Welcome to Mingxian's Home

Human-Computer Interaction Designer 人机交互设计师

interaction design, 交互设计

experience design, 体验设计

design theory, 设计理论

virtual culture theory,视觉文化理论

Thursday, January 01, 2009

at the cross-point between 2008 and 2009

2008 was gone with whatever belongs to it. And I read a plenty of words people wrote to remember, or called conclude it. Many dear Chinese didn't paid much attention to their personal growth and career path development, but almost all of them shared one mainline and frame: the snow damage happened around the Spring Festival 0f 2008, the great earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, the Olympic game in Beijing, the Shenzhou-7 and the brand new space record in Chinese history, and the financial crisis. Some people who are more interesting in politics would also mention the three direct links of trade, mail and air and shipping services across the Taiwan Straits. Although there are almost half and half in good and bad, many people would agree that it is a difficult time -“时艰” in common sense.

But I hope it is a fresh start at this moment!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

越来越喜欢香港的天气

不很冷,不很热,不很干,不很湿。长居北方的我,在这样的气候中,简直是太奢侈的享受了。
以前一直居住在四季分明的北方,很长的夏天和冬天,而春秋确是转眼就错过。现在好了,整个冬天都是我最喜欢的春秋天气。可以一下子把我多年的没有尽兴的天气补足!看到百货商店的橱窗里大衣加裙子的搭配,老公和我笑着讨论起来。而雪地寒风和厚重的棉衣现在想起来居然也不那么可憎了。

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

近日所见所历所学所思

虽然以前也一直零星的投着简历,但真正开始紧锣密鼓的找工作确是从十月才开始的。为什么五月底就毕业却十月份才开始找工作呢?首先是因为从美国到香港,因为现锋的工作在去年春节那天完全确定下来了,我们决定了在一个陌生的城市开始新生活。考虑到很多细节的问题后,我决定先了解当地市场再把自己卖出去。其次就是四年没有回家了,很想利用这个机会回家陪陪我那年过六旬的寡居母亲。就算尽一点孝道吧。毕竟我还有漫长的人生可以去拼搏,却不一定会有同样长的时间来尽孝。我可不想重复那句“树欲静而风不止,子欲养而亲不待”了。对于父亲的过早离世,而十六岁的我那时不具备孝亲的能力,我是耿耿于怀的。

这两周有很多关心我的朋友都问我在国内找工作的经历和感受。对于在国内的朋友,我基本上都是以向他们学习了解国内现状的态度,虚心的向他们请教找工作和工作后的经验。而对于在国外的朋友,我想把我了解到的告诉他们。不是谬赞和抱怨,而是以客观的态度,希望在他们衡量是否要回国发展的时候能够更快的了解他们虽曾熟知但已渐忘的国内情况。

昨天在和一个朋友网上聊天的时候我们自然的聊起了找工作的话题。我们都是中国人,但却是在美国读人机交互时才认识的同学。他现在正在美国找工作,有时也在考虑要不要回国发展。他知道我最近面试了一个国内比较大的公司,可以说是那个行业的老大。就问我有没有得到那个公司的答复。

其实我目前为止得到的“官方”答复是“得到最后通知的时间可能会比较长,尤其按目前阶段国际国内的整体情况,一般很少在两三周内得到消息的,甚至可能更长,..." 我觉得这种情况可以理解。因为现在经济形式不好,很多公司在财政方面都会采取一定的措施。而且现在将近年底,或许对业务的侧重也会有影响。但这里我想就我的这次经历写下我的想法。

首先第一关就是面试。这家公司在面试的前前后后,一直对面试者们的包括名字在内的所有个人信息守口如瓶,这种信息不平衡我可以忍受,但是确是我第一次遇到,才知道自己原来连知道对方姓名的机会都没有。面试的时候,出于礼貌,我对其中的一位问了一句:“您贵姓?” 人家非常警觉的抬起头,好像这种问话对他很突然,很出乎意料,然后他发出了一个很长的“en”音之后回答说:“我姓#。” 之后在面试我的过程种,这位尊贵的面试官大部分时间埋头看我的简历和申请材料,提问的时候也是如此,只是我说得“精彩”处他才抬头看看我那自信又紧张的脸,所以以前学过的与面试官目光交流之类的没怎么用得上。虽然面试的过程从早晨九点持续到晚上将近七点的大部分时间里我都不知道在向谁展示自己,但确在等待的时间里匆忙的结识了几位同去应试的朋友。给不同的人打电话,网上聊天,发email,他们也成了我在面试后的等待时间里得以主动获取更多的信息的一种资源,尤其是他们中有的人有在那家公司工作的亲属关系。

