VA reading response. Week 7.

article. Are Humanitarian Designers Imperialists?
This article speaks about how some people believe humanitarians to only be people who find a need to force change on others, not simply the ability to help people get to somewhere better. The author argues that her partner + she are not forcing change on people in Bertie County, but instead are giving students what they need to help better their county. I'd never thought before that humanitarians were imperialists, but some definitely are. We as people, often strive to let others experience what we had and grew up with, believing that what we had was the best way to grow or live. That however, is not always entirely the best way to experience the world, but it's almost a second nature thought in most people.

article. Politics Please, We're Social Designers
This article starts by talking about people whom have simply started to work with their current resources and rework the way that those resources are used, in an attempt to be more sustainable. Although there currently are some government groups or businesses attempting to instill more sustainable means, not many are and many people are waiting for these groups to enforce sustainable means. This article also speaks about how you can’t effectively help any area with design/creative thinking without being a part of it.

article. Human Dignity and Human Rights: Thoughts on the Principles of Human-Centered Design
The proper term is human-centered design and not user-centered, because the term human is more correct as it takes in the thoughts, actions and memories of a human. We as designers often forget that part of being human, that we are thinking about how information is perceived and then reacted to based on their past experiences. That part at least is interesting to me, the idea of how we forget often as designers that we’re designing with the idea in mind that the human user has thoughts + connections that we cannot control, but are attempting to move around it.

article. Massive Change
This article really talks about how we really need to come together as a people to help this disease and poor epidemic that tends to always be a part of the world. The rich really need to give help to the poor in order for us to get people to the health and conditions that will best help them grow and lead better lives. There however, is always going to be at least one apathetic group and often times, those are the groups in which can help make + sustain that difference. The problem that we then are left with, is how can we address these concerns without the proper materials?