Spying on teacher: CCTV in classrooms 'on the rise'

I read an interesting article about CCTV's in classrooms. It turns out that there is a new fashion on installing CCTV's on classrooms! The reasoning behind this is to provide everyone's safety in learning environment but schools have been starting to sack teachers based on this footage for very weird reasons...

More bout this in the following article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/spying-on-teacher-cctv-in-classrooms-on-the-rise-9271501.html

Protecting animals with CCTV's

While walking down Great Western road I saw a poster which had a big picture of CCTV camera and a text "save the animals". With some gogle searches I found that there is a on going campaign for installing surveillance for slaughter houses so that animals would get better treatment and people who don't follow the rules could be easier caught. I think this is one of the only ideas which plan to get more surveillance which  I would totally support. I assume that for the animals it doesn't matter if they get filmed and I know how cruel people can be with them. I signed the petition and I hope to see some results in the near future!

A CCTV with a light!

I found a very interesting CCTV design by a designer called BEN ROUSSEAU. As I have previously mentioned lighting up streets rises security as much as installing CCTV's this design provides both of them! I could see this as a very useful device for future.

Solar-Powered 3D Printer!

I found an article about 3D printer which uses solar energy and prints objects out of sand! Quiet unreal....

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/04/solar-powered-3d-printer-turns-desert-sand-glass-bowls-sculptures.html

Aesthetics of CCTV's

I found an interesting article about the look of CCTV's. I have previously written a lot about the function and ethics of the surveillance cameras but haven't thought much about the design and aesthetics of them. It is a sort of of object you assume to always look the same even though I as a product designer should not think so. With making the design nicer the feeling about the whole system could be different. I collected few example of different designs of the cameras below.

RNR Speakers

I wanted to learn more about laser-cutting and set up myself a task to redesign the casing for my old speakers. Here is what came out of it:

Useful webpages for designers

This semester I have learned a lot about different internet sites and I thought that it many people would gain a lot of this information!

1. The noun project.

You find logos and symbols for almost any noun which is very useful when you are doing folio work or presentation sheets

http://thenounproject.com/

2. Trello

Very good tool if you have a group project. You can manage and set up tasks and get organized in a very clear way.

https://trello.com/

3. Mural

A very good page where you can collect your online research

https://mural.ly/

Easter!

I learned new surface finish/decoration techniques by painting Easter eggs! If you want to have specific patterns on a painted surface a very precise and clean way is to use hot wax.
Wax doesn't absorb any colors so before you paint the base color you can draw the patterns to the surface.

Finished computer mouse lock

I got a better finish for my computer mouse lock idea by using the art school HP 3D-printer. The outcome looks like this:

Finished business cards

I played around with the laser cutter and got a better finish for the business cards I did design previously.

Sparetime

Holiday projects.

Since the term is over now I have had time to do few of my side projects. I have been wanting to laser cut wood for a long time and I realized that a business card could be something quiet interesting to cut. Here is a first version of it:

Next time I will not cut all the holes completely through since now some of the letters are quiet unclear.

A second project what I have been doing for a long time is a computer mouselock. It has been annoying me a lot in libraries that there are quiet a few spare computers but the mouses are stolen so you can't really use them. This is why I designed a plastic ring which is attached to the power cable and the mouse so people are much more unlikely to steal both of them. The first prototype of the device came out like this:

Reid Building opening

Project Studio is a student lead creative movement based within the Glasgow School of Art. 

We managed to get our kinetic sculpture in the Reid building opening which was a nice 

experience.

Internet advertisement

As usual as I logged in to my facebook profile the adverts on the side bar were promoting things what I have recently looked up in Google. Since I had been recently looking for watches the sidebar was full of watch adverts. First time in a long time I actually checked out what was advertised and I got surprised. The companies were very interesting! First of all there was a watch for blind people. There is an interesting article about it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26920782

A second very interesting watch was designed by a Swiss company called Slow. They do watches which only have one pointer! The idea of it is that by having one hour hand people will be less hectic on they life which I find quiet interesting. Many times have moments where every second matters and it would be good to be able to take time to do things.

Interesting thoughts about surveillance

I realized recently that it is interesting that you have a lot of public places where you are not allowed to take photos. All the places where you have some sort of travelling, military, hospitals schools included photography might be forbidden or very restricted. I found this out while doing a third year product design project about transport. We tried to take pictures of trains and train stations but we got told that we would have needed a permission from London to do so... The reason given to it is that it prevents terrorism and gives some people privacy. I find this it a bit weird since at the same time all the cameras are filming you and that data is very easy to get. I know it is very easy to get since I found a 2 minute youtube video online which tells you how to hack some CCTV's online ( https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=iqHnxiiFmgE ) I couldn't believe that the tutorial wasn't fake and you can actually watch live CCTV while sitting in your bed drinking coffee, it is quiet insane... I am sure some cameras are more secure than the others but none of them should be as easy accessible as this! There is an interesting article about this http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/cctv-hack/

Surveillance projects funded by European Commission

I found quiet a few surveillance projects which have been funded by European Commission and which are quiet interesting since they are close to my topic.

