Planned Obsolescence

Responsible production and consumption is one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Fast Tech, resulting in premature obsolescence, is perceived as an important factor in unsustainable production and consumption patterns of information and communication technologies. In order to investigate societal perspectives on planned obsolescence and its root causes in Norway, we implemented a critical discourse analysis of the Nor-wegian written media. Technology discourses are often inspired by particular understandings of technology-society relations. We therefore mapped our findings on Andrew Feenberg's four theories of technology. All articles presented a critical perspective towards the phenomenon of obsolescence. The majority of articles expressed an instrumentalist understanding of technology as the cause of planned obsolescence, while the rest communicated technological determinism as the main worldview underlying planned obsolescence. Both instrumentalist and ...

Basisstudie Geplante Obsoleszenz. Arbeitspapier im Arbeitspaket 1 (AP 1.2b) des INNOLAB Projekts. ARGE REGIO Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung GmbH, Berlin. Übersicht zur Geschichte der geplanten Obsoleszenz mit Hinweise zur Relevanz für die nachhaltige Forschung mit Living Labs. Anregungen zur Forschung mit Living Labs für mehr Nachhaltigkeit im Einzelhandel.

MacGuffin reached out for a contribution on my research on self-storage facilities for their issue dedicated to The Cabinet. The essays highlights some themes of my ongoing analysis of storage facilities, such as the emergence and the analysis of the phenomenon and its embodiment of a society of surplus, of clutter, of stuff obesity.
The storage unit is viewed here as an external cabinet and the summary questions answered are what do we store and, more significantly, why.


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Shrinking product lifespans, whose side-effects include increased natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions, are negatively impacting the environment. The circular economy and bans on built-in obsolescence are widely embraced as solutions to today’s “throwaway society”. The serious limitations of both strategies, however, can be illustrated by analysing a marketing campaign of the Austrian mobile phone provider T-Mobile. A successful policy to encourage longer product lifespans requires measures beyond bans on built-in obsolescence together with a circular economy model accounting for both efficiency and sufficiency.

Resumo A obsolescência programada é um assunto que tem se mantido em evidência ao longo do tempo. Ela diz respeito à vida útil de produtos tecnológicos e às suas consequências para o meio ambiente. Assim, é através de políticas e outros mecanismos inibidores ou mitigadores que se podem enfrentar seus impactos. Este estudo se debruça sobre a contribuição do Direito Brasileiro no que se refere ao papel das empresas, do poder público e dos indivíduos quanto ao consumo e à troca de produtos. Com base no método dedutivo, ele se vale de uma pesquisa sobre a legislação para o estudo da teoria e o entendimento da doutrina. Os resultados mostram que o assunto ainda é pouco debatido no âmbito jurídico, o que indica a inexistência de impedimentos legais para a poluição do meio ambiente a partir da obsolescência programada. Logo, cabem medidas que combinem a formulação de políticas com o cumprimento da legislação já existente para diminuir o impacto ambiental derivado da obsolescência programada. Com o apoio da cidadania, essas medidas poderiam contemplar tanto o aumento da vida útil dos produtos quanto uma fiscalização mais adequada. Assim, contribuir-se-ia para o tão debatido desenvolvimento sustentável. Palavras-chave | Desenvolvimento sustentável; direito brasileiro; meio ambiente; obsolescência programada; políticas públicas. Código JEL | K33 O38 Q01

This Spanish/French documentary explores the industrial practice of planned obsolescence. Weaving together a narrative of historical cartel machinations, shifts in engineering ethics, and a surge of criticisms of consumption this film makes a strong argument that the current neo-liberal capitalist model based on the constant "consume and discard" philosophy of planned obsolescence is unsustainable on our finite planet.

What is the status of objects in the digital age? How do you archive and maintain something like a mobile app? Repair groups, fixer movements, and maintenance advocates continually contend with the limited life designed into the technologies we use. One such area is software obsolescence. Here, there is a materialist shift in defining the object of repair: it is not simply the physical object that needs repair or maintenance, but the physical object in its relationship with the perpetual software update. In the digital age, while the object is often conflated with the content it conveys, we are discovering that those two elements do not coincide as the digital object falls under the auspices of planned obsolescence.

