Topic outline

  • Useful stuff (updated 17.11.22)

    LIGHT (and not so light) READING FOR THE WEEKENDS
    • It's time to stop talking about "generations". From boomers to zoomers, the concept gets social history all wrong. Louis Menand for The New Yorker, October II, 2021.
    • Why big data needs thick data. Tricia Wang originally for Ethnography Matters, 2016. Mikko Leskelä is making similar point in Finnish: Bisnesantropologia ja muut ihmistieteet strategiatyössä; and Sensemaking. The power of the humanities in the age of the algorithm by Christian Madsbjerg in English. Finally, Narrative by Numbers. How to tell powerful and purposeful stories with data by Sam Knowles looks like an interesting reading for anyone dealing with numbers.
    • How Pantone became the definitive language of color. Diana Budds for Fast Company, 2015
    • Schiffer, Michael Brian. 2000. Indigenous theories, scientific theories and product histories. In Matter, materiality and modern culture, ed. Paul M Graves-Brown, 44-57. London: Routledge. The article's main argument is that we are so well versed in a consumer society that everyone has their common sense theories about the faith of products. A case example is Schiffer's study about why the early electric car lost the market to cars burning gasoline.
    • Sandelin, Erik. 2018. Designer and Goldcrest. Malmö: Sorgenfri Press is an interesting (and at times heartbreaking) combination of a classic fairy tale narrative (the story) and academically style discussion (the notes). This is also a very good start towards non-anthropocentric design thinking.
    • Henri Weijo, in his Aalto University Tenured Professors' Installation (26.10.22) talks about "The 'sustainable consumer' zombie theory". This zombie theory (which refuses to die even though it has been proved wrong a long time ago) is grounded on the idea that consumer values should be changed to greener ones. Weijo's talk makes, I think, our focus on practices even more reasonable because practices are something that people do and not just believe in or wish for (values).


    LITERATURE IN THE LECTURES

    Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, and Ben Wubs, eds. 2018. The Fashion Forecasters. A Hidden History Of Color And Trend Prediction. London: Bloomsbury.
    Blumer, Herbert. 1969. Fashion. From class differentiation to collective selection. The Sociological Quarterly 10, no. 3: 275-291.
    Bryson, Bill. 2010. At home. A short history of private life. London: Doubleday.
    Casti, John L. 2010. Mood matters. From rising skirt lengths to the collapse of world powers. New York: Copernicus Books.
    Clancy, J. 2012. Gustav Stickley’s Metal Shop: Reform, Design and the Business of Craft. Journal of Design History 25, no. 2: 171-189.
    Garfield, Simon. 2000. Mauve. How one man invented a colour that changed the world. London: Faber & Faber.
    Gladwell, Malcolm. 1997. The Coolhunt. The New Yorker, 1997.
    Gribbin, John, and Adam Hook. 2002. The scientists. A history of science told through the lives of its great inventors. New York: Random House.
    Highmore, Ben. 2014. The great indoors. At home in the modern British house. London: Profile Books.
    Khan, Shamus Rahman. 2011. Privilege. The making of an adolescent elite at St.Paul’s School. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press.
    Kongsholm, Louise Byg, and Cathrine Gro Frederiksen. 2018. Trend sociology v. 2.0 The ultimate guide. Theoretical, methodical and practical work with trends. Herning: Pej Gruppen.
    Lantz, Jenny. 2016. The trendmakers. Behind the scenes of the global fashion industry. London: Bloomsbury.
    Nuutinen, Ana. 2004. Edelläkävijät. Hiljainen, implisiittinen ja eksplisiittinen tieto muodin ennustamisessa. Helsinki: Taideteollinen korkeakoulu.
    Olson, Randy. 2015. Houston, we have a narrative: Why science needs story. London: University of Chicago Press.
    Paavilainen, Heidi, Petra Ahde-Deal, and Ilpo Koskinen. 2017. Dwelling with Design. The Design Journal 20, no. 1: 13-27.
    Perez, Caroline Criado. 2019. Invisible women. Exposing data bias in a world designed for men. London: Chatto & Windus.
    Rehn, Alf, Magnus Lindqvist, and Luc Byhet. 2016. Understanding trends. A guidebook to trend detection and analysis. Luc Byhet. Older version is available for free (just google): Rehn, Alf, and Magnus Lindkvist. 2013. Trendspotting. The basics. Bloomington, IN: Booktango.
    Raymond, Martin. 2020. The trend forecaster’s handbook. Second edition. London: Laurence King Publishing.
    Rogers, Everett M. 1962. Diffusion of innovations. Fifth edition. New York: Free Press.
    Schatzki, Theodore R, Karin Knorr-Cetina, and Eike von Savigny, eds. 2001. The practice turn in contemporary theory. London: Routledge.
    Schultz, P Wesley. 2000. Empathizing with nature. The effects of perspective taking on concern for environmental issues. Journal of Social Issues 56, no. 3: 391-406.
    Simmel, Georg. 1957. Fashion. The American Journal of Sociology 62, no. 6: 541-558.
    Sparke, Penny. 2013. An introduction to design and culture, 1900 to the present. Third edition. London: Routledge.
    Swidler, Ann. 2001. What anchors cultural practices. In The practice turn in contemporary theory, eds. Theodore R Schatzki, Karin Knorr-Cetina, and Eike von Savigny, 74-92. London: Routledge.
    Vejlgaard, Henrik. 2008. Anatomy of a trend. New York: McGraw-Hill. Updated, more academic edition: Vejlgaard, Henrik. 2013. Style eruptions. How 6 different groups of trendsetters make trends happen. Denmark: Confetti Publishing.
    Vejlgaard, Henrik. 2010. The lifestyle puzzle. Who we are in the 21st century. New York: Prometheus Books.
    Walker, Stuart. 2013. Design and Spirituality: Material Culture for a Wisdom Economy. Design Issues 29, no. 3: 89-107.

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