Tuesday 30 April 2013

Post modernity in globalisation

After a lecture on post modernity it got me thinking about how my opinion on globalisation has been influenced by the post modern environment I've grown up in, opposed to someone that grew up before post modernity and globalisation. Post modernity began anywhere between the 1950's and the 1970's, its debatable. The world shifted from rational thought where industrialisation and mass production ruled, to consumption, technology, hyper-reality and popular culture. Having always lived in a society where consumption is everything and we buy because we want not because we need has allowed me to have a positive opinion on globalisation. Due to globalisation I can buy online twenty four hours a day, talk to people on the other side of the world and even blog about globalisation. This post modern environment has therefore allowed me to experience the positives of globalisation and allowed me to discard the negatives. Leaving me with a positive opinion of globalisation and how its shaped the world.  

-Ruth

The Designer and Globalisation

http://www.dbdaishu.com/design/index.php/component/content/article/48-design/122-the-designer-and-globalization

Some interesting points made on the impact designers have on globalisation and the corporations that are 'in control'

Ricky

Social Media = Globalisation



After watching this its hard to deny that every single one of us is experiencing Globalisation everyday, all because of the technologies we surround ourselves with.

Ricky

Future Technologies involving Globalisation

I was researching this in the first term of our 2nd year, for the art direction project, and I'm still thinking about it now. Post-humanism or transhumanism is the belief of a state beyond what we are now - forced evolution. These are things like androids; enhanced human body parts, whether through technology or drugs; and the scariest one i think, living in a virtual world/ mind uploading. 

So this is the belief that one day we will become so reliant on technology and the internet that we will one day develop the ability to upload ourselves digitally and live forever in this cyber world, leaving our human bodies behind. 

If this were to happen then everything would change, there would be no more countries or borders, even things like race and gender could be changed. It would be like social networking on a massive scale. You could upload/ download memories or thoughts to share around, communicate with anyone at any time... and this is just a tiny section of what would be possible. Very scary stuff and yet seems very likely the way things are changing today. 


I'm honestly unsure of what i think of all this... 

Ricky

More on Communication

After reading a journal about how globalisation has developed because of communication I came across some staggering facts.

"90% of internet users are Westerners; in 2004, in the USA, there were 195 million internet servers, in Europe 22 million, whereas in Africa only 300,000; the city of New York alone has more phone channels than the entire continent of Africa. Such unequal opportunity has lead to the exclusion of 3 billion people from scientific knowledge and process."

As the word globalisation would suggest to incorporate the whole world it is clear from the facts that it doesn't. This is because for countries to join in the globalisation process they have to contribute a minimum level of means and infrastructure required to become connected with the rest of the world on a global scale. The ever growing scale of globalisation has therefore left an unequal divide between the countries who have greatly benefited from it and those who haven't.

However this divide isn't totally accurate as communication through means like the internet has broken down barriers between groups of people and their different cultures. This has seen a hugh rise in immigration leading to more people holding multiple citizenships. Everyone now has the freedom to live where they wish because of the growing relationships between countries.

As McLuhan stated "the evolution of the means of communication has reduced the importance of the physical presence in the favour of the way we live the experience of the people and events...as a result, the place you are in is less important than what you know or live."

Luminita and Soproni (2011) Introduction. The Globalisation of Communication, Eurolimes.

-Ruth

Monday 29 April 2013

Global Branding in the Digital World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nbyqkTtK6

I know this is a really long talk but it raises some brilliant points when it comes to promoting global brands.

It mostly focuses around the quality of advertising. Quality is what is going to sell. If something really surprises you or really catches your attention in a brand you're going to remember it. Viral videos are great at this. They create a brilliant vibe, and get people communicating with each other, talking about the brand and this great new video. Clever brands get involved with these talks on social network sites, giving themselves a personality which people can really relate to.

