Emerging issues
There are a few areas of interest that emerge from the book that I regularly track and continue to write about. These include the following:
Open Source
I look at open source design briefly in the book as a means to explore how people can better make their own meaning. Since then I've dug up a range of resources:
design, participation and open source.
Sustainable Consumption
In the book I discuss the issue of consumerism, and how consumer goods provide us with a means to express our identity and social meaning. A challenge for design is to find ways to facilitate these without such material intensity.
What are the implications for design under a sustainable consumption scenario, where people in most western countries have a considerably less material-intensive lifestyle? Does a non-purchase solution mean a non-design solution?
article on Core77, June 2009, "The context of low product"
article "Design's Role in Sustainable Consumption" in Design Issues Spring 2010, Vol. 26, No. 2: 3–16.
Design Activism
How are designers becoming activists, across a range of issues from health care to human rights and from the environment to community empowerment? I explore these issues on a blog at http://designactivism.net
Social Innvation and Social Enterprise
How do the fields of social innovation and social enterprise suggest opportunities for design. The design activism blog contains a short article that references some reports on social innovation.
Twitter Updates
Look for links on news and events a couple of times per week from @atlasann
Reader Comments