1. ADABTS - Automatic Detection of Abnormal Behavior and Threats in crowded Spaces. The aim of the project is to find a system what detects if something interesting happens in surveillance devices. These situations would include for example

• Running in a place where you normally do not run (security check at an airport, at a bank office).
  
  
• Using an emergency exit (a good indicator that we have some kind of emergency situation).
  
  
• Going the wrong way in a one-way passage.
  
  
• Fighting.
  
  
• Screaming (agressively or for help).

Respect is an interesting programe since their main aim is to analyze the surveillance systems. I think their objectives and aims are very important since in many countries peoples opinion's haven't really been asked when the security systems have been implemented. 

RESPECT's Objectives:

1. Review the actual effectiveness of surveillance systems and procedures used in Europe in preventing / reducing crime; and in tracking evidence for improved prosecutions of crimes and acts of terrorism.
2. Identify and examine the social and economic costs involved in the adoption and implementation of identified surveillance systems and procedures.
3. Determine the legal basis adopted for these systems and procedures, identifying any best practices that may have evolved as well as those areas where there is a need for improvement.
4. Explore European citizen’s awareness/acceptance of surveillance systems and procedures based on attitudes to efficiency, economic and social costs.
5. Identify the possible effect of cultural influences on citizens’ acceptance of surveillance systems and procedures.
6. Compare and further develop findings on these systems, procedures and attitudes with findings found in the FP7 CONSENT and SMART projects.
7. Establish best-practice criteria developed on the basis of operational, economic, social and legal efficiency and citizen perceptions
8. Develop a tool-kit capable of pan-European application (and beyond). This would be composed of three main items:
   1. a matrix-style checklist incorporating operational/technical-economics-social factors – legal aspects which could be utilised as a decision-support tool for policy-makers assessing systems specifically designed for surveillance;
   2. system design guidelines and;
   3. Model force-level regulations which can be adopted by a police force for the deployment of surveillance systems including large-scale integrated systems. The matrix, design guidelines and regulations balance citizens’ privacy and security concerns

Visit of Tom Inns

Tom Inns came to our D&T lecture to talk about design brands & strategies. He made us all tell our goal for the future and create a plan for it. This was very good fun, the only person who didn't do it was Hugh and I really wanted to hear his! In general it seems that Tom Inns seems to be a very down on earth and easily reachable new head of the art school. It was interesting to hear what decisions he had made, one of them was that he came to our D&T lecture.

Trip to Sunderland

Last Thursday we had a factory visit to Sunderland's Nissan factory. The place was huge and we walked inside for 3 miles and only covered about quarter of the factory! It is a shame that photography wasn't allowed since photos would have shown well the intensity of the place: big machines, dark packed rooms, noise, sparks flying all around etc. The factory produces 10 000 cars per week. I calculated that it means that there is a car made every minute for 24/7. The workers had to work in a line which didn't stop and that seemed to be very stressful. Human beings should not be treated as machines... It opened my eyes in the way that I realized again how important role designers play in this sort of processes.

Web Cameras

On the way to our field trip to Forres I talked about my D&T topic surveillance to one of our lecturer's, Brian and gave me a very interesting link to an article which talked about government spying through web cameras. It was found out that the British surveillance agency GCHQ intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal. I think that is quiet shocking and breaking the limits of privacy massively. Even though I know that I will not get any trouble with the material and it probably will not affect my life in any way it is very disturbing that someone would have such a massive amount of footage of me without my permission. I recommend to read the article below!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

Ben Craven: Colour, the science behind the sence

On Thursday's second D&T lecture the topic was colours and how do we see them. I really liked the lecture and it made me understand and think about senses in general. For me the most interesting part of the lecture was the point when Ben showed us how our brain tricks us on shadows. The example below is an example which we were given, The square with A has a lighter colour than the square B. If you don't believe you can test it with Photoshop. After the lecture I was photoshopping this picture for ages and couldn't believe how I couldn't change the way I saw the colours even though I had evidence in front of me...It made me think what other things I see "wrong" due to my brain. I have been a rationalist for a long time so it was quiet an interesting thing to realise that everything is not seen as it really is. I realised that our brain actually fills up blank spaces  what it can't process which leads to "wrong" visions. I realised as well that colours are seen quiet different with different people, I obviously knew this before but I have never given thought about it especially when I design since I do decisions based on my own senses.