In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten hat sich der materielle Konsum immens beschleunigt, mit der Konsequenz, dass die Umwelt sowie individuelle KonsumentInnen zunehmend unter Druck geraten sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersuchte die vorliegende Studie die Nutzungsdauer und Obsoleszenz von Gebrauchsgütern. Dazu wurden im Zeitraum von November 2014 und März 2015 eine Online-Umfrage unter 1.009 in Österreich lebenden Personen und 25 persönliche Interviews mit KonsumentInnen durchgeführt. Ziel der Studie war die Erfassung der Nutzungsdauer und die Untersuchung der vielfältigen Gründe für das Ersetzen von Gebrauchsgegenständen. Dabei wurden auch Zufriedenheit, Wünsche und Erwartungen der KonsumentInnen hinsichtlich der Lebensdauer von Produkten erhoben. Neben der Erfassung der Nutzungsdauer von 21 Produkten (darunter Kleidung, digitale Medien, Haushaltsklein- und -großgeräte,
Einrichtungsgegenstände) lag ein besonderer Fokus auf der Beschaffungs-, Nutzungs-  und Nachnutzungsphase von Handys. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine längere Nutzungsdauer mit einem höheren Alter, Bildungsniveau und Einkommen der KonsumentInnen einhergeht. Während Küchenherde und Kleiderschränke (10,8 bzw. 10,5 Jahre) am längsten genutzt werden, kann die kürzeste Nutzungsdauer bei
Sandalen (2,2 Jahre), T-Shirts (2,5 Jahre) und Handys (2,7 Jahre) festgestellt werden. KonsumentInnen wünschen sich dabei eine Lebensdauer, die deutlich über der ermittelten Nutzungsdauer liegt. Auf einer allgemeineren Ebene widerspricht die vorliegende Studie der weitläufigen Ansicht, eine Wegwerfmentalität und „geplante Obsoleszenz“ seien für hohe Ersatzkaufraten verantwortlich. Vielmehr haben unter anderem die Erwartungen der KonsumentInnen hinsichtlich der Produktlebensdauer, der Einfluss der Werbung und
die schnellen Produkteinführungszyklen Einfluss auf die Nutzungsdauer. Verkürzte Nutzungsdauern bestätigen ProduzentInnen wiederum darin, kurzlebige Güter zu produzieren. Die kurze Nutzungsdauer wird damit als Ergebnis eines Prozesses verstanden, in dem die Erwartungen der KonsumentInnen und ProduzentInnen kontinuierlich nach unten geschraubt werden. Die Studie schließt mit einer Einschätzung möglicher Maßnahmen ab, mit denen dieser Prozess gebremst und eine Verlängerung der Nutzungsdauer
erreicht werden könnte. In gesellschafts- und wirtschaftspolitischer Hinsicht wäre eine Transformation des
Wirtschaftssystems, wo soziale und ökologische Bedürfnisse stärker berücksichtigt werden, erstrebenswert.

In the periphery, arrays of self-storage facilities are part of the light industrial landscape of warehouses and ex-urban alienation. Within the urban fabric, storage buildings represent both container and camouflage architecture, and are perfect examples of what Professor Crawford calls " background buildings. " 1 Self-storage facilities are an architectural typology worthy of study, and not only for their growing impact on the city and suburban sprawl, or for the uncanny ability to mimic other design typolo-gies and adapt to the target market. They can be examined in terms of building type and construction methods. From the economic point of view, storage facilities are compelling: they are a by-product of shopping/goods architecture, consumerism and planned obsolescence. They embody currently popular issues of surplus and clutter/hoarding. The issue of " material excess " becomes an (ex) urban pathology , endemic to a culture of wholesale commerce and warehouse buying experiences. The clutter culture can be mapped and becomes tangible in the form of the " country of storage facilities " , a veritable document to " stuff obesity ". The current rise of self-storage facilities is also a physical reminder of the consequence of changes in social and living conditions. How do we, as architects and urban designers, confront the typology of the self-storage facility and the new urban/exurban enclaves that these commercial containers of space have created? How can we better understand the nature of the singularly camouflaged " housing of stuff " often found in the downtowns of second-tier U.S cities? The content of these buildings, the " user " if you wish, is constituted entirely of stuff we cannot or do not wish to fit in our homes. What is it that we store, and why?

