Wednesday 17th of January MediaLAB Amsterdam arranged LABFEST, a final expo where we could showcase our protypes and talk to people in the industry about our projects. We got a lot of nice feedback and are happy with the end-product we came up with. Quite a lot of people showed up and we were excited to talk to people about our prototype and the future possibilities of our Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy!
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This paper discusses the concepts and social dynamics of fashion imitation and custom imitation as put forth by French sociologist Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904). Specifically his 1903 book The Laws of Imitation will be introduced and used to argue that, and examine how, fashion has, since the turn of the century, increasingly become a global custom rather than the exemplary innovative force Tarde associated with fashion. The second part of the paper therefore suggests turning to custom and tradition may be fruitful to revitalise the current state of fashion and can cause new fashions to come into being. The traditional technique used by the people of the Dutch village of Staphorst to decorate the fabrics for their traditional costumes - Staphorster stippling - which is nominated to be inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage, is presented as a case study in which it is shown how cultural traditions may unilaterally contribute to ethical, ecological and innovative fashion design. It is furthermore argued that the reciprocal effect of the dynamics between custom and fashion accounts for the preservation of traditional skills and techniques. The text concludes by examining the chances and opportunities as well as the pitfalls one may associate with the proposed dynamic interaction between fashion and tradition.
Lake Kivu is experiencing unprecedented decline in production of Tanganyika Sardine (Limnothrissa miodon). This study sought to characterise the value chain of this fish species so as to chart its sustainable utilisation. The study performed in 2015 found two chains; an informal chain that takes 30% of the production and a formal chain that handles 70%. The average catch of sardine was 30 kg/day in the high production season and <15 kg/day in the low season. Two thirds of the fishers were not aware of the governing law. Fishing malpractices included fishing in prohibited sites, beach seining and fishing during moratorium period. Majority of fishers were not satisfied with the price offered in the market as costs involved in fishing was 701 Rwanda Francs/kg caught. This is despite the shift in time since the study was performed. Therefore, there is need for re-training of value chain actors, increasinglake surveillance, strengthening internal controls of the Fishers’ Cooperatives and improving information sharing and communication among value chain actors.
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