Lecture about open design by Roy Shearer & Paul Smith

In today's D&T lecture we discussed about different aspects of open design. By definition open design is the the development of physical products, machines and systems through use of publicly shared design information. All the people of our course have a small insight on how this system works since in the second year we had a project about wind turbines and as a task we had to create building instruction on "instructables" webpage.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Vertical-Axis-Wind-Turbine/ (Our team's website)

From that experience I already have some opinions about the whole open source system. In the second year our design process for the turbine was maybe a bit hectic (we build the final product in the last few hours of the project) and the outcome wasn't  the best possible. If people build our wind turbine exactly like it says in  the instructions it will not be the best possible product and can be a bit dangerous. We still made the website instructions look like we know what we we are doing and our design has got a lot of attention and comments. Today's talk made me think first time that I am actually in some extend responsible on something what is out there. 

I understand that there is the danger of people building objects blindly without thinking  the dangers of the building process or the final outcome.  It is a bit harsh to say but even if there are some accidents caused by open design it is 10000 better if people actually try/do/create new things instead of just accepting everything they are given. I believe that many designers in the end of the day have an intention of making good products especially if they are not looking to get money directly out of the designs. I am also sick of all the health and safety regulations which exist the real world and I can just imagine the jungle of regulations if open designs would start to get them as well. 

Now let's get to the benefits of open design. I can see world being a much more interesting place if people can find similar minded people and develop better ideas/services/products together. It enables people not only to create and design new things but also fix their old broken objects because since if they join the make/do community they will most certainly gain interesting skills. I am part of the MakLab and the atmosphere there is very inspiring.  

Some people seem to be afraid that there wouldn't be jobs for designers if everything would be open sourced. That would 100% not be true. If you think of writers, they can publish anything online and people can read from there. That is great but there are still many of them which will be working for big organisations which publish their books. I think that is the way product design will?should move on to. That enables the whole system to develop. Open system leads to criticism and criticism leads to development and better products.

Ross Lovegrove

The designer which I have to present in pichi kichi event is calles Ross Lovegrove. He seems to be a designer who has worked on multiple areas starting from bikes to watches. It seems that he is influenced by organic forms but you can read more of him in this blog in near future!

Hugh Pizey: Aesthetics and Technology

On Thursday's Design & Technology lecture we discussed a lot the question does form follow function? As a designer it is a very interesting topic and you find numerous arguments against and for it. I did a bit of research on the topic and found that one of the first people to state the whole idea of form follows function was an American architect called Louis Sullivan. I think that it is quiet interesting that it was an architect instead of an engineer who came up with this concept because usually in architecture through out the whole history the most memorable buildings have been fighting against that statement.

Personally I don't think that form should follow function since that would reduce the creativity and playfulness of design. In the other hand I think that people see the "form follow function" principale as a boring way of designing which doesn't create beautiful object which is not the case! For example the picture below interest me since it is a chair where form follows function and it is a beautiful chair.

Dutch designer Daan Mulder has created the 'Form Follows Function' sofa. A three dimensional model of the sofa is created with a computer program


It was also interesting to get a bit of timeline of different design periods. I knew a bit about it but I think it would very useful to know more about it.  I found an interesting website where you have a timeline of remarkable design's of the 20th century.

http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/timelineproducts

The lecture made me also think that I should drill in to Finnish design since it was an interesting movement since design gave the country a way to build their national identity. These days it doesn't happen as easy anymore because of globalization.

CCTV

I found an interesting article about CCTV in UK by Aaron Saenz who is a freelance editor and writer. The article is a bit old (9/1/2009) but if the situation was like that back then I could just assume that the surveillance has improved since then.  I knew before reading this article that UK is the most recorded country in the whole world but I didn't know any figures. They are quiet extreme: UK police spent £500 million pounds between 1996 and 2006 installing 4 million cameras (one million in London) across the country.This means that you can be seen in 300 cameras a day! I personally find it scary since the footage is stored and if someone unwanted gets this footage he/she will know what you do, who you meet and where you go.

The article pointed out an alternative system which is more "active". This means that the cameras wouldn't store anything unless they react to something unusual. European union has been developing a new system called the HUMABIO. It is a very interesting technology and I recommend to go check it out (http://www.humabio-eu.org/index.html)

http://singularityhub.com/2009/09/01/londons-surveillance-fails-only-1-crime-solved-per-1000-cameras/

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A space Odyssee is a science fiction film produced by a famous director Stanley Kubrick. The movie is definitely a classic and I think everyone should see it, even though I think many people wouldn't like it. It is the most slow paste movie what I have seen but if you are in the right set of mind it brings you to an enjoyable trance. The filming and the filming techniques are unreal for a movie produced in 1968 and some of the techniques like Matte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_(filmmaking) or Chroma Key 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_key) were completely new and made Kubrick a pioneer in film making. I do understand that for a Thursday morning the movie might be a bit heavy especially with the long silent scenes so I was  happy to watch it at night instead. I find it  very interesting to watch futuristic movies from the past since it is interesting to compare how far or close their predictions get.

