Following Vicki Karaminas’ lecture last week on the spaces of consumption, this week we explored one of the consequences of consumption - - WASTE. In this week’s lecture, Kerryn Caulfield, Chief Operating Office of Apical International, spoke to us about textile, technology & waste.
"In today’s environment, sustainability is the persuading factor behind all innovation. Companies throughout Australia – and across the world – are increasingly taking their environmental responsibilities more seriously and are becoming more environmentally astute. Recycling materials, using less energy and reducing emissions are some ways companies are becoming more sustainable, all of which requires innovation across products and internal processes."
Caulfield spoke about the purpose of fabric and textiles in today's society. I found this quite interesting as textiles come in a multitude of forms; for example racing cars, aeroplanes, and cars- - more than 40 automotive parts within the car that are made from either woven, non woven or knitted materials. Since the amount of waste is constant and not dramatically increasing, the Government is in the process of developing a 'National Waste Policy' which will propose strategies to minimise our waste. Check out the Government's new policy at - -http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/index.html.
Kerryn then went on to speak to us about the amount of textile waste which ends up in landfill- a staggering 4.5% of landfill is textile waste. The lecture explored product stewardship and how it will be a big part of the future. Waste is a huge issue, "Billions of tonnes of waste is generated in Australia every year".
This figure made me realise how much society unknowingly contributes to this number. Caulfield has written a discussion paper entitled, Sources of Textile Waste in Australia. Check it out at- -
http://www.ttna.com.au/TEXTILE%20WASTE%20PAPER%20March%202009.pdf.
Throughout the lecture Caulfield presented us with many graphs- one in particular I found quite entertaining, the rate of waste was growing faster than the population itself!! As Caulfield put it, we were going to be "drowning in our own waste". There are 3 major forms of textile waste causing majoriy of our problems,
- Pre-consumer textile waste
- Post consumer textile waste
- Industrial textile waste
According to Caulfield, ‘businesses created this problem so businesses have the power to solve it!’. Instead of looking at waste as just that – ‘waste’ – we must look at is as ‘textile recovery resources’.
We are able to:
1. Recycle/reuse
2. Regenerate
3. Create energy from waste (although this is not currently used in Australia)
- - -Moving on to our group work, it has been a bit difficult to draw connections from the lecture. However in terms of ever evolving technology and production, there is no doubt that technological devices are contributing to this waste. Therefore, it is important to design for the environment and always consider the influence of our proposed designs on the environment throughout their life span.
During the tutorial, we spoke about personas for our group project and came up with 3 personas to better understand our problem space and possible project proposals. Creating personas was a very helpful exercise as they allowed us to imagine real life scenarios and experiences different people face and deal with. By considering these personas we were able to further develop our interview questions. We have decided to interview the Kings Cross station staff/station master, The Waverton Council, visitors to the Cross, Security, Police and the Ambulance.
During Bert's lecture we spoke about the 'active modes of perception' which are vital to interactivation and how senses are based on change. In terms of perception, I found this topic really interesting as we explored how the eye sees what it chooses to see...gosh thats a mouthful! I love optical illusions and they came straight to mind...
| Persona 1 | Persona 2 | Persona 3 |
BILLY
- 23 y.o
- Lives in St.Ives
- Regular to ‘The Cross
- Meets friend at Gordon station and trains into Kings Cross
- Takes $300 with him in cash
- He is a real estate agent and has ‘the gift of the gab’
- He is a consumerist, is trendy, fit, good looking, slightly arrogant
- He’s single
- Goes clubbing
- Australian 2nd generation
- Confident
| TERRI
- school leaver
- visits The Cross once a month
- lives in the Hills District so she drives because it’s too difficult to use public transport
- but then, she has a drink and so she decides to leave her car in The Cross
- She then plans to make her way home with friends
- She’s her on her red p’s so she has to drive in to The Cross before 11
| ADAM
- 34
- Lives with his partner
- Lives in the inner west – Annandale
- Likes to go to Newtown for drinks
- Likes the pub culture more than clubbing
- Uses the bus both ways
- Often has work drinks and sometimes goes for dinner
- He enjoys dining out but not hard clubbing
|
These personas will help us make informed decisions when choosing our target audience for our interviews and what questions we should focus on asking.
 |
|
 |
| How many legs? |
 |
Look at the chart above and say the COLOR of the word,
not the word itself.
Why is it so difficult? Because the right half of your brain
is trying to say the color, while the left side of your brain
is trying to say the word. |
 |
Young Lady or Old Lady?
|
Our group is considering using projections as entertainment within The Cross, and therefore the notion of perception is extremely important as we need to ensure the users see what we intend them to see.
References:
Government Policy: http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/index.html
Caulfield's Paper: http://www.ttna.com.au/TEXTILE%20WASTE%20PAPER%20March%202009.pdf
Awesome Optical Illusion website: http:/www.optillusions.com/
