18.4.20 New term, New sessional mode, New work.

Due to the influence of COVID-19, all IDC courses in the summer term are completed online, in the form of online courses. This is also an unprecedented experience for me, but online courses may be a better choice for the current situation. Stay home! Stay safe! Applause for the NHS! However, the online course is an amazing experience, which can bring people from all over the world together to share knowledge. The tutor can see faces from different regions through a screen, which I think is also a convenience brought by science and technology.

In the Summer term, I think it is mainly an extension of Unit 2.1, but this term is mainly focused on how to combine the research results obtained from Unit 2.1 with the knowledge learned from Unit 2.2, then conduct in-depth research and finally complete a personal project.

I learned that this week

This week, Clare tells us about Extinction Rebellion. About the march for Extinction Rebellion, which I have seen in Trafalgar Square last fall. At that time, I saw some people in red clothes doing strange actions. And I also remember the logo of the Extinction Rebellion was everywhere on the subway and the road. According to my previous understanding of the Extinction Rebellion, it was just a protest movement about environmental protection. However, through Clare's lesson this week, I have a better understanding of Extinction Rebellion, It describes itself as an international "non-violent Civil disobedience activist movement". And Extinction Rebellion is also demanding that the UK government reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025. I think the Extinction Rebellion may be a radical way to call on people to protect the environment and to put pressure on the government, which to a certain extent can strengthen the attention of citizens and the government to environmental issues. Perhaps this radicalism will also make more people aware that humanity is in the midst of a great humanitarian crisis.

By contrast, Wesley's HAIC course is more fun than Clare's (at least that's what I think), and Wesley shows us a lot of trailer from science fiction movie so that I call this course is Wes's movie appreciation session. The theme of Wesley's course this week is the illusion of the post-crisis world, post-crisis: on human nature, but one of my favourite subtitles in the session is "The future is uncertain, and represents us." This sentence may also have some connection with my understanding of the Anthropocene. Actually, the future of mankind is in the hands of human beings, and human beings have destroyed the environment we live in. I have also been inspired by Unit 2.2 through Wesley's session, and I thought I could do a project about post-crisis times, and imagine what life would be like if we had a big disaster (like a disaster of nature or a pandemic). Would it be better? I want to talk more about this inspiration in the course of this semester.

And this term, I also have an extra bonus: Creative Writing, and I went to the World Building class of Lydia (As an aside. Basically, the whole class was attracted to the look of Lydia, and Lydia was really a cute tutor.) In this session, Lydia used the game "Yes, and" to stimulate our imagination. I think this method can improve our understanding of language and creativity of language to some extent. About creative writing, I have known about it from the book Speculative everything before. Creative writing as a design method is an excellent way to express design idea, and designers can freely give full play to their imagination about design through creative writing. I think in the world of literature everything can be fictional, and in this fictional world, the author can describe or make up in the way of literature to express his or her point of view. Keith Oatley in the book Such stuff as dreams: The Psychology of Fiction says that: "Fiction is both real and unreal. It is related to the real world, but It is also a product of ideas." I think creative writing may be more about design fiction, and creative writing should focus more on its influence or value, and for the plot, narrative or the character of the story should be second to the designer's thinking. Creative writing is a big challenge for me and a test of my writing ability, but I am confident to complete it.