Planlı eskitme stratejisi, doğasındaki düalizmin gereği olarak, ekonomik büyüme ve gelişme, tüketim hızı, israf ve çevresel sorunlar gibi olgularla birlikte var olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada bu olgulardan ikisi olan “ekonomik gelişme” ve “çevrenin korunması” esas alınarak Türkiye’de son 25 yıl içinde planlı eskitme stratejisine yönelik toplumsal tutum düzeyi, bu tutumun ardındaki toplumsal ve psikolojik dinamikler araştırılmaktadır. Türkiye’de planlı eskitme stratejisi ile ilgili çalışma (Çerçi ve Tosun, 2021; Geçit, 2020; Aydın, 2018; Akçay, 2018) sayısı çok azdır. Dünya çapında ve Türkiye’de konuyla ilgili çalışma ve araştırmalar incelenerek araştırmanın soruları belirlenmiş ve yapılan analizlerle bu sorulara cevap aranmıştır. Çalışmanın; toplumun tüm katmanlarındaki bireylerde, insanlığın çürümesine sebep olan üretim-tüketim çarkının merkezinde yer alan planlı eskitme stratejisi hususunda farkındalık yaratması, bundan sonraki araştırmacılara interdisipliner bir yaklaşımla inceleme yapmaları bakımından kılavuz ve vesile olması umulmaktadır.

Günümüz toplumunun yaşamını bütünüyle etkileyen bu strateji konusunda akademik bir araştırma yapan ve bu araştırmasını bir kitap olarak yayımlayan Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi Öğretim Üyesi Doç. Dr. Vildan Hilal Akçay ile Planlı Eskitme
Stratejisi’ni, bu stratejinin türlerini ve tüketicilerin neler yapabileceklerini konuştuk...

Firms frequently employ various strategies that make products obsolete after a relatively short time or limited usage ("product obsolescence"). Early product obsolescence harms consumers, undermines market efficiency, and increases the waste the throwaway economy generates. While instances of suspected planned obsolescence have recently led to public outcry, the law and policy framework that addresses product obsolescence is partial and underdeveloped. This Article offers a principled and holistic approach to the regulation of product obsolescence. Part I presents the different forms of product obsolescence. The typology we offer in this Part highlights some types of obsolescence that escaped legal scrutiny. Thereafter, Part II reviews the harms that product obsolescence causes to consumers, competitors, the environment, and society. In doing so, we demonstrate how product obsolescence is at odds with two key EU commitments: a high level of consumer protection, and a proclaimed shift towards more ambitious environmental objectives. Next, Part III critically assesses the existing legal framework and its (in)ability to tackle effectively the problem of product obsolescence. Finally, Part IV offers policy recommendations, aimed at better utilizing existing and novel regulatory tools to cope with product obsolescence. Concluding remarks follow.

What should we do about defunct or ‘aging new media’ artworks by a now deceased artist when there is no specific manual or artist’s statement to consult? Taking Nam June Paik’s dysfunctional multi-media artwork <The More, the Better>(1988) as an ‘exemplary symptom,’ this paper seeks to offer an answer.

Focusing on the relationship between ‘Time’, ‘Nature’ and ‘Technology’ in Paik’s oeuvre in terms of ‘entropy,’ we will see how they serve to illuminate contemporary discussions of preservation and conservation of so-called ‘time-based media’ as ‘performance.’ To that end, we will critically engage with the humanist take on Paik’s artworks as well as confusion about seemingly interchangeable concepts such as ‘entropy,’ ‘indeterminacy,’ and ‘chance.’

By re-reading Paik’s crucial statements, writings, artworks including performances such as “Norbert Wiener and Marshall McLuhan,” <Confused Rain>, and his 1997 performance in a wheelchair at the Walker Art Center, we will see how <The More, the Better> as an ‘obsolete new media’ showcases what I call ‘parallax contemporaneity.’

