In my personal life and in previous work I have always been very inspired by science fiction and particularly science fiction. This can be manifested in many different ways – graphic novels, books, t.v. shows, movies, illustrations, games, etc. For my thesis in the Design and Technology program I am working on an animated infographic that juxtaposes the history of space exploration with popular culture and science fiction. While this project may not be exactly right for a Global Studio, I have decided to re-contextualize parts of my thesis. For this project I plan to create a short animated infographic that explores different issues about Earth’s condition in the context of the universe.
I think one of the most important precedents for this project will be the first image taken of the Earth, “Earth Rise” (pictured above). This image was perceived in many different ways by the public, but I think the most important thing that it visually represented was how finite Earth appears only from the Moon. For many people this was a very terrifying image for that very reason, and I believe it should be terrifying.. not because we live on a limited surface, but because of how we are actually treating this surface that we live on.
Julie Bargmann’s work and lecture from week seven influences my thinking as well. I think it is amazing how instead of “green-washing” everything, Bargmann actually takes cultural landscapes and attempts to preserve them in a new way. I particularly love Bargmanns work because not only does it recognize that our world is limited, but that everything on this limited surface is a cultural landmark, and a representation of us as a civilization. In a way I want to fight for this within my work as well, but show graphically in an animation why we need to start preserving the Earth not only because it is a limited surface, but also because with the currently technology that has developed in space exploration does not allow us to live elsewhere currently, and this may not be the case for a very very very long time. (Unfortunately, because I think it would be pretty amazing to live on another planet.)
A style reference:
http://sncoopermgtopics.tumblr.com/post/38134299065
-Samantha Cooper
(TH) Global Issues 
I think your infographic idea is really different and I think through animation it can connect to most of society today. We live in a digital heavy world and videos catch peoples attention most. Will you be using fear to gain more attention from a viewer?
The idea of earth as a whole entity really ties in with our ‘global’ class. I wonder though, what issues exactly will you be discussing in the video? Is it like a public service video? It is very important to consider who exactly is your target audience, where the video would be shown, and what would be the ideal response you’d want to get from those viewers.