From what i've gathered from the clip and from my own experiences, I find that most brands that successfully promote themselves/ advertise themselves in the digital world have humanised their brands or given themselves a personality. http://www.comparethemarket.com compare the market with the meerkat at the forefront is a great example given by one of the speakers. Everybody knows about it and most seem to love it. They've got an interactive website to go along with this personality, as well as a collectable toys, just inviting all kinds of people to join them. This is brilliant branding because it is making insurance more enjoyable and maybe even fun, all creating a positive and comfortable attitude around their brand.















There are all kinds of strategies in branding but with people spending more and more time online i think the most successful advertising will be done in the digital world.

Ricky

Cultural Cross-polliniation in Animals - Cane Toad


Photo: Close-up of a cane toad in grass

Type: Amphibian
Diet:
Omnivore
Average life span in the wild:
5 to 10 years
Size:
4 to 6 in (10 to 15 cm)
Weight:
2.9 lbs (1.3 kg)
Group name:
Knot or nest


The much maligned venomous cane toads earned their bad reputation shortly after being released into the Australian ecology in 1935 with the hope that they would control the destructive cane beetle population. They turned out to be failures at controlling beetles, but remarkably successful at reproducing and spreading themselves.
About 3,000 cane toads were released in the sugarcane plantations of north Queensland in 1935. They now number well into the millions, and their still expanding range covers thousands of square miles in northeastern Australia. They are considered pests, and government eradication efforts include asking residents to help collect and dispose of them.
Cane toads are large, stocky amphibians with dry, warty skin, and are native to the southern United States, Central America, and tropical South America. Their numbers are manageable in their natural range, but they have thrived in Australia because there are few natural predators, they breed easily, and they have abundant food, including pet food, which they steal from feeding bowls left outside of homes.
Their effects on Australia's ecology include the depletion of native species that die eating cane toads; the poisoning of pets and humans; depletion of native fauna preyed on by cane toads; and reduced prey populations for native insectivores, such as skinks.
Cane toad venom is a mix of toxins that primarily affects the functioning of the heart. It is present throughout their bodies and is secreted as a milky liquid from the parotoid glands located over the toad's shoulders. Envenomation is painful, but rarely deadly to humans, although some people have died from eating cane toads and even their eggs.

~ Josh

Sunday 28 April 2013

Popular culture

Definitions of popular culture tend to be wide-ranging, given the flexibility in the meanings of both "popular" and "culture." The term can indicate a specific set of traditions enacted by a specific group of people, or the mass homogenization of contemporary society. It can indicate the commercial culture brought to us through mass produced goods (including the mass media), or the simple elements of everyday life. Ultimately, the study of popular culture is concerned with how relations of power are structured through the practices and texts which make up the bulk of people's daily activity. As such, it often focuses on popular texts — romance novels, Hollywood films, advertisements, sporting events, video games, contemporary music, and so on — and on the conditions of their production and consumption.

http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/glossary_pop.jsp?id=CO.0008

~ Josh

Tuesday 23 April 2013

A designer talks Globalisation

Thoughts on the globalization of design

-Emma


I am lucky. I was born in Switzerland, where I learned how you should design. Now I live and work in different countries, I speak different languages, and my friends come from different parts of the world. One family. I am very lucky.
Then I think, how come design always looks the same, feels the same? I meet international designers and I can't see any difference between their work and mine. Even though they come from across the globe, the cultural variety seems to be watered down. Things like the Internet, international exhibitions, low cost airlines and the domination of the English language have opened the door to the whole world.
Is it really the whole world or just what is adaptable with western standards? Is it necessary? Or maybe, do I have to know other cultures' identities in order to understand mine?
I don't know.
Christian Etter



His article had interesting responses...

http://www.design21sdn.com/people/16/posts/125

The Globalisation of Art and Design

http://www.mad-blog.com/2009/10/06/the-globalisation-of-design-and-art-direction/

