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Topic 2 Development

Publics and Counterpublics

This is the artwork I choose to analyze: https://creative-capital.org/projects/4mx-greenhouse/

Who created it:

This artwork is created by Jordan Weber, a land sculptor and activist. It is also created by local communities who participated in bring and growing plants in the greenhouse Weber built.

For whom:

For indigenous communities and black communities. For people who are polarized from food resources, green space and the act of collaboration.

With what materials:

the greenhouse itself was built with wood, glass, steel and other construction materials. There are also many plant pots for growing plants.

Metaphor:

The greenhouse is a secured and free space. People could seek comfort, heal wounds, and build a harmonious community in this space.

With what intention:

In many black communities, people are polarized from food resources and green space. This greenhouse provides a space for people to get together and collaborate. He also tries to raise environmental awareness by providing people opportunities to grow their own food, comparing to mono crops grew in industrial farmlands.

What impact, on whom, how:

By setting up more green spaces in the community, it affects human mental state, lowering crime rate. It also helped healing people in the community that are constantly wounded and traumatized. This green space serve as a safe space to be oneself and not be seen as a threat.

Public and counterpublic:

In this artwork, the public would be the black communities and the indigenous communities. The people in these communities are the primary participants of this greenhouse. They have similar life experiences, understand the artists intentions, and benefit most from this green space.

Project 2 Development

While developing my project, I was thinking about how I wanted the experience to be. My initial thought was to continue with the smartwatch on the Janky Prototypes. I would create a prototype that would have a compass and an application that would give survival tips.

However, after having the individual meetings, the idea of sticking to the development of weaponry throughout history and how it can be changed and used in the future.

I stuck to the idea of creating a prototype application, but this would be an app that allows people to create ideas on future weaponry. Mainly, how weaponry can be used for good instead of bombs, guns, etc. Creating things that can resolve issues in the world.

Project 2: Various Development Practices

Ideas from in-class workshops

First description of idea:

Sunscreen: I’ve recently learned a bit more about UVA vs UVB rays, and how sunscreens in the US seem to only be required to put the SPF rating on the products which is specific to blocking UVB rays. In other countries the UVA rating is put on more products, but the way that rating is captured isn’t standardized yet.

Refining the idea

Topic: Sunscreen’s ability to block UVA and UVB rays

Systems Map(s): 

  • it may be interesting to work through a feedback loop of sorts to understand how sunscreen filters even work (i.e. when the ray hits the filter it breaks down, so that is why we need to reapply sunscreen periodically)
  • map of the process of regulation/approval of different ingredients. i.e. how does the FDA approve a particular ingredient?

Stakeholders: all humans, companies that make the sunscreen, governments that potentially regulate sunscreen, environmentalists (chemical filters are detrimental to the environment), dermatologists

Critical Analysis: There are a few critical view points that have come up with some really preliminary research, and I’m not sure which is the best to focus on yet:

  • some filters used in sunscreens are very good at blocking rays, but bad for the environment, and/or could be bad for humans in other ways (hormone disruptors, etc). Some people think that the potential health risks of these ingredients is worth the risk because we know that UVA and UVB rays are harmful. Is it worth the risk to the environment too?
  • There is a convenience/cosmetic component to this: mineral filters (non-chemical) aren’t bad for the environment or humans (I think), but they are more annoying to apply, create a white cast on the skin which people do not want, may not have the staying power of chemical blockers, etc.

Topic 2 Bibliography

Abdullahi, Thoraya. “What Do Emojis Mean? How Millennials and Gen-Z Use Them Very Differently.” The National, https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts/what-do-emojis-mean-how-millennials-and-gen-z-use-them-very-differently-1.1183746.

Aggarwal, Mayank. “Twitter Launches Emoji to Unite Protests across Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 8 Apr. 2021, https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/southeast-asia/milk-tea-alliance-emoji-twitter-b1828336.html.

Bai, Qiyu, et al. “A Systematic Review of Emoji: Current Research and Future Perspectives.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02221/full.

Edwards, Vanessa Van. “45 Emojis You Should Know and Their (Hidden) Meanings.” Science of People, 27 June 2022, https://www.scienceofpeople.com/emojis/.

Gallagher, Sophie. “How Aubergines and Crying Faces Connected Us All Online.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 22 July 2021, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/world-emoji-day-2021-history-b1885788.html.

Hutchison, Taylor. “Only 31 New Emojis Will Be Introduced This Year as Approvals Slow to a Trickle.” NPR, NPR, 27 July 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/07/27/1113516296/new-emoji-approved-heart-shook-face-animals.

Lowell, Alizah K. “Why Do We Use Emojis?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/contemporary-psychoanalysis-in-action/201605/why-do-we-use-emojis.

O’Gieblyn, Meghan. “Am I Wrong to Judge People for Talking to Me in Emoji?” Wired, Conde Nast, 9 Sept. 2022, https://www.wired.com/story/am-i-wrong-to-judge-talking-in-emoji/.

Rogers, Reece. “How to Officially Submit Your Emoji Idea.” Wired, Conde Nast, 26 Apr. 2022, https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-submit-emoji-idea/.

“😃 Smileys & People.” 😃 Smileys & People Emoji Meanings, https://emojipedia.org/people/.