In so doing, we will provide a necessary, if not exhaustive corrective to the extant scholarship on Nam June Paik’s art, and by extension, suggestive stimulants to contemporary reflections on new media, post-medium/media, and media archeology.

Planned Obsolescence is currently legal in the United States, while it is being outlawed in other countries, like France. However, is the practice of purposely decreasing the usefulness of a product considered ethical? The following paper looks at this issue through three ethical lenses and analysis the legal, social, and economical aspects of this pressing issue.

This project is the outcome of a collaboration with the I-DAT Group of the University of Plymouth and tries to deepen the topic of planned obsolescence in the New Media Art. The NMA includes a very wide art scene but bridges the gap because all of the arts involved are using new technologies and are related to the so-called digital world.
The obsolescence is a very common issue in the New Media Art field because it influences and determines the practices of conservation and reproduction of the artworks. The computational programs and Machine Learning algorithms, increasingly used by artists, have changed the nature of NMA also thanks to their endless possibilities and the power of Neural Networks.

Companies use planned obsolescence as a central marketing strategy to motivate their customers to (re)buy new and upcoming products. These companies try to increase their revenue and profit by reducing the value of a product's older version. While previous literature focuses on companies' perspectives of strategic choice, economic or ecological impact, and innovation management, this paper highlights the customer's perception of planned obsolescence. In presenting three studies, the paper finds that a planned obsolescence strategy harms customers' value perception and ultimately their willingness to pay. By adding customer-related evidence to the discussion, the paper questions companies' planned obsolescence strategies and opens up a potentially rewarding avenue for further research.

In the digital economy a well known problem takes a new shape: planned obsolescence increasingly impacts our everyday life, undermining the performances of our smart devices, from mobile phones, to personal computers, connected cars and smart homes. This shatters the very basis of consumer law, challenges its effectiveness, and raises some crucial issues, requiring innovative solutions. Addressing the legal implications of such phenomenon has thus become a necessity. 1 Current sanctions and the approach of the EU legislator on this point so far show a lack of effectiveness, leaving open some fundamental questions. Is actual consumer law fit enough to tackle planned obsolescence? Can unfair trading law contribute to improving the effectiveness of consumer contract law in solving the issue of planned obsolescence? Other major issues concern the growing tension with the goal of achieving sustainable development 2 and a circular economy; 3 ensuring longer durability of consumer goods is indeed crucial for achieving more sustainable consumption behaviour , waste reduction and environmental protection. European unfair commercial practices' rules play a crucial role in tackling the phenomenon of planned obsolescence, as they cover traders' behaviour before, during and after a commercial transaction in relation to a product. On 25 September 2018, the Italian Competition Authority (hereinafter: ICA) fined, under two separate decisions, both Apple 4 and Samsung 5 for unfair commercial practices concerning software updates which seriously impaired the functioning of certain models of mobile phones. The two big firms were fined 10 m and 5 m Euros respectively. Such decisions immediately gained worldwide resonance. This paper addresses the most challenging issues on this topic and proposes possible responses in way of interpretation and legislation.

The current asymmetric power relations of the global waste chain between the Global North and Global South and the productivist bias in media and communications scholarship has prompted research on the creative repurposing of obsolete devices through the art of circuit-bending. With adopting a social movement approach assisted with STS studies that acknowledge sociocultural discourses of technology, this study analyzes how circuit- bending transits from a hobbyist activity to resistance against planned obsolescence and the logics of capitalism. Through semi-structured interviews, this research recruited six Global North and six Global South circuit-benders selected through snowball and purposive sampling. It bases the methodological design on Hollander & Einwohner’s elements of resistance: action and opposition, recognition, and intent. The analysis utilized Attride- Stirling’s six-step analytical technique. It was found that circuit-bending act as resistance against planned obsolescence and capitalist logics by supporting each other in opening the black boxes of technology, being productive citizens by recycling and contributing to culture and science, resisting established markets and its logics controlled by conventional white- collar capitalists, rejecting the enchantment of capitalism’s aesthetics of ‘progress’, and resisting the foundation of colonialism that is mercantilist capitalism. This research hints for the integration between social movement theory and domestication theory while simultaneously responds to the Anthropocene and advocates for the representation of marginalized communities in STS studies.