- Emma


The globalisation of design and art direction

October 6, 2009
In music you have it, in art you have it, in film you…well, had it, if you think of French film noir, Czech fairy tales and the still very strong “Bollywood” style of India. I’m talking about a country-specific influence.
Winning-Formula
But in design and art direction today there seems to be a universal language. I suspect that this is due to international advertising festivals like Cannes, the One Show or the Clios: the winners of these awards set new standards and suddenly everyone follows. Designers and art directors all want to imitate the “winning style”. For example, the influence of multi award-winning creative Erik Vervroegen and his team was very apparent during his time at TBWA\Paris.
Creating stuff by simply following a “winning-formula” – I find this disappointing and sad.
Last year I was the president of the design and art direction category at the Golden Drum festival in Portoroz. I could sense the potential of this region. And yet I couldn’t see it. Most of the work followed international trends – about one year behind.
Rather than blaming the region’s creative talents, I would like to challenge them to show us how, by exploring their artistic roots, they can make design and art direction part of a country’s culture and history.
Imagine you open the archive-magazine and you don’t see the sea of sameness but ads strongly influenced by local styles: the typical Slovenian art direction, the famous Czech design or the unmistakeable Russian style.
The ad world today is a little bit like entering a restaurant from a global fast food chain in New York, Moscow or Tokyo: same food, same style, same standards. But tomorrow I want to enter local places – for a taste of chevapcici, borscht or just vodka.

Monday 22 April 2013

Globalisation's affect on the environment

I’ve been reading about the affect globalisation has had on communication and technology to further globalisation however for this to happen there has been and still is repercussions to the environment. 

As the world increases it’s demand for natural resources, technological innovations, wealth and expansion, the environment suffers. The latest technology is causing the world’s electronic waste to pile up to a massive forty million tons each year. In addition to this over population has caused the overuse of natural resources. Extensive deforestation is now world wide with 11 million acres a year cut for commercial and property industries and about one half of the forests that covered the Earth are now gone. These devastating affects on the environment are due to globalisation’s exporting overuse. 

However its because of the negative impacts on the environment that globalisation is now starting to have a positive impact. The awareness of preserving natural resources and using greener technology has been assisted by multinational corporations due to globalisation. Global communication is allowing world wide research into greener technology to progress. 

I believe the sudden rise of globalisation brought the unstoppable negative affects it had on the environment. However as globalisation has stabilised the communication it brought between countries will allow the next green technological innovations the save the environment which we have left. 

-Ruth 

Japanamerica

I've been reading this book Japanamerica by Roland Kelts a lecturer at the university of tokyo.
These scans talk about how outdated japanese television game shows have now become a hit in western cultures like xfactor and american idol.

Also it talks into depth about porn... yes i know, scary.
But, it seems Japan favor the hentai manga book style which involves tentacles, beastiality and rape to be "artistic" and "imaginative" than to posing nude women in the western's playboy and penthouse.

Western culture uses the word "Hentai" for japanese porn. Hentai means "strange transformation" form the kanji characters "hen" and "tai".  But with irony,the japanese call theirs as "porno anime" using english words. It seems both cultures feel the need to exoticize the words and make them foreign to display fantasies.

It sort of seems the norm for a japanese citizen to walk around town reading a hentai manga yet if you take it to a western culture it would be deemed very unappropriate to have in the high street. Yet Britain has the work of Donald McGill - a cartoon artist known for doing rude funny postcards.

Anywho, its worth a read, ~ Josh




 

Saturday 20 April 2013

The Digital Dump


A piece of infographics showing how our advances in technology are impacting our environment as we continuously dump our out of date technology. 

-Ruth

Is technology the driving force behind globalisation?

It is already evident that technology has played a hugh role in creating global communication, global financial transactions and the coordination of global productions and marketing, which alone has accelerated globalisation. If we go back to where it began, the advances in technology have had both positive and negative effects. "The introduction of the telegraph in 1837, the telephone in 1876, the wireless in 1895, the aeroplane in 1903, the television in 1926, the liquid-fuelled rocket in 1927, the coaxial cable in the 1930's, and the digital computer in 1946." These hugh technological innovations started the financial and marketing dealings on a global scale. "Meanwhile, the invention of CFCs in 1931 laid the basis for much subsequent global ozone depletion." The momentum technological innovation gained started to impact not only the environment but the countries unable to keep up.
Technology hasn't solely caused globalisation however it provided the framework for which rationalism and capitalism has grown upon. As further advances in technology are made every day it will continue to boost globalisation.

