Assignment #4: Create a "de-costructive" product or service

Do the inverse of promoting environmentalism. Create a plan for something - a job, a product, a service - that is as wasteful and eco-unfriendly as possible. You will have to do research into how wasteful it is, and tell us about every detail. The goal is to plan the most "d-eco-structive" project possible. Irony is, of course, allowed.

For example, the artist Luther Thie created "Acclair" for ISEA 2006 -- a fake company to explore invasiveness, authoritorianism and what people would trade for privelege. Although the topic is different, the artifact he created is illustrative of the goal of this project. What would it take to fully flesh out something that meets the goal of being de-eco-structive? A scale model, a fake website, you determine what the right pseudo-demonstration would be. Some examples from 2011: (1) Dr. Fresh (2) The Prime Truckers (3) Fly (When Disaster Calls) (4) The Adventures of Peter the Polar Bear (this is the 2nd iteration of this project, which became a final project for the 2011 class. Playthrough). AND a real world example! A food truck delivering to upper stories of NY City buildings: "Every weekday in recent months, fancy-food trucks have been rumbling into the gigantic freight elevator of the Starrett-Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th Street in West Chelsea. After being hoisted aloft, they roll out into the concrete truck bays on the upper floors of the 81-year-old, 19-story commercial building. There, they post menus and proceed to sell inventive meals to office workers and their guests."

You will present this idea in class and try to sell us on your idea (as if you really want to see it happen). The class will vote on which is the most wasteful.

For this project, you should:

• Step one: By 4/23 send a brief proposal for what you will do (< 1 page). Be prepared to discuss this in class on 4/26
• Step two: Create a plan for your product or service. A prototype implementation is even better.
• Step three: Show it to at least three people and talk to them about it
• Step four: your presentation for the critique on 5/10
  • What did you create? (include pictures)
  • What research did you do? How did you decide on this? Reference material from the readings to justify your approach.
  • How unfriendly is it? Why is it eco-unfriendly? Use the techniques we learned about LCA to do this.
  • Which person or people were you targeting? How did they respond?
  • Anything else you think is really important
• By 5/10 Post to the class blog with a brief writeup including at least one image of what you did. Your writeup should mention:
  • What you did and what you learned from it?
  • Why do you think it worked or did not work?
  • What other approaches did you consider? If you had other ideas, this is your chance to explain it.
  • What would you do differently the next time?
• Fill out the survey provided about your group members.