Rough Work for Poster

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH OR GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE ?

Your right to privacy is lost, whether it be your neighbour upstairs listening to your conversation or your government screening your phone calls.

ALL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION ARE BEING TAPPED BY SOMEONE

Intentional or not, most everything we say either gets published on the web or gets recorded in a database for a phone company, for example; my homework is now a public thing for anyone to read.

THIS IS MY ROUGH WORK

      -Rough sketch of idea

-Images used for rough draft

 -Rough draft with incorrect image size, debating on painting the poster? v- fixed the sizes and saved a jpg in 72 dpi to show my process work

Chapter 2 - Globalization and History

THOUGHTS ON STEGER'S INTRODUCTION TO GLOBALIZATION

1. In this chapter, Steger outlines 5 historical periods in which globalization could be said to have begun: The Prehistoric, The Pre-Modern, The Early Modern, The Modern and the Contemporary periods. He argues that each one has its own set of events and outcomes to suggest that it heralded the beginning of the social shift towards what we read last week can be called a "global imaginary". Which of these five periods do you feel most strongly represents the beginning days of globalization, and why?

I believe that the prehistoric period (10,000 BCE-3500 BCE) is the birth of globalization in the sense that since human beings reached global migration we have been striving to re-unite as a species. When separating and dividing into small tribes of nomadic hunters and gatherers eventually there were humans scattered amongst all corners of the world. Once there was no longer a sense of unity throughout the human population (in a physical sense) we have been tracing back at an exponential rate to recreate that unity. Beginning slow advancements such as the settling of villages etc. globalization began to slowly accelerate. You could relate the worlds progression of globility to that of a parabola. The left half of the parabola depicting the separation. The further along you follow the function the further humans got from one another physically. The bottom most point being the furtherest away from globalization we were as a people. Whilst the right side of the parabola represents the journey back to coalition. Starting off slowly but as more time progressed the advancements accelerate dramatically. The only difference between the two states of unity is the distance between the population. We as humans feel connected to the whole population on a more subconscious, imaginary level considering the fact that most interaction is through screens. Where as before the great migration all interaction was physical. I believe that globalization has been a continuous incline with centuries of change in both technology and social/moral stature. Just because there was no word to describe what was going on until recent years it is ignorant to deny the significance of even the smallest progression of globalization. All five periods in time are on the parabola of the global imaginary.

2. Throughout Chapter 2, Steger refers to the influence of social and economic classes in the advent of globalization. What is the definition of "classes" here, and how does it relate to the way we read and interpret images in a globalized context?

In this context "classes" are groups of people with the same economic stature, education, or status among coming together to build up a population. Each class has a certain place in the scheme of production and consumption. Hierarchy may lessen equality but it gave birth the ability divide work loads among the people creating new opportunities for jobs. Invention and technology advancement came from the class separation of "craft specialist" in the prehistoric era. Now these classes have evolved so that each stage in the global market is a different social and economic class. These economic classes also create the need for variations in prices on products to suit the different classes. An upper class wealthy person of a higher social status would go to a "why pay less" whole foods store to pay for what they deem as the best, while a working class person of a below average economic class would go to a Food Basics and get the necessities. This created the need for brands, or multiple companies producing the same products but they are valued differently due to a name. Without the differences in class there would not have been need for options in what you purchase, which also effects world trade. Where mass production is less costly the products that get exported out are cheaper, whereas places with a higher paid working class produce more expensive product. The amount of varying social classes globally require more trade between continents to achieve those options, which the classes so desire.

Chapter 1 - A Contested Concept

THOUGHTS ON STEGER'S INTRODUCTION TO GLOBALIZATION
1. Steger talks about the tension between localism and globalism in the images of Osama Bin Laden's video broadcasts, and the irony of these images in regards to Bin Laden's contempt for the West. Do you agree with Steger? What are some examples in your own life where you can see this tension between local and global imagery?

I agree with Steger's opinion on the Bin Laden videos, the imagery was contradictory in the sense that Bin Laden's view on globalization and westernization is a negative one. Even if Bin Laden was representing himself with specifically only local items; unlike the Timex watch and the Kalashnikov he still is a subject to global media. Steger poses a good argument that without the technologies that sprouted from globalization, Bin Laden would not have been able to send out his video successfully. The line between local and global has become so blurry that even an "antiglobalizer" is subjected to pro-global activity without realization or intention. It is a system that you fall into without even full consciousness of your submission.

When thinking about tensions between the global and local in my everyday life I began by looking around my room at objects that I use and see everyday. The further I looked into this the more I realized that very little of my clothes and shoes were actually made locally even though they are represented as in a North American style. For example Chuck Taylor All Stars, which are a type of Converse shoe made by Nike. They have very American symbolism such as the red, white and blue logo, which is centred by a large blue star. The logo itself basically screams the American flag, while they also have a reputation as being an all American shoe, hence the name All Star. When I researched further into the areas as too where they are manufactured I discovered that majority of the factories for that style of shoe are actually in asia. The once very western shoe now has a new appearance to me, which also poses many questions such as: Do the people making the shoe realize the symbolism behind the logo? Do they resent the false logo that they are required to put on the shoe? Or do they even care that the only recognition they get for making the shoe is hidden on a little label on the inside while the United States gets all of the credit? What is western style if none of it is even made in the west.

http://www.nikeinc.com/pages/manufacturing-map

2. On pg. 10, Steger introduces his own concept of the global imaginary. What do you think he means by "imaginary"? How does this concept differ from globality?

When Steger refers to the global imaginary, I believe that he is referring to the to the understanding that everything is an active cog in the system of globalization, that grows and changes exponentially. Thus meaning there is no finite end to the evolution of globalization. This concept contradicts the idea of globility; globility is the idea of the world coming to a social, and conscious unity. If globalization is "the intensification and acceleration" of social relations it can never come to a complete global consensus. Globalization is a progression of a system, without the progression is it still globalization.