Product obsolescence represents a major challenge for sustainability. Deliberate curtailment of product lifespan and the symbolic devaluation of devices appear especially acute in the electronics segment, thus pushing up e-waste volumes. However, consumer reactions to these processes as well as their own enactment of psychological obsolescence remain understudied. Based on a representative urban sample survey of 806 Brazilians, this paper discusses the dissonance between consumers' product longevity experience, orientations to replace devices before terminal technical failure, and perceptions of industry responsibility and performance. Results indicate an experience of shortened product lifespan over time, which trails expectations of product longevity, although this fails to fuel consumer dissatisfaction. Technical failure is far surpassed by subjective obsolescence as a motive for rapid product replacement. While individuals acknowledge corporations' role in contrived product replacement, they do not seem to condemn this behavior. We conclude that Brazilians naturalize obsolescence by adjusting downwardly their product lifespan management behaviors.

Desde hace algún tiempo ha venido haciéndose público un fenómeno industrial que era desconocido para la mayoría de los consumidores y ciudadanos en Chile y en resto del mundo: la obsolescencia programada. Prueba de ello es el revuelo causado en España por el documental emitido Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) “Comprar, tirar, comprar” emitido el 2 de junio del presente año. Dicho documento de investigación periodística, dirigido por COSIMA DANNORITZER y coproducido por Televisión Española, fue el resultado de tres años de investigación, en él se hace uso de imágenes de archivo poco conocidas; se aporta pruebas documentales de una práctica empresarial que consiste en la reducción deliberada de la vida de un producto para incrementar su consumo y muestra las desastrosas consecuencias medioambientales que se derivan. También se formulan interrogantes como: ¿Por qué los productos electrónicos duran cada vez menos? ¿Cómo es posible que en 1911 una bombilla tuviera una duración certificada de 2500 horas y cien años después su vida útil se haya visto reducida a la mitad? ¿Es compatible un sistema de producción infinito en un planeta con recursos limitados?
También presenta diversos ejemplos del espíritu de resistencia que está creciendo entre los consumidores y recoge el análisis y la opinión de economistas, diseñadores e intelectuales que proponen vías alternativas para salvar economía y medio ambiente.
Presentadas así las cosas se evidencia la relación que puede existir entre los Derechos de los consumidores, -especialmente el Derecho a la información- y el fenómeno industrial, que se ha mantenido con reserva frente a la opinión pública, como se ha dicho, aquél denominado obsolescencia programada.
El propósito de esta ponencia, es presentar a la comunidad jurídica nacional el problema y la posible colisión a los Derechos de los consumidores que representa la obsolescencia planificada por una parte de la industria, información que no es entregada a los consumidores. ¿La obsolescencia programada afecta los derechos de los consumidores o es un fenómeno industrial lícito que estimula el consumo y crecimiento económico? ¿Si existe infracción a los derechos de los consumidores cuáles derechos específicos pueden verse afectados? ¿Cuál es la sanción prevista en la Ley de Protección de los Consumidores para las eventuales infracciones? Esa son algunos de los interrogantes que nos proponemos presentar a discusión en las XII Jornadas Nacionales de Derecho civil.

In my Master thesis (Diploma Accademico di II Livello) in Net Art and Digital Cultures "Magic, Predictions and Beliefs in the digital Era" I talked about my personal experiences online, abroad and at the Fine Arts Academy with my teachers and colleagues. I wrote about how the internet changed its shape with a focus on algorithms, censorship, big datas, planned obsolescence and climate change.