其实投这家公司的经历也是比较偶然的。一个偶然的闲聊机会,大约有十分钟,我遇到了一个该公司的员工。我提到了我在找工作,她就很热情的帮我介绍了这家公司的情况并主动答应帮我投简历。并在当天我们各自结束了自己的工作候找到了我,声情并茂的为我介绍了他们公司中可能比较适合我的两个部门,这两个部门的只能和目标,并问我比较喜欢哪个。她的热情和那种求贤若渴的眼神让我感觉我遇到自己平生第一个伯乐。当然,从投简历到安排面试用了两个星期,两个星期在我看来是比较正常的,对公司的办事效率在这个时候我还是比较满意的。

但后来从各处得到的消息确让我觉得匪夷所思。

一个朋友告诉我,这个等待时间是公司内部在走程序。
另一个朋友告诉我,他有一个以前 的同学现在在这家公司工作。这位同学找这个公司的时候也是用了很长时间。他面试了这家公司后在等待的时间里又联系了另一家公司,后来都在另一家公司工作 了,才突然接到了这家公司的电话问他想不想来去海外工作地点工作。因为去海外工作工资很高,他同学才接受了这家公司的offer。
第三个朋友告诉我,这家公司现在根本不招人,他们只是先面试,等需要的时候再聘用。

我觉得这三种可能都对我对这家公司的期待或者说这家公司目前为止在我心目中的形象有所伤害。

虽 然第二个朋友和第三个朋友说的情形有些不谋而合,我还是希望公司不是这样做的。正巧这几天我正在读一本领导心理学的书“Psychology for Leaders” by Dean Tjosvold & Mary M. Tjosvold, 译者 陈美岑。主观上讲,虽然作为一个应聘者,我可能会失去这个机会,但是我觉得从长远的角度想公司这样做虽然不至于自毁前程,但总是对自己也有伤害的,应聘者 和公司没有赢家。

对于应聘者来讲,这家公司不行就找下一家,机会到处都是,总可以找到适合自己发展的方向。这是真的。

对 于公司来讲,国内的人才多的是,尤其是刚毕业的大学生,想去他们公司的人多的是。大公司可以选人而不是应聘者们选它。这或许也是事实。但是从公司的发展角 度想,公司将自己的诚信置于何地呢?这些经过面试而且被告知他们的能力比较符合公司需求的人可以说有很大的可能会成为公司的未来员工,但如果他们觉得自己 被耍了,或许对公司的热情在长期的等待中被消耗,对公司产生负面的印象,对公司的诚信置疑,对公司的领导和决策能力置疑,对公司的办事效率不满,即使他们 为了公司的社会地位和高工资水平而成为正式员工,试问他们能够迅速的投入到积极的工作之中吗?他们对公司的忠诚度能够很快的建立吗?他们能够对公司的领导 信服吗?在公司领导层和基层员工之间的情感代沟就这样轻而易举的在还没有成为正式员工之前就建立,对公司的业绩,员工的满意度会有任何益处吗?没有。俗话 说养兵千日用兵一时。是的,从小处上想,把军队散放民间是可以省下不少粮饷。但是,这种广撒网的面试和长等待的聘用方式会直接造成聘用率低,直接的后果还 包括高素质的人才在长等待中擦肩而过,面试本身带来大量的人力物力消耗,员工可能工资高但是缺乏自主的精神,积极的工作态度,不求自我表现与提高,混日 子。当然以上的分析都是基于理论和猜测,也许并不是公司的实际情况。我也希望公司不是这样对待我们这些待字闺中且跃跃欲试的晚生的。

feel good to write blog again

:)

Mingxian is coming back: say Hello to Blogers on Interaction Culture

I am sorry to say that I came back just two weeks ago, and still that I feel difficult to truly 100% understand Jeff’s blog. I am sorry Jeff, but I could say that when I feel the difficulty to understand you, I believe that you are one of the best professor I have ever met! Most of the professors I knew don’t like to share their thoughts with us so selfless.

I was enjoying life in China in the past few months, and feel that I missed a lot great post here. Fortunately I caught up using the past week.

I met a past interviewer at the UPA China conference at the end of Oct. Of course, I went to there just have two goals, the first one is that to understand the Chinese industrial HCI world, and second, to meet people. the interviewer is a HCI designer, and she becomes my friend. I asked her:” Do you read about HCI?” She said:” No! I have already read enough when I was in School. But I read business news sometimes.” Maybe because I am doing nothing about HCI right now, it means that I couldn't learn from real experience environment, reading books and blogs let me feel strong, and at the same time, make me think. Sometimes I found I entered an endless thinking space filled with questions and colorful thoughts. I asked myself, why do I feel I should always keep learning, is it because that we will never have a standard method to find the perfect solution for a design problem or I am just a beginner? Anyway, I am happy that I still have big interest in it.

