A not so short story :-)
The beginning
Hmmm ... There’s no clear moment when I first appreciated communication, though it may have begun with my love for listening to stories and discussing about UFOs in high school. A memorable realization came years later when a former university classmate pointed out how much I had enjoyed exchanging ideas and engaging in discussions as a student.
A vestige from the past
Today, October 13, 2024, I stumbled upon a trace of ‘communication’ from the year 2000—three and a half pages describing my first time leaving the country to begin a PhD in Ireland. (For context, the journey started with a coach ride from Cluj to Budapest for the flight.) Reading it brought both tears and laughter. Here’s a snippet:
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Afara e frig și ne bucurăm că ne-am îmbrăcat gros. Ne-am așezat în față [în autocar] și ne simțim privilegiați. E bine. Pornim și, numai acum, realizăm că atunci când autocarul merge, parcă am fi doar noi și șoseaua. Pasagerii din spate nu apar decât la opriri, ca și cum cineva i-ar teleporta la fiecare oprire. It's cold outside and we're glad we dressed warmly. We sit up front [in the coach] and feel privileged. It feels good. We set off, and only now do we realize that when the coach is moving, it feels like it’s just us and the road. The passengers in the back only appear at stops, as if someone is teleporting them at every stop. |
New perspectives from sharing drawings
When I showed my drawings and/or paintings to others or gifted them, I occasionally received genuinely surprising feedback. This experience taught me how insightful it can be to learn about others' perspectives—something I now express as:
Seeing the world through others' eyes
Defining Terms in Communication and Beyond
The Importance of Shared Definitions
Since 2022, I began to communicate more and engage in long and deep conversations with others, and realized that effective dialogue requires 'calibrating'—like setting up a printer—with the other person. This involves defining terms to ensure we're on the same page.
Thus, I began exploring the concept of communication after a 'stranger' at a nearby table in a restaurant overheard me enthusiastically discussing my research paper, 'A comparison of ...', with a group of friends. He asked whether I could help him with ... communication. I viewed it as a challenge and eagerly immersed myself in studying the concept.
Expanding the Exploration
Since then, I have explored various concepts such as:
- 2022 creativity, teamwork, research, and perspective
- 2023-2024 In the first semester, for the optional course 'Adaptive Web Design,' I set a personal objective: to define the concept of design. This investigation was conducted in collaboration with a colleague and the students. In the second semester, we explored the meaning of art with a different group of students.
- 2024-2025 This academic year, I introduced a new challenge: each student in Adaptive Web Design selected a word from a predefined list, conducted research throughout the semester, and built a website to present their findings. There were 56 words. By following the link one can see the heatmap highlighting the most selected words, and for each, you can access a page with remarkable findings (if available).