As I was writing down that I should do some research on Mr. Bolos in my assignment notebook, I saw a doodle from when I had been bored previously that day. It was of a dog, and it made me smirk. I am not a good artist; it was a standard dog that my friend had taught me how to draw in second grade. Just a few circles jumbled together with some lines for claws and half-ovals for eyes, and ears that look like hair from the 1960s.
Anybody who didn't know me would have assumed that I am a dog-lover, or at least somebody who likes dogs, because what other kind of person would doodle a dog in their assignment notebook? Maybe it was my dog, or a friend's dog, or a dog that I had always dreamed of having and hoped to get in the future. So someone would have guessed that I liked dogs, based solely on the fact that I had drawn one in my notebook.
However, if that person were to interview my family or some of my closest friends, then that person would be beyond confused. Because all of those people would tell you that I do not like dogs. They wouldn't be able to tell you why, even I'm not quite sure. It might be because I never had a dog growing up, or because dogs always bark when they see me, or maybe even because my cousins' dog bit off my favorite dolls' arm when I was little.
The point is that you can't assume things immediately and know them to be correct when you're assumption is only based on one source. I think that this is what Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor were trying to show us with our first assignment, that it is necessary to gather a variety of sources to prove a point.
Fish-- (by the way I love the virtual fish you have and the water in the background)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that you can't just make assumptions based on what you see. Although I know you and know you do not like dogs, that is a great example of how you cannot just assume who a person is based on a simple doodle of a dog. You also made a really good point about our AIS assignment when you stated the paper "wasn't really about how much we could find out that was correct, it was more of how to do research and work together as well as back up the information we found with multiple sources." In my opinion, that is a great way of putting the assignment into perspective. We learned that we cannot simply make inferences just by looking at artifacts, but that we must also research thoroughly, collaborate, and corroborate before any conclusions can be drawn.