I'm referring to the work of many artists and new media critics such as James Bridle, Byung-Chul Han, Evan Roth, Eva and Franco Mattes, Orojondo , Salvador Flores, Michael Green, Iride Scent

Rebecca Nerini 
Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara
Scuola di Nuove Tecnologie dell'Arte

Prof. Domenico Quaranta
Prof. Clemente Pestelli

The circular economy is a model of production and consumption to address the relentless depletion of resources and the accumulation of waste. In the circular economy literature, there are sparse suggestions that Product-Service Systems (PSSs) have the potential to produce closed-loop resource flows. This study explored this potential using a systematic literature review focused on the use phase and obsolescence. We identified twenty-one PSS elements that contribute to closed loops and categorised them by six architectural levels, i.e. services, resources, stakeholders, contract, value delivery, and systems and tools. We then structured the PSS elements and their contributions to closed loops under four subfunctions and consolidated them in a novel framework. Intercepting and transitioning obsolete resources are subfunctions demanded by a PSS to achieve an operational solution. Stating and governing resource lifetime are subfunctions wanted by a PSS to improve the solution. The results call for a functional approach to PSS design and consideration of obsolescence of products, components and materials. The implications of the results are that PSS elements contribute to achieving circularity by satisfying specific subfunctions and the data in the framework provide a basis for selecting suitable PSS elements.

The classical market economy provided basis for emergence of a throwaway society that is based on economies of scale, manufacturing of short-lived average quality products, planned obsolescence and consequent ever-growing demand of consumers for new products and services. This society is clearly unsustainable. An alternative model is the so-called circular economy based on optimised product life span, extended services and remanufacturing activities. The aim of this paper is to understand the complexity of the product durability discourse from environmental and economic perspectives and from the viewpoint of different stakeholders and to discuss innovative strategies that can address some of the identified eco-design bottlenecks in product durability by maximising utilisation rate and improving value of durable products for users, which altogether can contribute to understanding of how the alternative model of circular economy could be facilitated. The ideas outlined in the paper can be of interest for strategic product designers, business managers and for environmental managers of companies that either produce durable products or deliver services of durable products.

The innovation argument has often been used to justify research-creation in the “digital arts.” When tethered to a driver of the economic growth so keenly sought by politicians, this form of art is considered useful. It lends an artistic flair to unbridled technological advancement, imbues cultural industries with a little more soul, and perhaps even provides a critical dimension to regulate some of the excess. Today’s artist-engineers can even dream of becoming twenty-first-century inventors, thereby reclaiming a tradition whose roots run deep into antiquity. Whereas all other forms of art are accused, by some, of becoming auto-referential ‘art for art’s sake’ endlessly rehashing recent art history, others believe that the more virtuous “digital arts” move forward, reach a ‘younger audience,’ and, in the process, take up the forgotten pursuit of a modernity whose promise was future emancipation through the perpetual quest for novelty.

Hoy en día en México una campaña política a nivel nacional, estatal o municipal representa para la sociedad, un uso indiscriminado de papel, de lona plástica, de vinil, saturación visual y auditiva, entre otras cosas. Al final de este proceso, generalmente las personas quedan descontentas con el uso desmesurado de recursos materiales financiados con los recursos públicos. Esto sucede sin que los ciudadanos den cuenta de otro recurso que sufre un impacto y un daño irreversible, el recurso ambiental. Los ciudadanos, en muchos casos, terminan insatisfechos, pues sin recurrir a conocimientos técnicos o metodológicos especializados se dan cuenta del gasto público desmesurado en propaganda electoral impresa, en radio, prensa escrita, televisión y redes sociales. Aunado a lo anterior, una vez finalizada la jornada electoral, al margen de sus resultados y de las nuevas autoridades que han resultado electas, los ciudadanos encuentran a la vuelta de la esquina, todo el material propagandístico, los vistosos espectaculares, los coloridos carteles y cuanto impreso se les haya ocurrido, los cuales ahora ahogan las banquetas y todos los postes.

Research on Herbert Marcuse's approaches to the planned obsolescence of consumer goods in his philosophical production. The reference book for this work is The Unidimensional Man, although several other texts of Herbert Marcuse, before and after the book cited, have been used. The research investigates the impacts of the planned obsolescence on the capitalism of the advanced industrial society, through mechanisms of coercion and social repression that use
technological production and psychological induction as tools. The research considers consumption and waste as constitutive elements of this process, using theoretical references developed by Herbert Marcuse, from his reading of Max Weber, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and commentators of these authors. The approach of the topic considers that, although Marcuse did not detail the concept of planned obsolescence, this concept is important in the constitution
of his critique to modern industrial capitalist society, that needs to maintain the market and the consumption to guarantee the profit. The paper also addresses Marcuse's reading of Freudian concepts and the uses that advanced capitalism makes of these concepts to impose and maintain planned obsolescence. All the theoretical references used are based on the work of Herbert Marcuse, his commentators and some of the authors quoted in his philosophical production, whose terms are related to the object of this research. The conclusions of this paper aim to demonstrate that the advanced industrial society’s capitalism depends on a technical combination of factors, determined by Marcuse, for the capitalist structure to be maintained.
Maintaining this structure perpetuates profit through social repression, inducing society to produce, waste and consume what it does not need.

