If Products Could Speak
Visualizing Arduino Survey Results with Circos
Since I used a free account with SurveyMonkey to conduct my survey of Arduino usage patterns, I’m unable to download the data and easily manipulate it. I find reviewing survey results on the site a little unwieldy, so I uploaded the results of my first question (How many Arduino boards do you own?) to Circos, [...]
Arduino Lifespan Survey
As noted on the Arduino blog, I’m gathering some usage data to support a Life Cycle Assessment of the Duemilanove. The results I receive will help me to determine functional units and usage hours for the analysis. Arduino fans, please complete this short survey (now closed– please see update below) if you have a spare [...]
LCA of Materials for Intro to Physical Computing
After some serious thought about my final project for If Products… I’ve decided to drop the modern heirlooms project. It’s just not well-defined enough to be successful during the short time span between now and the end of the semester. Instead, I’ll be performing a Life Cycle Assessment of the Arduino Duemilanove. From there, I’ll [...]
Modern Heirlooms
In If Products Could Speak… we’re starting to develop concepts for sustainable product designs. Right now we’re working out the goals of our projects. I’m developing a proposal for a for-profit social venture that has two main goals: it aims to decrease waste by providing affordable access to heirloom-quality items, and it aims to provide [...]
Interview with a Green Consumer
Our assignment for If Products Could Speak this week was to interview someone with “green” consumption habits. In class we’ve discussed at length the ways in which the term “green” lacks any real meaning, but right now it’s the easiest term we have to work with.
My friend, Sam, gets most of the things she needs [...]
Life Cycle Thinking
This week in If Products Could Speak… we looked at Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for considering the impact of products. After spending some time digging through web sites and article databases, I found an LCA for a wind turbine. I was surprised by how readable the article was, although I don’t have a [...]