The eighth of Ten things in my class on science, technology and design - [link]
Between public and private - the invention of personal style.
Themes and concepts -
- culture
- style
- global enterprises such as Sony
- networks (again) - the dispersal of an artefact through heterogeneous fields
A key perspective introduced by Paul du Gay, Stuart Hall, Linda Jones, Hugh Mackay, Keith Negus - the circuit of culture - the biography of an artefact as it circulates in its manaufacture and consumption
representation - identity - regulation - production - consumption
how these apply to all connected with the artefact
Note particularly the importance of representation and mediation - communication - in this circuit - how things are made meaningful
Background -
- cultural studies since the 1950s
- cultural anthropology
The Story of the Sony Walkman.pdf
Posted at May 18/2005 12:39 AM:
[Adi]: Odd trademark thing. Even though the walkman turned into a household name, Sony was able to keep the trademark.
Posted at May 21/2005 02:57 PM:
[Jammie]: For those who are interested, here's a link to an exceprt from Akio Morita's book "Made In Japan". Morita was one of the founders of SONY and the excerpt describes the origins of the name (from the Latin "sonus" and the phrase "sonny-boy"). The passage touches upon some issues of international branding, the SONY logo, and an early attempt by a food company to piggyback on the SONY success with a line of SONY chocolate.
http://www.uefap.co.uk/reading/exercise/texts/sony.htm
Posted at Mar 24/2006 07:56PM:
Ben Canning: In working on my project I found this image. It is a take off on Escher's "Drawing Hands," but it perfectly captures the concept of people designing artifacts that end up defining or designing them in turn.
The image was taken from the following site http://www.morganrockhill.com/NewFiles/iEscher_P.jpg
