Bogost, Ian. Persuasive games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. Print.
In Persuasive Game, Bogost talks about how games make arguments about politics, advertising, and learning for players, and the rhetoric of games, and analysis the power of videogames and the effectiveness of players. The main point that affects my thesis is “just like moves, books, and other media, games are an expressive medium.” Unlike the bed reputation and stereotype of what game is, Ian sees game as a new tool for persuasion. Also, through “procedural rhetoric,” Bogost focus on gameplay- the argument can be set bases on the rules and setup of the game. Moreover, he is asking about what different ways of persuasion can be use in game but not for other media. As Bogost believes, I think game can change the world. However, I think that the most important things is what game developers’ mentalities for making games will decide a game that brings good or bad influences.
Foster, Hal. Art since 1900: modernism, antimodernism, postmodernism. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Print.
Art since 1900 is an academic book of contemporary art history which completely talks about the art history in general and the relationship between “Art” and “Social movement.” Many doctrines of art were introduced in this book, such as Modernism, Antimodernism, and Post modernism which are the new knowledge because we didn’t have any particular class of contemporary of my college courses. Also, it shows the evolution of Art and Activism, and the media use in different time period. For my thesis development process, this book leads me to get the better understanding why, what, and how artworks have been using for Activism. Also, it forced me to think deeply when I create my artworks because I realize that “Art” is not only “Art.” Art is a communicating tool between artists and the viewers, no matter what types of art it is.
Lin, Mali. Wo men liu zhu bu tong de xue ye: yi xue xing, ji yin de ke xue zheng ju jie kai Taiwan ge zu qun shen shi zhi mi. Chu ban. ed. Taibei Shi: Qian wei chu ban she, 2010. Print
Lin, Mali, a pathologists, international exerts in blood, and molecular anthropologists, who has been doing research in blood transfusion medicine. In recent years, she dedicated to genetic research on ethnic groups in Taiwan for Taiwanese’s roots seeking. I was very shocked when I was reading this book because it answered a lot of question I have for years, such as who I am came from and why I don’t look like Chinese people. Under the long-term brainwashing education of KMT government, most of Taiwanese loss the ability to think deep-seated problems because fake illusion can be easily find through deeply thinking. Blood vessel is a very important concept in Chinese culture, and all of Taiwanese in my age learned about “we are Chinese because the blood vessel of Taiwanese is from China.” In other words, the root of Taiwanese is China. What is Taiwanese’s root is the biggest debate issue in Taiwanese politic. Through DNA test of people in different regions, we finally know the facts.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding comics: the invisible art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994 1993. Print.
Understanding Comic is a comic book, but it is not a comic book in stereotype. This book currently not only been used in Sequential art, but also been used in game design, animation, web developing, and interface design. How to cheat or attract audience eye, and how human conversion information from the visual to the brain is the most interesting point of Understanding Comics. The most important topics of this book for me are Closure, icons, the psychology of line styles and color. In art term, closure is a skill for drawing which creates illusion of eyes, but the concept has been expanded to time and space in the book. Also, this book is not teach the audiences how to draw nice wonderful icons, but explains the principles of constituent elements and how to create imply meanings behind symbol. For my thesis project, knowing how to disseminate information and the usage of implicit facts as satires will make the project more successful.
Qiu, Guozhen. Jin dai Taiwan can shi dang an . Chu ban. ed. Taibei Shi Guandu: Qian wei chu ban she, 2007. Print.
This book is about the tragic history in Taiwan which including about 290 cases that were happened in the past. Through these cases, the audiences can understand the absurdity of the times, how the rulers of Taiwan treated Taiwanese which give us a lot of heartbreaking reflection. Although many Taiwanese people do not care about the past, but they also ignore the significance of inherent. For me, there were some similar stories that happened on my family, but I will never know why if I have not read this book. One of the similar was happened during the White Terror in Taiwan (40s to 90s) for my grandmother. In the time of period, government officers and soldiers forcibly plundered property because the excuse for seeking bandits, so my grandmother hidden the property in the bamboo of the fences. Fortunately, no one got arrested or missing in the event, and the property was not snatched.
Reed, T. V. The art of protest. : culture and activism from the civil rights movement to the streets of Seattle. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. Print.
This book is an overview of social movement in the U.S started form African American civil rights to recent day. Also, Reed talks how activists use different media of art for developing the movement for global justice, and introduced the effects of different mediums for Activism. All these connections for politic, culture, and human life are encouraging people through activism. Also, The art of protest is a great text book of activists that including mobilization, organize, and how to participate. Reed points out ”Culture is always entwined with social, economic, and political forces, but they in turn are entwined with culture”(P.314) which give me a basic idea for an argument of my thesis- “What is Taiwanese culture ?” If culture relates to social, economic, and political forces, what is the appearance and composition for a colonized country? If protest is a way to force social changes, will it be a key element for defining a culture?
Su, Beng, Taiwan si bai nian shi . Taiwan: Qian wei, 2000. Print.
The English title should be” The four hundreds history of Taiwan”. It is a historical record of Taiwan which was one of the banned books of Taiwan in the past. Su mentions in the introduction that Taiwanese has bare understanding of the developing history of society they are living…almost nothing. Because this lack of understanding of Taiwan’s historical development, part of Taiwanese’s (especially intellectuals) consciousness are inevitable with strong vulnerability. Seriously, people who always keep silence are more knowledgeable in Taiwan. The truth causes frightening, so most people choose to play it safe. However, there are another part of Taiwan intellectuals are craving about social changes and political movements. Actually, my feather suggested this book, and gave it to me. He was a college professor with PhD degree. After he retired from teaching, he chose to be a missionary and participate in some organization for Taiwanese rights and social issues. He believes that change the society is the responsibility of intellectuals. I got a comprehensive understanding of the historical background of Taiwan for this book which also brings some images of Taiwan’s future that I want to present in my project.
The truth history of Taiwan that something had been re-written, covered, and erased. Also, Wang talks about the mentality of Taiwanese who have been colonized for 400 years, and the conflicts between the residents and new arrivals. Unlike another historical book, this book particular talks about the problem which includes cultures, races, immigrants, economic, social changes, and governments’ persecution. For most of Taiwanese, the truth of Taiwan’s history is ambiguous because it was written by colonial rulers which full of myths and lies. “Depression” is the conscience of intellectuals in Taiwan. In Wang’s point of view, Taiwan is Chinese’s colony just like Taiwan is Japan’s colony because China has never treated Taiwanese as national people. For China, Taiwan is an island of criminals, traitors and bandits. For me, it just liked a big shocker that crushed the illusion of fabricated history of Taiwan, and the real history was contrary to the announcement of China’s unification who believed “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.”
Books can certainly help a lot when writing academic paper. And from the looks of it, some books help you out formulate your thesis topic ideas for your project. But, it would be good to first to check the book before using. Otherwise it would make problem rather than help out.
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