Sunscreen: Reflection

Research and Perception

I began the my research into sunscreen with the anticipation that it would help clear up some of my uncertainties about how sunscreen works, and that I would continue to be very pro-sunscreen. I even hoped that I could create a compelling argument to convince the people in my life who don’t wear sunscreen to reconsider. I was surprised to find out that sunscreen isn’t so cut-and-dry as a topic. The systems that sunscreen effect are far more varied than I had realized. They include:

  • The physics of how UV rays break down and damage cells, from human skin to the sunscreen blockers themselves.
  • The efficacy of the chemical blockers that are used in sunscreens and their potential negative health and environmental impacts.
  • The efficacy of the physical blockers that are used in sunscreens, and the fact that they are potentially uncomfortable and leave a white-cast on the wearer’s skin. This white-cast has different implications depending on skin color.
  • How different governments and/or regulating bodies handle research, ratings, marketing, etc.
  • How people of varying skin tones are included or excluded in sunscreen research. And what products are created and widely available for people of color.
  • Why people wear sunscreen in different cultures, and how those reasons could be tied to colonialism, which is a varied and complex system itself.

My investigation helped me to realize how much I had centered myself and my experiences when I first started to explore this topic. It was enlightening to realize how something as seemingly simple as sunscreen could be viewed at with such bias. As a white person who has had issues with skin damage, sun screen has always felt like a must. I considered the potential health risks due to the chemicals in the sunscreen as secondary and less dangerous than the high risk (for me) of getting skin cancer. And with that mindset, I went into the investigation with a lens of morality – seeing as those that wear sunscreen as “better” or “more responsible” to some extent.

After interviewing my boyfriend, who doesn’t need to wear sunscreen like I do, I started to see how my point of view was very self-centered. I am trying to come at this realization without much self-judgement, because it makes sense to understand the world through the lens of our own experiences. But I think it’s also essential to do work to understand experiences of others as well. A couple of questions that came that made me rethink my previous point of view were:

  • For people who don’t have a high risk for skin cancer – is it worth the risk of using chemical sunscreen, when we don’t fully know how some of the chemicals effect humans?
  • Is there any element of classism related to sunscreen use?

This is when I came to the realization that colonialism is really at the heart of a lot of what I know about sunscreen:

  • Historically: Like I mentioned in my presentation, wikipedia says that an Australian chemist, H.A. Milton Blake, invented sunscreen in 1932, yet contradictorily the article then later goes on to describe how sun protection has been used by civilizations for thousands of year.
  • Clinical research: People of color are missing from a lot of sunscreen efficacy research. In addition, there are also scientists that are questioning how dangerous UV rays are to people who have more melanin in their skin – since there is little to no research about this topic, it’s hard to understand how dermatologists can recommend people of color to put potentially harmful chemicals on their skin so readily without more information.
  • Product development: Sunscreens on the market specifically developed for people of color are relatively new.
  • Product usage: I found several accounts of people who’s primary use of sunscreen is to keep their skin from getting darker, rather than being specifically worried about skin damage. The main motivation for sunscreen use was to keep skin lighter, presumably a product of white-focused beauty standards.

Form and Process

In terms of the forms that I considered, I had initially wanted to do some sort of performance of myself putting on increasingly absurd amounts of sunscreen. But as I started to aim my investigation more toward colonialism, it felt inappropriate to focus on my own skin in this instance. I opted to go for a virtual reality sort of experience instead, because not only did that feel a bit more appropriate but it was also more interactive. I chose to represent the different sunscreens as purple and green, to kind of get the user out of their normal skin color, and see how the experience felt. To further add to the experience, to bring the user to the beach, I added a beach video as the background, background audio, and subtly changed the brightness of the page to elicit different feelings, or to make the user feel like the sun was becoming brighter.

During my process, I really enjoyed the combination of making, researching and exploring during the daily practice. Since I again chose a topic that felt like it had some science to understand before I moved forward (though I’m not sure if that was necessarily true), I did feel myself getting stuck on completely understanding the research before beginning to brainstorm a critical lens. Creation helped with this, and allowed for me to get out of my analytical brain some, so that I could more creatively look at my topic. This daily practice is a tool that I would like to try again for future projects.

Another note about the process that I feel is worth noting is that during this project, I often worked in figma while documenting my research. I felt it gave me a central place to store my resource links, while also being able to pull out quotes and personal thoughts/ideas, and then physically group things together by theme. Once I came to this technique, I realized that it really works for my brain, and was a great way to organize the chaos!

Future Plans

In the future, I think that I’d like to try this technique of capturing the organized chaos in my brain again. But perhaps it would be helpful to limit the resources that I consult at first, so that I’m able to start creating even if it’s with limited knowledge. I again found that research was easier for me to fall into, and experimentation felt a bit more uncomfortable.

I really want my projects to be well researched, and to consider different points of views. However, I’m realizing now, that by having a wide view of a topic, it has felt more difficult to find a critical point of view since I begin to feel more empathy and understanding to differing view points. I think that this could be incredible useful and powerful, but is also a bit of a challenge to overcome as well.

Topic 2: Development Update

I have a site in development which works as a submission for a ban fracking petition with a fun twist.

I initially wanted to do a sort of fracking “game” where the player needed to manage a fracking site and have to make certain decisions that were restricted or overrided based on the gas companies profit goals. For example, they would be face with a dilemma like gas leaking into ground water and be given the costs of repairing. If the player declines to repair it and leaves it to a government agency to clean up they get a bonus from their employers. If they go the other route they are told that the company won’t allow them to continue with that route. Ultimately the idea was too complex to be feasible given the project timeline.

For the petition submission, I’m hoping to add additional resources or a menu of sorts where visitors can get more information about the damage fracking causes. I’m not sure that I’ll have time to add it to the site, but it’s a next step in the site development.

I’m also hoping to have 3 total postcards (currently have 1) but I may not have time.

Last, the submission itself doesn’t collect any data. I’m going to keep it that way since this is just a project for this class, but the next steps would be to add a database and utilize an email API (such as sendgrid or similar) to handle the emailing of the postcards.