I don’t know what I am talking about, and also don’t know why I say these. Just say “Hi” to everyone!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

user friendly 2008 conference

I went to the user conference 2008 from 24-27, Oct.2008. The main theme of this conference is innovation for China. Most of the topics are around usability. It was hold by upa.China.

This is my first time to attend the Upa conference in China. I felt energetic after meeting with so many people in the field, especially, a lot of them are enthusiastic. But at the same time, I felt the confusion and unclear from some of them, especially in the round table discussion session.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Going back to mainland China Tomorrow

It's time to go back to mainland China tomorrow due to my visa. I must apply "wang lai gang ao tong xing zheng" in order to stay at Hong Kong, which means that I must stay at home for at least three weeks. I could imagine how happy my mom would be when she saw me at first sight, although I have already stayed with her for around three months in June, July, August and September.

I stayed at hong Kong for one week this time, and I like it compared with the US. First of all, there is so much delicious oriental cuisine. The indigenous population like see food very much, and shrimp is an very active number on the table. And I LOVE shrimp!

People are very nice in this international city. Although sometimes there is language problem between us, they always trying to help understanding. It seems that their smiling face is saying that Welcome to Hong Kong to me.

The city is crowded, but everything is in the order. The pedestrian overpass system is so considerate that not only connected most visiting buildings but also avoided the solarization.

I didn't fully enjoy this week in the city, because Lehman Brothers was bankruptcy, which means my husband needs to find a new job. It is a terrible week for us. We are trying to find as many as possible plans for the new future.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

We are all leaving!

It is sad to say:"Bye Bye and Take Care" again and again at this moment. All the memories in the past two years come back again in my mind. Happy together, argue on projects, ... 此刻我为离别泪流满面。不停的重复着,再见,珍重!所有过去两年的记忆一起重现。

Although I tried to avoid to think about the ending of the life as a master student, because of the sadness of the separation before us, the separation emotion still filled all my heart, and the blood was stopped flowing, it is feeling the mood.
尽管几天来我一直试图不去想这一段生活的结束,因为一段生活的结束救意味着朋友们要各奔东西。
我尽力的去做事来淡化这分离的忧思,但它还是悄悄地蔓延在我的全身。仿佛我的血液也停下来体会我的心情。而我只能对一个个远行的背影无数遍的默道珍重。大脑已停止了思考,塞满了

Thursday, May 15, 2008

An interesting dream 一个奇怪的梦

昨晚做了一个奇怪的梦,而且在梦里感觉是那么的真实
梦开始的时候,我和一个朋友站在一个好像马棚又好像仓房似的平方房子里,整个房子只有一大间,但很大,但却很矮。里面堆满了各种各样的东西。我们好像在找什么东西。 又很想找个地方躲起来,似乎发生了什么可怕的事情。我们找了很久都没有找到,我们于是来到了前门外。门外展现在我们眼前的又三个建筑。左手边也就是东边,是一个黑糊糊的四层建筑,在最东北的小角落里有一扇非常窄小的门。
下面每层大约有 四五个房间,每个房间有一扇小窗。到处都散发出很黑冷黑冷的感觉。而且整幢楼似乎都在那里发抖。马棚前方不远处是一个 红色的建筑,似乎只有两三层,太阳照在上面暖洋洋的,让人立即就有了精神。 又面的建筑是乳白色的,也是只有两三层的样子。四个建筑围成了一个不规则的四合 院 。看耀眼的阳光仿佛是中午,乳白的光晕却像傍晚,黑洞洞的窗户却是黑夜。 黑房子里似乎住了很多人,过着邋遢的生活。我们正在四处观望,从红楼里面走出一个长幼 着长长翅膀,蹬着长靴,穿着宝甲的摩登女郎,一个细长的不知是尾还是手里的鞭子,与身上的黑色装束很配。她很友善,告诉我们如果想除掉恶魔,拯救其他人,只能找到鸡蛋。 哈哈,然后我们就到处去找那个神秘的鸡蛋。我们在草地上找了很久,什么都没有找到,后来来到了一条小河,我们就沿着小河找。先着小河走啊走,走了很远很远,四周只有青草和小河。后来河里的鱼来与我们搏斗,我的同伴失散了,我被赶到河边, 那里有一个小土堆我一回头,刚好看见一个鸡蛋躺在窝窝里。我走过去,拿起鸡蛋,就在河里游起泳来。只觉得浪头翻滚着把握我冲到了下游。下游风平浪静,我抬眼一看,水面好宽,我跟本看不到岸。 这时,那个女郎又出现在握面前,对我说,别怕,是因为我拿到了鸡蛋,所以我们屏蔽保护起来了。 我再也不用怕那个恶魔了。我感觉自己在水里,但仿佛又就在那个马棚的门前。