Windowfarms

might be especially interesting for Paula:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkCuPrsPn_I&feature=player_embedded

500 words for feedback | Paula

The subject of food is a personal interest that has been evolving. Living in London and contacting with a completely different food offer and culture made me think about the motivations behind choices and habits.

My research started with the book “A sociology of food and nutrition” by multidisciplinary authors from social sciences, health, nutrition, academics, to name just a few. This book explores how eating habits are a social construction and how food production, distribution and consumption are highly determined by a mesh of contexts such as political, economical, religious, geographical and historical. The process of globalisation is also explored in its contribution to a change in what and how we eat.

There were two subjects that most grabbed my attention in this book: on the one hand the analysis of the current food system and the disclosure of the networks of economical interests behind it; on the other hand the harmful impact of this industry in several fields, such as the environment, food-related illnesses, customer choice and the future of farming itself.

Simultaneous to readings, I also watched some talks and DVDs on this subject. One that reinforced my interest in eating habits was Jamie’s School Dinners - a Channel4 series where the Chef Jamie Oliver reveals what is served to kids in UK school canteens and proposes a “revolution”.
What interested me was not his approach to the subject, or the way he tried to implement the changes. It was instead the lack of knowledge that 11-year-old kids showed regarding fresh food, not only in identification but also in the consumption itself. Both at school and at home, they were invariably eating processed and packed food (high in fats, sugars and salt) instead of balanced cooked meals from raw products. Some even confessed being eating vegetables for the first time. It was shocking to see them crying and refusing to try dishes like roast chicken and pasta, instead of the usual fast-food. The parents were also reluctant in changing their children’s habits, and kept sending junk food in their lunch boxes.

In line with this, another book that caught my attention was “Eating behavior”, that focuses on the process through which we acquire eating habits. Presenting several child-development theories, the author explains how food acceptance and choices are learned in very early childhood and influence the preferences in adulthood. Exposure to novel food, memories & emotions associated to eating, incentives & rewards, observation & imitation, and the influence of “important others” are some of the key factors in food learning.

Throughout all the reviewed literature my two topics of interest – food system and eating habits – were connected with the alarming figures of obesity.

With all these in mind, I would like to explore how a transformation in the ground knowledge in childhood could improve the relationship between kids and food that remains throughout their growth. My interest is to focus in a learning process that influences positively their early experiences, memories and emotions with food and eventually develops better acceptance and habits.

Bibliography:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jme/dvds/info/jamies-school-dinners-complete-series/100235.html
(Talk related to this subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html )

Germov, J. & Williams, L. eds. (2008). A sociology of food and nutrition: the social appetite. Australia: Oxford University Press.

Dovey, T. (2010). Eating behavior. London: Open University Press.

Feedback dummy presentation Paula

9min

We want to see the animation in the beginning!

Lots of talking in the same slide.

Possible Outcomes – more slides

Light brown a little darker?

The possibility of outcomes is huge. When are you going to decide? – do specific plans for research. Give people more guidelines about what you’re doing.

Design as Politics

This book seems quite interesting. Maybe for after the viva :p

Thursday Meeting - Paula

Paula:

Alarming people, show the reality of school meals, what children say and think about food. What parents give to children to eat. Facts and numbers about obesity.

Show figures and numbers to grab attention.

Maybe use some images: striking. School meals? Maybe use parts of film?

Suggestions:

Primary research: Children talking about food. Interview children. Kids would be very interesting to talk with. Childhood museum. Discussion between kids.

Contrast of statistics and sound. Just pictures and you talking is a bit flat.

How do you manage if you use video and talking. Practicing.

http://futurefarmers.com/
BACINO

Modern British Posters | Paul Rennie

Academic Practice, 2^nd February 2011

Paul Rennie is a collector who uses his posters to describe the history of British society from the beginning of twentieth century.

Posters first appeared in the end of the nineteenth century in Paris, which was at that time a culturally vibrant centre of Europe. The new urban planning of the city as well as some developments in printing processes contributed to the popularization of billboards and posters.
London also assisted to the development of this communication support at about the same time.

Besides presenting his finished work and sharing some views on the historical and social context of posters, Paul Rennie also presented part of his process.

In a very simple approach he showed how research is an iterative process, where new knowledge does not stack in layers but rather complements the existing one and helps clarifying the subject in study.
The several writings (films, experiments, etc) on a specific field establish an ever-growing “conversation” with each other. Digging into a subject discloses connections and influences between different authors and epochs apparently remote at the first sight.

Each work relates with the existing ones by opposing, reinforcing, adding points of view or presenting new perspectives that broaden the subject.
In this sense, our own work will lately be a small contribution to an ongoing conversation.

A research report is then a presentation of this dialog in a structured way. We should introduce our evidences and make it clear how they relate with each other and contribute to the subject. With this support, we should then make it tangible to others what our case is, what resources we have collected, where we are going from there and how we position ourselves and our work in the wider picture.

Rennie’s passion and continuous research is a contribution to the ongoing conversation of the history of design.

Experimental food society

Have you come across them?

Plus Event with them on 27th March at Victoria and Albert.

Information design packaging

interesting.

Paula and Anna: They kidnapped Ronald!

video.

Paula, a notícia no Público (sorry, I've seen it in the Portuguese news).

Paula: How can we raise kids' awarness of the benefits of fresh food so they can make better choices?

Probably you have already seen this 'challenge'. Anyway, i hope it's useful.

The Welcome Collection at Euston station: must see!

Rita and I have been to the welcome collection. We visited the temporary exhibition on a drug consumption in High Society, and other permanent exhibitions on Health and curiosity. I highly recomand to visit this museum as it is entirely free and fascinating plus the bookstore is interesting and you can enjoy the food and coffee while writting your essays or dissertations. For further notice they have late openings on thursday (right after our tutorials) for more information visit http://www.wellcomecollection.org/visit-us.aspx
Have a nice week-end everyone

ps: does anyone know an art therapist I can contact for an interview?
ps: I think I found my who: grown ups who like illustration and poetry;who have experienced traumatic death experience or who are currently supporting (an) ill relative(s) ...sorry to have been rude the other day

paulita

http://www.annabullusdesign.com/

Bacio Anna

Thank you for the links!

Thank you Rita, Carol and Grace for your tips!

Very interesting and different approaches to the subject of food and related concerns and initiatives. I've tried to comment individually, but as the first comment didn't go trough, I decided to do it like this. Thank you all.

Dear Paula :)

This is the link .. i told u before.

I hope that it can help your research. :)

Pig 1

Pig 2

Good Luck !

food cycle

http://www.foodcycle.org.uk/#sub_about

Hi thought of you when I saw this x

service design

This is part of the Sustainable Everyday Project, by Ezio Manzini (that was the tutor there at Politecnico).