"Survivor holograms" and a VR rendition of the Majdanek concentration camp are two recent examples of the urgent effort to preserve the experience of Holocaust survivors in the "post-witness era." These innovations, however, deny the tension between the premise of immortality associated with immersive technologies and their inherent planned obsolescence. By closely studying the USC Shoah Foundation's Dimensions in Testimony, this essay explores how 3D digital projections and room-scale VR construct new regimes of mediation and immersion. This is achieved by developing an understanding of obsolescence as physical (the fragile body of the survivor), technological (non-compatible hardware, software, and algorithms), and narratological (turning testimonies into fragmented soundbites). Taken together, these categories demonstrate that technological solutionism cannot prevent embodied testimonies from sinking into oblivion, and force us to ask what form of memorialization might resist entropy.

Purpose-Marketing approaches have shifted towards consumer oriented approach throughout the 21st century and accordingly, marketing applications mainly tend to satisfy consumers and earn their trust. However, unethical applications may damage consumer satisfaction and trust. One of these unethical applications is planned obsolescence, which exists for years but became popular in recent years with some popular brands. This paper mainly aims to find out the most related keywords related to the popular term of recent years, planned obsolescence. After providing the relevant literature, history of planned obsolescence, planned obsolescence applications and types of planned obsolescence are provided in the literature section. Methodology-After giving the relevant literature, keyword analysis has been used. To conclude the keyword analysis, 70 articles related to planned obsolescence have been downloaded from Scopus database. After downloading the relevant articles, VOS Viewer has been used for keyword analysis and germane keywords have been interpreted. Findings-According to the keyword analysis, 28 items were found to be related to the planned obsolescence keyword. These keywords have been grouped as five clusters which are mainly related with; durability, sustainability, waste and product perishability. The fifth cluster includes two unrelated terms of consumer culture and environmental law. Without grouping clusters sustainability, sustainable development, economics, e-waste and product design are found to be the most frequently used keywords. Sustainability, sustainable development, and economics have the highest total link strength with planned obsolescence main keyword. Conclusion-According to the keyword analysis conducted, keywords show that planned obsolescence has been determined to be related to negative consequences for both environment and consumers. Sustainability has found to be the most related keyword. As sustainable marketing is one of the popular concerns of the marketing discipline, unethical applications like planned obsolescence and sustainability come across. Additionally to sustainability; economics, product design are found to be the other most related keywords.

AU COMPTOIR SUISSE DE 1955, foire nationale annuelle organisée à Lausanne, cinéma, industrie et cybernétique se croisent à la faveur des recherches sur l'automatisme, présentées au public par des spécialistes 105 comme Albert Ducrocq 1 , l'auteur de l'ouvrage de vulgarisation L'Ere des robots (1953) 2 . Dans l'espace d'exposition que l'on a baptisé « Pavillon de la cybernétique et de la télécommande », les visiteurs vont à la rencontre du robot suisse Sabor, qui sert tant à exposer les techniques et les principes sur lesquels se penchent certains scientifiques qu'à exploiter l'aspect spectaculaire de la machine, dont l'enveloppe anthropomorphe renvoie aux représentations science-fictionnelles du robot ( . Au regard de la machine calculatrice présentée simultanément au Comptoir suisse à l'aide d'un film en couleurs, ce robot télécommandé aux formes trompeuses et annoncé comme une merveille scientifique ne paraît en fait pas si étonnant d'un point de vue technique 3 . Pourtant, l'exhibition d'un tel robot contribue à ancrer l'idée rendue populaire par les travaux de Norbert Wiener en cybernétique, « science de la commande et de la communication dans l'être vivant et la machine » 4 , selon laquelle l'essor d'un nouvel automatisme, que l'on a tendance à nommer automation, tient aux technologies électroniques de traitement des informations transmises par des « organes de vision et d'audition » 5 . Ainsi a-t-on notamment fait usage de la cellule photo-électrique pour que la partie supérieure du robot Sabor, celle que l'on a justement façonnée comme un visage avec des yeux, puisse être sensible et faire réagir la machine à des signaux lumineux. En même temps, ce curieux objet technique stimule la réflexion sur la transformation du travail ouvrier que l'on dit -en cédant à des visions utopiques ou, au contraire, technophobes -voué à disparaître, laissant la place aux machines automatisées, à l' « usine sans homme » et à une société « robotisée ».

