1. According to Nick Crossley, “Social agents are able, reflexively, to recognize
that their way of seeing and thinking about the world is derived from a social structure (a
discourse) that they have learnt and that they habitually rely on” (61). What ideologies or
belief systems (cultural, spiritual, intellectual, disciplinary) do I subscribe to? How do
these affect my thinking, my actions, or other ways of engaging in the world?
Ideology is system of abstract thought applied to public matters and thus
makes this concept central to culture. A belief system is a set of mutually supportive
beliefs. Base on these two definitions, different beliefs will have different ways to
affect people’s thoughts, behaviors and decisions. For example, people who have
belief in metempsychosis （also be named as ‘afterlife’ in some religions, which be
represented as the ‘life’ or the ‘soul’ is able to continue exist in the world, it never
evanishes but will have different form of existents, and all the activities did in the
present life will have affect to the afterlife) are always consider what results of their
actions will have and will make change of their next life. They always have very
clearly principles of what decisions are good or not for themselves, and these
decisions can satisfy their inside desires of having better results in next lives. The
ideologies and belief systems affect our thinking and actions base on our own
knowledge, perceptions, and views of our world, they lead us to make different
decisions and unique personalities.
2. What is a “good” idea? What factors influence my ability to generate good
ideas — upbringing, creative practice, professional or disciplinary approach, commitment
to a skill, or something else?
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The word of “good” is defined as a positive vocabulary in many terms.
When we using it as an adjective, it usually represents as positive, desirable, quality,
excellent, satisfied, and superior to the average. Depending on these definitions, a
“good” idea can be considered as a concept with correct usage, creative thesis, and
professional progress; moreover, it must be accepted and satisfied by its target
group. For example, when we design something, a good main idea of the content is
usually what we need to focus on. To achieve this goal, and as designers, we cannot
only simply say it is “good”, but also need to considering the target user’s feedback.
The good idea must involve in both designers and users’ desires, and finally judged
by their experiences of the product. The good idea sometimes may be not perfected
to its original purposes, but it must be the most suitable decisions for the entire
progress.
3. What artist, designer, creative professional or discourse community has
influenced my academic interests or my creative work? What is it about their work that
makes them appealing to me?
I have interested in virtual world since I was a kid. The virtual world
always is used to represent video games, fiction stories or anything that not exist
in reality. But I have different views of this term, and I like to treat it as a way that
allows our human beings to have the experiences of being creators rather than
creatures in this world. Depends on this factor, the discourse community that
influences me the most is ‘Blizarrd’, the most famous entertainment company in
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the world. One of their greatest products is ‘World of Warcraft’, a massively
multiplayer online role-playing game. Although many people only see it as a
normal PC game, it gives me a different view of how to achieve my ‘fantasy’
dream in a different way. The main contents of ‘World of Warcraft’ are based on
the story of Blizarrd’s previous work ‘Warcraft’. It has its own and unique
storylines, histories, races, geographies, and cultures. All these elements
combined together and create the world in digital way, and this process is just
same as the way of the creator creates our real world. This kind experience is the
most enjoyable thing for me, and affects my feeling of doing all my projects in
SIAT.
4. Following through on John Ruskin’s ideas, Sharples states, “...there can be no
ideal view of the world, free of perception, only different ones. There is no single truth
for a reader to unpack from the text” (156). How do I know what I know is true? Who or
what do I define as a credible source?
The word ‘true’ may refer to the state of being in accord with fact or
reality. This is means if we want to determine something that is truth or not, we
need to base on the real exist facts that relate to the both the thing and ourselves.
People have different perceptions and views of the world by different cultures,
beliefs, religions, and knowledge; all these factors will affect our judgments or
decisions of what is true, and finally leading to different understanding of truth.
For example, If I want to learn the history of a country in a particular time,
reading the related history record usually is where I start, but only history record
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may not reliable enough for discovering the whole facts happened in that time,
then I need to find more credible source to proof or compare with the information
I got from records. Then I still need to consider the cultures, economics and
politics of that time to support the arguments or conclusions I made, after that I
may way more close to the real truth.
The word ‘credible’ refers to the objective and subjective components of
the believability of a source or message (Wikipedia). According to this definition,
for me, a credible source should be reliable enough to support my statement or the
thesis of my topic. For example, if I am doing a research paper about culture
differences, then the official documents and professional articles about different
cultures will be my credible sources, and my own imaginations and personal
understandings cannot be used as reliable arguments to my topic.
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