Project 1: My Stuff  
Everybody must get computer help to complete this project.
The earlier you get assistance, the better will be your project.

Country Origins of My Personal Possessions   

[You will have all three feelings as you do this project; hopefully, by the end you will only be smiling!]

You must complete this project alone and submit a paper copy with only your name. "Team work," "collaborative work," or any other group activities -- as separate final papers or jointly submitting only one paper -- are unacceptable, and will result in -100 percent! I want you to learn all aspects of this project, not just a few! When you hand in your project with your name (singular), you confirm that the data, graphs, maps, and text are based on your own work, neither of another person nor of a team of students in this or another course or semester.

In this assignment, you will learn a bit of geography while examining your personal belongings. You should have learned the geographical concepts used in this project in your Wisconsin high school. Whether you did or did not learn these geographical standards in high school, here is your chance to finally do so! We are trying to learn something about the world by looking at the things which surround us, in this case, in your own room. Here are some questions you might ask:

• Where in the world are all my things made?
• Are there any geographical patterns (let's hope so)?
• What predictions would you make about your things?
• From which countries and regions of the world would you predict the various kinds of things you own to be made?
• Do you buy things because of where they are made?

Write down several specific predictions about your things, including the country or region of origin, before you proceed further.

• Step 1  Examine all your stuff in your room (in the dorms or one room at your home) and make a list of the countries where your possessions came from. Compare your stuff as a student with an average U.S. family. Don't use this information in a table but use it to reflect on the kind and quantity of items in your room. Categorize this information by world regions and by major categories (e.g., clothing, electronics, etc.). See Display Data below for how to construct Table 1.
• Step 2 Find data on the country-of-origin of two food items in a large local grocery store. This information will be compared with the country-of-origin of your stuff. How do I do this? See Display Data below for how to construct Table 2.
• Step 3 Find data on U.S. imports by commodity and country. Unfortunately, the data for both commodity and country are very messy, so use only import data by country for this assignment. For background information, look at a world map of percentage of world trade, for countries by major trading blocks, such as NAFTA, EU, etc.
  Here are two ways to get these data:
  1) In the library, consult reference books, such as Statistical Abstract of the U.S., The World Almanac, and The Economist Book of Vital World Statistics.
  2) On the web, go to the Statistical Abstract of the United States or use this downloaded table.
  Group the countries listed into the same regions as your personal data and then calculate the percentages for each region for your own and the U.S. imports. See Display Data below for how to construct Table 3.

• Step 4 Table 1. Classify your personal data and create a table placing all the world regions in a left-hand column and the personal stuff categories across the top. List both absolute values (number of items) and percentages for each cell of the table. Think about the order of the regions in the tables: What region is the study centered on? Where is the next geographically logical region? Where is the less important region(s)? Optional but highly effective: graphs display complex data in easily understandable format. Look at an example of a graph that Jena Kuesel made of these kind of data -- this is not the best display of these data! If you like, learn how to create good-looking graphs.
• Step 5 Table 2. Use the same world regions as in Table 1 and add the individual countries from which your stuff and two grocery items came from.
• Step 6 Table 3. Combine your data with the U.S. import data into another table. Use all the world regions as best you can, because not all the countries you have found may appear in the statistical source you used. Discuss percentages only in your paper so that these two very different kinds of data are comparable. In addition, each table must have a descriptive title on the top and a source(s) at the bottom. Optional but highly effective: graphs display complex data in easily understandable format. Look at an example of a graph that Jina Kuesel made. You can improve on it! If you like, learn how to create good-looking graphs.
• Step 7  map your personal data only by country on a blank world map (print a world map: either a vertical version or a horizontal version).
  You can make this map electronically too.
  1) Select the horizontal version of the map, click on the right-hand button on your mouse and save the map on your H drive in the appropriate folder.
  2) Open a new file in WORD, under Insert, select Picture, then From File and find the map you just saved.
  3) Now you can add symbols to this map by using the Drawing function in WORD (under View, Toolbars, Drawing).
  If this is too confusing, just do it by hand!
  Classify each variable, or type of item (clothing, electronics, etc), into three or four class intervals. For example: 1-4 (low), 5-11 (medium), 12-23 (high), 24-51 (very high). Be sure to create your own intervals for your data!
  Use a different symbol and color for each category, increasing the size of each symbol as the values increase.
  Label the map, include a title, legend, and source. Look at a map example -- don't repeat the inconsistencies and forget the missing information!
  Remember what Ad Reinhardt said: "If a picture [or map] isn't worth a thousand words, the hell with it!" Maps are not always helpful in life! What is it like to have a passion for maps.

Discuss and Evaluate

• Step 8 Systematically discuss the major patterns in the three tables and the map. Start your paper with text; don't start your paper with tables or maps. After your analysis of your data, relate your analysis to your earlier predictions. Why are the patterns (in percentages) of where your things are made different and/or the same as U.S. imports?
• Step 9  Evaluate the slogan, "Buy American," in light of the new information you have collected, cite relevant statistics from your work.
   
• 
  Labor unions use the "Buy America" -- actually meaning USA! -- campaign on TV to encourage USA consumers to buy USA-made products. Check-out a relevant web site.
  The two graphs show that China is now the largest exporter in the world and the largest net exporter to the USA, replacing Japan.  China accounts for 95 percent of stuffed toys, 83 percent of all toys, 88 percent of radios, 70 percent of leather goods, and 67 percent of shoes to the USA. [Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas].
  Read about the consequences of globalization for a small town in North Carolina.
  Under what conditions and for how much are Barbie dolls made in China?
  
  Additional sources for information on sweatshops and responsible shopping; and by country, from the National Labor Committee.
  
  In 1999 the Texas Dept. of Agriculture launched its "Go Texan" campaign, an effort to promote foods grown or processed in the state. According to a survey, if Texas-made products were identified as such, 89% of the state's people said that they would choose them over food items produced elsewhere! But would they actually do this?
  
  How do your geographical buying patterns compare to this slogan? Use appropriate concepts and terms from this course, whenever appropriate, and relate your data to this slogan. Be sure to consider the wages and conditions of Third World workers (get information on the "cheap, not cheerful" graph): use such web sites as
  1) National Labor Committee, examine either corporations and/or countries;
  2) Responsible Shopper, search by company, brand name, or category of items;
  3) Co-op America, learn about sweatshops and which US retailers use them; and
  4) CorpWatch, select "Issues" at the top of the menu and find "sweatshops" and explore other topics too.
  You must include at least one example of how much per hour or per item workers earn and what specific working conditions they have. Cite the organization or publication and the specific web site for this information.

Organization of Your Paper

• Make an outline before you start writing. Write carefully; edit your work several times. Use a technical or scientific writing style, not a conversational or creative writing style. For an acceptable writing style, examine articles on food security, architecture in Eau Claire, or dairy barns in Wisconsin, written and published by Ingolf Vogeler. For how to write well, see The Economist's style guide.

• You must use the provided cover page (Word document); print it and provide the information requested. Staple the paper in the top left-hand corner. No plastic or other kinds of covers. Each table, graph, and map must appear on its own page and must be placed within the text as they are mentioned. Don't leave pages partially blank in the middle of your paper! Raw data should not be included in the text but may be included at the end as an appendix.

• The text and tables must be computer generated (not hand written); the maps can be hand drawn, although better made with a paint program.

• Discuss each table, graph, and map and do so from the perspective of the world regions or countries (which ever is most appropriate), not by product categories. For example, "Central America accounted for 10 percent of all my possessions (or clothing)."

Remember to think and write from a geographical perspective.
This is a geography course, not an economics or sociology course.