TED Talk - Esther Duflo

Watch this TED Talk from Ester Duflo_ Social Experiments to Fight Poverty

Precedent Research Due 03/01

Day 1: Design vs. Design Thinking

It was great to meet all of you today. I appreciate your insightful comments and look forward to continuing our discussion regarding “design vs. design thinking” and how we can create and evaluate successful social ventures.  

Just a reminder, for Thursday we will be discussing the three readings on “Social Entrepreneurship” listed under links.  Please submit your responses to me via email or send me the link to your personal course blog.

Let me know if you have any problems achieving the technical requirements for the course. 

I am looking forward to an exciting semester!  

DESIGN FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2011 Course Syllabus

_Material Matters

RISD Industrial Design Advanced Studio: Course Syllabus

Instructor: Patricia Gruits, MARCH, Portable Light Project

Course Blog: www.de-se2011.blogspot.com

EARTH University Website: http://www.earth.ac.cr/index.php

Overview

This advanced studio investigates the power of products, systems and services to create positive social and environmental change.  This semester, as social entrepreneurial designers, students will have the opportunity to work with EARTH University in Costa Rica.  EARTH is at the forefront of identifying, testing and sharing techniques for sustainable agriculture in the tropics. Students enrolled in this course will investigate new uses for agricultural wastes and natural materials and develop in-depth proposals for the creation of new products that will benefit EARTH and its local and global communities.

The studio will be structured as a three-part exploration:

_Material Investigation

Students will explore the inherent qualities and properties of agricultural bi-products from the production of bananas, sugar cane and citrus for their transformation into an industrial material.

Students will be expected to investigate, iterate and document their research to compile as a studio wide material catalog.

_Prototype Development

Based on the material samples generated in the studio, students will develop full scale products, prototypes or systems that will not only “Up-cycle” these waste materials but feed into existing markets and larger project concepts.

_Speculative Implementation

Through precedent studies, workshops and visiting lectures, students will be exposed to the emerging field of social entrepreneurship and practice these skills by developing their own in-depth proposal for a social venture informed by the sustainable products and concepts developed in the studio.

Throughout the semester visiting speakers will conduct open lectures and discussions on relevant topics ranging from product design and ethnographic research, to fabrication and the development of business plans.  During the 2011 spring semester break this studio will travel to EARTH University in Costa Rica to observe, collaborate with and present project concepts to the EARTH Community.

Skill Development

This will be a fast paced studio where students will be expected to practice and build upon their skills in many areas of craft that are crucial to design practice: rapid sketching, modeling, concept development and prototyping.  However, it will also be an opportunity to develop research-oriented skills related to social entrepreneurship: collaboration with EARTH University leaders, conducting research on agricultural bi-products, local craft culture, and traditions, evaluating and comparing precedents, developing business plans and pitching ideas to EARTH, its students and the community.

Questions

Please feel free to contact me at: pgruits@risd.edu