A Vision of Crime in the Future

Link to Marc Goodman's TED talk on Future Crime.

Tales of Ice-Bound Wonders

Paul Nicklen:
Tales of Ice-Bound Wonders

Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground

Agbogloshie is a city near Accra, the capital of Ghana in West Africa. This city, which was once a beautiful wetland that attracted small wildlife, abundant birdlife and a various species of fish. Over the last 15 years, this sanctuary that used to attract bird watchers and naturalists, has become one of the world's largest dumping grounds of electronic waste. E-waste from industrialized countries is being smuggled into Ghana supposedly as a charitable donation labeled "secondhand re-usable goods" when, in reality, the items are not usable and beyond repair. The video, Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground, was created by Peter Klein, a journalist, teacher and filmmaker, and graduate journalism students at the University of British Columbia in 2009. You canwatch the video on the PBS website Frontline World: Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground

The website also has a link to a slideshow of photos: Slideshow of "Sodom and Gomorrah"

Has the situation improved since 2009? This article from December 2013 reports that Agbogbloshie has become the world's second largest e-waste dump.   The post,  The Fate of Electronic Waste is from The Wall Street Journal blog Photo Journal, dated July 7, 2015.Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground  US News & World Report has an article from August 2, 2014 entitled E-Waste in Developing Countries Endangers Environment, Locals 

To learn more about the challenges of recycling electronics, read the article Not Designed for Recycling  and Green Chemistry vs Toxic Technology by the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. Also check out Buy Greener Electronics (note the word "greener" because "green electronics" don't really exist....yet.

An advertiser's job is to interest you in a product, and hopefully, persuade you to buy it. Watch the following ads and reflect on how successful the ad is at delivering a message.

Consider the following questions:
1. Does the ad tell a story? If so, what is the basic structure?
2. What is the tone of the ad—is it humourous, playful, serious, informative, etc?
3. Who was the message intended for? Who is the target audience?
4. What techniques are used to persuade or inform me?
5. What is the overt message? Is there also an embedded message?
6. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in the message?
7. Are printed words used in the ad? What effect do they have?
8. Does the commercial succeed in delivering the message? Do you feel inspired to act?
Volvo Trucks (Sweden)
KMart Ship My Pants (US)
Molson Beer (Canada)
Evian Water (France)

Why are some ads more successful than others? Take a look at a short video called How to Write a Boring Ad that makes fun of traditional commercials.

Digitally Embedded Ads

Here is SeamBI's gallery of brand integration as you read about in the article on digital integration.


Is this the latest ad trend?  Another approach that has been attracting a lot of interest and curiosity, is the notion of prankvertising  where the advertisers devise a prank and film real live people experiencing the unexpected, film it and upload it on YouTube and then watch it go viral. While setting up the prank is expensive, the company saves by not paying for ad space.