Quotes from Jan Aart Scholte, 2000. Globalisation: A Critical Introduction. Edition. Palgrave Macmillan.

-Ruth

Friday 19 April 2013

McDonlalds sales drop 2013

Something on BBC news about McDonlad's global state.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22212564

McDonald's has reported a drop in first quarter sales and says it expects sales to fall in April as well.
The world's largest restaurant chain said net income was marginally higher at $1.27bn in the quarter, but underlying global sales fell 1%.


~ Josh

Thursday 18 April 2013

The Digital Divide

A major contributor to globalisation has been the rise in digital technologies which has aided global communication. The state of the art technology we use today has both enhanced communication between those with the technology and decreased it between those who don't, causing a digital divide. "...the internet is global, democratic and somehow working as a catalyst in a move to a technological utopia." As globalisation continues we may see this digital divide increase. 

Quote from 
Annabelle Mooney, 2007. Globalization: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides). New edition. Routledge. 

-Ruth

Tuesday 16 April 2013

The Global Power Shift

Paddy Ashdown talks about the three main global power shifts which he see's coming in the near future.


An interesting talk however I found Paddy Ashdown's points a bit outdated as I don't believe global conflicts will happen on the scale he's suggesting as our countries become ever more interlinked, connected and dependent on one another.

-Ruth


Marx on Globalisation

These book pages are taken from 'Marx on Globalisation' which expresses the analysis of globalisation from philosopher karl Marx. The highlighted sections are short summaries of Marx's contemporary theories on globalisation. These are cultural, economic and political variants.



David Renton, 2002. Marx on Globalization. Edition. Lawrence And Wishart Ltd.

-Ruth

Books

Art Education and Visual Culture in the Age of Globalization 
Authors: Tavin, Kevin
Hausman, Jerome

http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=5ea9bb9e-93a4-4ee3-a6d4-8f26cce3a1a9%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=edsjad&AN=edsjad.10.2307.3194104
















Josh

British Culture

Was looking at stuff about tumblr, since its constant visuals impacting on those who use it
Found this blog on British culture made by an American...
So its what they think Britain is like and telling other followers that this is what Britain is like... visual impact made so readily available online

http://britculture.tumblr.com

Garth

Anti-corporation, branding, globalisation...

This video could be seen as an anti-corporation/ globalisation movement, into rejecting branded clothing and fair working conditions/ payment for the workers in India.

Ricky

Globalisation!

Collection of videos!








-Emma

Anti-Globalisation Groups, what they're all about...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1305103.stm

I think this article has summed it up best for me, with these main points,

When it comes to the anti-globalisation groups they cover a wide range of world issues, including;

  • Environmentalism
  • Third world debt
  • Animal rights
  • Child labour
  • Anarchism- belief in the abolition of government 
  • Anti-capitalism
Opponents of globalisation say it leads to exploitation of the world's poor, workers, and the environment. They say it makes it easier for rich companies to act with less accountability. They also claim that countries' individual cultures are becoming overpowered by Americanisation. Several of the largest US brands (eg McDonald's and Starbucks) face particular opposition.



Ricky

Monday 15 April 2013

The Mastermind of McDonalds - Josh


I've been hiding undercover reading the McDonaldization-the reader book inside McDonalds itself! Stuffing my face with chips. It's hard not to, it's hypnotic - and those Monopoly Stickers? Who can resist? I'm missing one of each set now...

Anyway, the map shows the global spread of every McDonalds in America, I will find maps of Earthly spreads to see how cultures are linked with burgers. Here are the four steps McDonalds uses to control the food industry globaly.