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Dr. Gunther Kress and I
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Haven't had a week as busy yet as enriching as this one for a long long time! Apart from the fact that I spent the last week preparing the notes and Prezi presentations for my lecture, there is also the 7-ICOM, the 7th edition of International Conference on Multimodality happening here at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University from the 11th to 13th June. It was just the first day of the event today and already I have benefited a lot from some of the best minds in the world.
The chats which I had with Dr. Gunther Kress, co-author of the seminal work
The Grammar of Visual Design with Dr. Theo van Leeuwen, were truly enlightening and awakening. He encouraged me to come up with my own terms and framework as I work on my PhD thesis whenever there is not one ever established by someone else, and I will definitely remember that. After listening to my proposal, he did mention twice in two separate occasions that I am "ambitious" and I can do "great things". I do hope that I can live up to his kind kind words.
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Dr. Viviane Heberle and I
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Dr. Viviane Heberle is a very very nice lady from Brazil who have given me extremely useful suggestions in terms of how to select data for my thesis, and she said she will email me with her students' work as reference too.
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Dr. Christian Matthiessen
Image from Locky's English Playground |
It was a pity that Dr. Christian Matthiessen, Dean of English Department, did not give his own talk but he did once again show his extraordinary ability in using the most delightful and sophisticated vocabulary to introduce Dr. Cees de Bont, Dean of School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Swire Chair Professor of Design.
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Dr. Cees de Bont
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Well, I am not in the design field, but learning about the trends in design kinds of make me want to design something immediately, something simple yet profitable would be nice.
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First time to chair talks
Image from Locky's English Playground |
Other than just sitting there to listen to talks, I have also contributed in chairing talk sessions. I hope that one day I will be the speaker and be able to present something creative enough that can at least wow myself.
I have also asked a lot of constructive questions today, hope I have not scared off any speakers yet.
My baby is home tonight after staying over a few days at my mother-in-law's, so I won't be able to attend tomorrow's morning session, but I will still go for the afternoon one. Let's hope I won't miss too much.
Vocabulary:
wow -- (vb) [T] to make someone feel great excitement or admiration
Resources:
7-ICOM @ Wix.com
http://englishpolyu.wix.com/7icom
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/wow_3