Surveillance and Tecnology

I find it very interesting how the improvement of technology will affect the control and surveillance systems. Already while you are using the internet you leave a footprint on everything where you go and that has been used recently a lot for marketing purposes etc. For example it is pretty scary when facebook know that you have looked flights into somewhere and advertises them to you. I can see many problems if all the material of surveillance systems would leak out of the control of the government.

There is an interesting article about the topic below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-surveillance-technology-can-track-everyone-in-an-area-for-several-hours-at-a-time/2014/02/05/82f1556e-876f-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html

Lecture by Ben Craven

Today's lectures main point was show the value of rough calculations and estimates. We were given several exercises which were impossible to estimate without logical thinking and some basic understanding of Physics. These calculations give an idea of feasibility of projects and give an idea of in what scale the answers will be. I had a memory that quiet big engineering projects have had fails due to the lack of the estimates and a simple Google research gave a few examples:

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-report/

http://www.globalprojectstrategy.com/lessons/case.php?id=23

The exercises what we were given seemed hard at the start, for example a practice question was "How many times do you roughly breathe in a year?". When you start to think about this question more in depth it is quiet simple to get an estimate, you only need to test how many times you breathe in a minute and know how many seconds are in minute, how many minutes in hour, how many hours is there in a day etc. The rest is simple maths. Even harder questions like what is the average power density of a human body in certain units is very doable with engineering logic.

I think this sort of exercises should be done in all the engineer/science schools. I believe that you can get a degree in many things with just a good memory and ability to learn by heart which obviously isn't great in a job where your main task is problem solving.

 I felt like I understood how my knowledge and thinking are very applicable even though I often (especially in lectures) feel that I don't know much. The phrase below sums up what is wrong about going to lectures and listening things about maths/engineering.

Documentry: Marc Newson Urban Spaceman

On today's Design and Technology lesson we were shown a documentary on Mark Newson who is a  industrial designer who works in aircraft design, product design, furniture design, jewellery, and clothing. 


I most definitely enjoyed the documentary and realized that even though I have recently been looking into more design,  I should look up more into the stories of famous designers since they can really influence yourself. By this I mean that you can find out about values, ways of working, attitudes etc. what you personally want to or not to have.
Interesting points what Newson made were around design and manufacturing. I can see how just a really well manufactured product can be the biggest element of beautiful design. An example of this is are Apple keyboards. Even the design in a way is quiet simple the keyboard base is made of one solid piece of aluminium, it doesn't have any joints which makes it feel quiet strong. 

I did like a lot of his style of going around to different places to find the best ways of build products. I often feel that people often get quiet limited of how things are done in their countries/cultures. I would like to see myself as designer who would have a quiet various background and knowledge of people, products and cultures.

Marc Newson has also done a lot of design which has been flirting with art. I do think that product design most definitely has an element of art in it but I do personally not like when you kill the functionality in the name of art. If a chair is beautiful it is obviously a plus but if you can't really sit on it why don't you just call it a sculpture? The chair he first designed was quiet interesting as a sculpture but as a chair quiet awful...

If you are interested on the documentary you can watch it for free at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoS71sBKESI

The Demise of Skilled Manufacture - Craig Whittet

On our first Design & Technology lecture we were given a talk about the demise of skilled manufacturing in the UK and the Western Europe. It was a very interesting talk for me since as a foreign I didn't entirely know about the current situation in the United Kingdom. The fact that the pay for skilled manufacturing is very low moves  UK companies abroad, if you give people the choice of doing an easy, good paid job like telemarketing in choice of unrespected low pay manufacturing job you can see what happens.

What personally annoys me a lot is that I know that these companies should and could pay people the money. One good example of the greediness of some organisations are unpaid internships. They get educated students to do work and make profit for them and pay nothing. I am not saying that unqualified students should be paid much but at least the minimum salary. The reason this can continue is the fact that there are students who don't have experience (like me) and have to get it from somewhere.

The low pay of workers isn't the only reason why you can't keep companies in the country, I know for example that in Finland the pay for skilled worker is high but companies move abroad to find cheaper skilled workers. The situation is very hard but what I personally think is that the governments should invest on local companies. This would give the people a chance to buy local products with a reasonable prices which is quiet rare these days.