygen for instance, its internal organs are designed to divide and distribute the energy taken in, to supply parts of its body that need it. Flowers divide and distribute their seeds. In a broader sense, it can also include the free granting of use rights to a good that is capable of being treated as a nonrival good, such as information. Still more loosely, “sharing” can actually mean giving something as an outright gift: for example, to “share” one’s food really means to give some of it as a gift.
Sharing figures prominently in gift economies, but also can play a significant role in market economies, for example in car sharing.
according to dictionary.com
shar·ing. –noun
| 1. |
the full or proper portion or part allotted or belonging to or contributed or owed by an individual or group. |
| 2. |
one of the equal fractional parts into which the capital stock of a joint-stock company or a corporation is divided. |
–verb (used with object)
| 3. |
to divide and distribute in shares; apportion. |
| 4. |
to use, participate in, enjoy, receive, etc., jointly: The two chemists shared the Nobel prize. |
–verb (used without object)
| 5. |
to have a share or part; take part (often fol. by in). |
| 6. |
to divide, apportion, or receive equally |
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August 21st, 2008 / 619 Comments » / by trong
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July 29th, 2008 / 1,110 Comments » / by trong
Took this picture at Balarat in Australia.
and look!
coincident??
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July 24th, 2008 / 483 Comments » / by trong
The culture of sharing private belongings has long been deeply rooted in the small communities such as those in New Zealand. In fact most of us that grew up here have had the experience of being part of small local community. The benefit of having a community at this scale is that naturally everybody knows everybody and a social network is formed. In this type of community, a helping hand can usually be found, if say, a person is, for example, looking for a particular book to read, because he knows everyone else in the area and can easily ask around who has the item he wishes to borrow. Also distance is not a major inconvenience because everybody lives nearby. Through establishing a close-range social network, it allows resources to be use in a more sustainable way, an individual’s sense of social responsibility is strong. For instance, the fact that a book is being shared to the community means that valuable resource is being conserved rather than say if a copy of a book has to be bought every time someone wants to read it.
Looking at the last century when the big cities emerge and in turn, small communities no longer exists. Comparing the social network status in this situation to the past, one can see that even thought the number of population increases, an individual’s social network becomes smaller; it became increasingly hard to find a friend nearby who is willing to lend help. Looking to read a particular book, a person now is more likely to go and purchase it from the shop rather than ask around for a copy to borrow. This situation results in an increasingly unsustainable lifestyle which neither benefits the community nor the individuals. The resource is being used ineffectively, producing more waste than necessary. Also an individual has to pay for what otherwise can perhaps be obtained for free if he/she lives in small community with more friends locally.
It is also worth noting that along with the emergence of cities comes the change of perception towards public/private belongings. The idea of large number of unknown individuals sharing the same item became unfavorable and people wants to avoid it given a choice. Sharing becomes a necessity rather than voluntary. Nobody wants to use the public transport if they can afford a car. Nobody wants to lend from the library if they can afford to buy their own copy.
The arrival of the internet certainly changed a few things around. The ability to communicate regardless of distance has allowed people with similar interest to create their ‘virtual community’. While this type of community has many advantages, it also has its downsides. Sure a person could probably find a digital copy of a wanted book, but it means he is distancing himself from the real world even further. Also the energy is still being used to run the computer and who would argue that they wouldn’t prefer to read a physical copy of a book over a digital one. Sure the technology has a potential to allow him to find someone nearby that would lend him a book. Is that likely to happen today? Probably not. Why? Because, as discussed earlier, the idea of ‘physically’ sharing one’s belonging to the community is rather unpleasant. Also it requires a lot of effort to make that connection between the borrower and the lender. The ability to form a social network is presented, but the system, to serve as a tool to physically bring people together, is still flawed.
With this issue being identified arise the opportunity for a new way of communication. By utilizing a proposed technology, there is a potential to invent a user-friendly system or object that physically bringing group of people together by promoting the idea of sharing. For example, if a person wants to read a book, a new technology allows him to find someone nearby with a copy and lets him communicate to that person, ideally directly to borrow the item. By making it easy to establish a physical connection through sharing, this allows mutual benefits to all parties by using resources in a more sustainable manner, similar to the situation in the small community.
Of course, to a number of people, the idea that sharing physical belonging to strangers is, to say the least, distasteful. This is another design opportunity which will be discussed in the latter chapter of this report.
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July 23rd, 2008 / 679 Comments » / by trong
- Introduction
Discuss the idea of sharing and trend is moving towards it. It’s benefit range from community to personal level. Talk about how community benefit from resource efficiency through physically sharing. On the personal level one feels the sense of sastisfaction knowing he made his contribution towards the society. BE PERSONAL this should read like a journal which should communicate to the reader at personal level.
-Precedents
Bookcrossing, texxi, toolbank
talks about how the perception of public and private are changing, perhaps for the better
-Senario, How things were, are and will be
-Talks about RFID, technology, potential for it to deliver the vision
product activation, product lifespan, product value/use
-Talk about sony, their current position and how they have the power to set the trend of the society, how they have done that in the past with the sony walkman. and how they can do it for the future. And why do they want to do it.
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Tags: report
July 22nd, 2008 / 870 Comments » / by trong
This is my best friend Hamish. He is nearly as lovely as I am. Hi Hamish!
Posted in: Coolfun
Tags: friends, hamish
July 17th, 2008 / 1,388 Comments » / by trong
Welcome to Trong’s website.
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