Group Memo
Keeley Boell, Tajah Green, Ian Self
22 November 2019
Work Plan: History of a Public Controversy, Technological Planned Obsolescence
Future Timeline:
- Friday Nov 22- research mostly done/share research with rest of group
- Friday Nov 22, discuss ideas for video and images
- MONDAY, Dec 2- Video clips and images selected begin script writing
- Friday Dec 6 – Finish Script Writing
- Friday, Dec 6 – create/work on video content
- Wednesday-Friday Dec 11-13- Edit video and finish video.
TED Talk work days
Monday(11/11/19):
Roles assigned to group members:
Scribe: Ian Self
Park Ranger: Keeley Boell
Goal Keeper: Tajah Green
Script writing and video/image collecting can be split evenly amongst the group. Keeley or Tajah should do the voiceover work, Ian can do the editing (iMovie experience) and take footage if necessary (decent camera)
Chose topic: Controversy of Planned Obsolescence in Technology
- Our topic will go into detail on tech manufacturers like Apple that plan the effective life of their devices, forcing users to upgrade to a newer model over time.
Wednesday (11/13/19): *Group Members Presented TED Talks*
Friday (11/15/19):
Began to research and divided up the information to be researched specifically.
Tajah: history of Planned Obsolescence
Keeley: Against
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160612-heres-the-truth-about-the-planned-obsolescence-of-tech
- History of light bulb planned obsolescence
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/24/apple-samsung-fined-for-slowing-down-phones
- Italy fined Apple and Samsung, case in North America, explains fines and is the first case like this
- Discusses the use of Planned Obsolescence in PCs
Ian: In favor
https://www.economist.com/news/2009/03/23/planned-obsolescence
- Basic idea behind planned obsolescence and why businesses use it as a practice
https://www.perc.org/2012/07/18/planned-obsolescence-the-good-and-the-bad/
- Some more info about the practice, takes a look at both the good and bad (reducing material usage/technological advancement vs. forcing consumers to buy something they don’t need)
- Business side, companies have to build the lifespan into the product to survive otherwise they would eventually be putting themselves out of business by doing too good of a job
Monday(11/18/19):
Further working on research, deciding on stasis and framing questions, begin on video ideation.
Scholarly Sources:
https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/101/4/729/1840176
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2118504?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
https://faculty.bemidjistate.edu/mlawrence/London.pdf
https://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/factsheet-en.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence (Background and links to more info)
Stasis Questions
Conjecture: Are companies using planned obsolescence as a business practice to make low quality products and software? Are consumers forced to buy new products?
- “To cut the story short; he basically explained that their business would be shrinking if they did not plan on a predetermined life span of eight years for a steel head gasket in a given engine. More importantly, they needed at least five percent of affected vehicles every year to require a head gasket replacement after the factory warranty expired. This simple math drove their aftermarket business and overall profit.
Just to be clear; this is not about the inevitable technical failure or degradation of a product but the intentional design for a planned failure or degradation at a certain time in the future.”
Definition: What is planned obsolescence? What is purposeful obsolescence? WHat is the difference? How do these terms apply to technology?
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1052870.pdf
- -”Purposeful obsolescence exists (a) whenever manufacturers produce goods with a shorter physical life than the industry is capable of producing under existing technological and cost conditions; or (b) whenever manufacturers or sellers in- duce the public to replace goods which still retain substantial physical useful- ness. In the first case, producers deliberately make goods in inferior quality or durability, thus reducing their physical utility and requiring frequent replace- ments. In the second case, businessmen deliberately reduce the psychological utility of goods in the hands of consumers, so that they must be replaced before their physical utility is exhausted.”
- PAUL M. GREGORY: A THEORY OF PURPOSEFUL OBSOLESCENCE
Quality: Is this practice beneficial or harmful to the economy and the advancement of technology? Does this practice help or hurt consumers? How does this practice impact consumers and businesses? How does this practice impact the environment and is it sustainable?
https://www.perc.org/2012/07/18/planned-obsolescence-the-good-and-the-bad/
- “The useful life of a cell phone is limited to only a few years due to the rapid rate of technological improvement in the field. This means that it’s wasteful to build a cell phone with a physical lifespan much longer than its useful life. It makes sense that cell phones are built out of inexpensive plastic parts; this ensures a more affordable product. If a cell phone were not value engineered – if it were made out of titanium, for example – it would last longer than anyone would want it to, would cost more, and would use up more resources.
Designing certain products to be less durable than they could be actually conserves resources and delivers a more affordable product to the consumer.”
This issue is framed as negative issue in that it hurts consumers and causes them to buy new products. This issue is also frames as a positive issue because it encourages the advancement of technology and makes products relatively cheap for consumers. It also keeps consumers updated on technology which allows technology to be more universal (in terms of software and compatibility).
Policy: What should be done about companies using planned obsolescence practices?
Govt laws EU vs USA
Italy fining Apple and Samsung 2018
HISTORY: Centennial Light
https://faculty.bemidjistate.edu/mlawrence/London.pdf
- An article from the Great Depression era (perhaps one of the first mentions of planned obsolescence, I’m not really sure) basically talks about requiring people to turn in old goods to stimulate the purchase of new ones, also talks about other remedies for the Depression but the parts about replacing goods (which people overuse because they are well made and last) with other ones after their effective “life” is up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_London
- He was apparently the one who coined the term
Framing the Issue:
The controversy we hope to cover is the purposeful practice reducing the lifespan of products in order to sell more units. This issue has roots in the Great Depression, where the phrase Planned Obsolescence first came into use, with an economist recommending government-mandated product lifetimes to stimulate production and purchasing.
Today, the issue focuses on companies like Apple which have purposely slowed down older devices, possibly with the intent to sell more units.There are several facets to the issue, with the most prominent being the burden put on consumers to purchase new models of their devices with only nominal changes. The problem for businesses is that they risk putting themselves out of business by making products with too long of a lifespan. There are also environmental considerations- does making so many new products hurt the environment by using more materials, or does purposely limiting a device’s lifespan to its most vulnerable part save materials by limiting the amount going into the product?
Clearly there are several sides to this topic, and the prevalence of smartphones and other technology today make it an incredibly public issue.
Framing Questions:
1) How did planned obsolescence develop into a recognized business practice?
2) Should companies be legally allowed to have divisions and employees focused on designing products and processes to fail?
3) What role does the government and economic organizations have in regulating corporations terms and conditions and product quality?
4) Are companies ethically obliged to advertise the effects of planned obsolescence as they relate to their products?
5) Should companies be required to give consumers the programming abilities to prevent software lock out and slowdowns?
Wednesday 11/20/19:
Began looking for videos to use in the project, began the script/storyboard
Initial decisions on storyboard/script/images:
- Open with lines from Brave New World to highlight the ideas of replaceability in our society
- Comments on Huxley’s vision of the future
- B-Roll of factories, tech being made, people using it
- Lightbulb Conspiracy movie probably has good footage and is in the CC
- Outline the issue with news reports on the lawsuits against Apple
- Focus on all sides of the issue- it wouldn’t really be controversial otherwise
- Consumers
- Businesses
- Environmental