Describe el ciclo de diseño, planificación para una instalación de salud en áreas rurales en Guatemala correlacionándolo con el tiempo en que un sistema de diagnóstico tarda en ser implementado, estableciendo que en la mayor parte de los casos, cuando llega a la instalación ya es obsoleto.

This paper investigates the aesthetic potentials of analog and digital hybridized systems to generate genuinely new sonic and visual experiences. The authors discuss their use of the cathode ray tube as a technological and cultural platform for real-time performance in the context of digital screen culture and the digital glitch.

No âmbito da disciplina de Sociologia da Comunicação, foi-nos proposto realizar uma investigação que deveria conter toda a informação mais complexa e desenvolvida sobre as apresentações que fomos realizando ao longo das aulas.
O nosso tema é a “Obsolescência Programada – Que Futuro?”, tema este que desenvolvemos por tópicos de acordo com a matéria leccionada que se integrava no tema em questão.
Com a ajuda do Docente Vania Baldi fomos descartando tópicos que não necessitavam ser desenvolvidos e fomos valorizando outros que, de facto, mereciam a nossa atenção pois estavam mais relacionados com a obsolescência.
Acreditamos que conseguimos realizar um bom trabalho, baseado em artigos proporcionados pelo Docente e pesquisas que fizemos para completar o nosso relatório, sempre seguidas da nossa opinião.
Abaixo apresentamos o fruto do nosso trabalho e esperemos estar ao alcance de uma boa prestação, pois era o nosso objetivo, não só desenvolvermos o tema em si, mas também, darmos a conhecer sob-temas que possam ser desconhecidos e que merecem ser focados.

The concept of obsolescence travels with difficulty. A useful if not terribly scientific way to assess the delicate cultural valences the term is subject to is via the 'Google imagesearch test'. 1 Entering 'obsolescence' and its translations across various languages -each on the appropriate language group's Google site -algorithmically yields sometimes strikingly divergent image clusters. In German, Obsoleszenz and Veralten rise to the top, with the former triggering images of light bulbs (whose carefully engineered lifespan evokes the notion of 'planned obsolescence') and mountains of debris, suggesting that the term has an ecological register vis a vis excess consumption. Veralten offers a wider range of images, in part because the term is often used to promote the advantages of leasing rather than owning (from houses to copiers), to celebrate classic aphorisms and to document broken parts.

Amsterdam city is proud of being a worldwide center for innovation, in 2016 it was named by the European Commission as the “European Capital of Innovation” (Iamsterdam 2020). This paper analyses seven innovative practices that deal with solid residue in The Netherlands,  experiences that try to move towards a “circular bioeconomy” (Hetemäki et alli 2017). I classify the innovation cases I researched in reference to the 7Rs: 1) Rethink, 2) Reduce/Refuse, 3) Reuse/Rehome/Repurpose, 4) Recycle, 5) Recreate, 6) Repair and 7) Rot. My main objective is to bring ideas and images to inspire practitioners and academic fellows to experiment or to adapt from these innovation experiences.  I will try to bring some of the new debates concerning the concepts of “circular economy”, “circular society” and the more contemporary one that is “circular bioeconomy” (Hetëmaki et alli. 2017). Finally, to end, I address the role of utopia and imagination as important forces that animate bio/social innovation to reproduce life.