core2s15 fieldnotes, interviews, lookings, and reflections

Assignment Overview

Fieldnotes, interviews, and lookings will contribute significantly to the amount of information you gather during the course of your project. The goal of this part of the project is for you to thoroughly think through and reflect on your approaches to recording and writing up fieldnotes, conducting and writing up interviews, and re-seeing spaces or objects in new ways.

As with all your blog posts, be sure to compose these for a global audience and not just the course or BW.

Fieldnotes, Transcriptions, and Reflections

Each student is required to take extensive fieldnotes consciously employing a variety of fieldnote methods as discussed in Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. These notes should be in a small notebook—that is, not the usual 8×10 sized notebook—that is inconspicuous and can easily fit in your pocket. The structure of these notes should be informed by what we have read in Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, and in particular Chapter 2, where Participating, Observing, and Jotting are discussed in great detail.

A significant part of the fieldnote process is transcribing those fieldnotes. As such, each student is required to transcribe their fieldnotes using Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes as a guide.

Most of these fieldnotes and transcriptions will be for your own benefit. However, each student is required to create 1 extended blog post in which you complete:

  • Scan or photograph and upload a set of jottings, from one outing or series of related outings. If you made photographs during that outing, add those as well.
  • Transcribe all jottings, observations, reflections, and so on, into sentences that are more legible, understandable, and as detailed as possible. Put this content under a bold-printed heading labeled Transcriptions. See the examples on pages 52 – 55 for what you should do. Note how many sentences come from just a few lines of jottings.
  • Create a distinct scene under the bold-printed heading labeled Scene. Use the methods outlined in chapters 3, 4, and 5 in Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes.
  • If you have photographs, create a heading called Photographs and discuss how you intend the images to be seen, using Pink’s discussion of photography and ethnography.
  • Reflect on what you have learned during that outing or series of outings, what further questions you have, and where you will be going next. Discuss what you thought was successful about the outing and what you might have done differently. Also consider which portions of the readings informed how you have approached the fieldnotes and your transcriptions of them. Put this content under a bold-printed heading labeled Reflections.

Former student fieldnotes blog posts which you should use as models for your own (note the assignment was structured differently so you won’t see Scenes or Photographs headings in these posts):

Interviews and Reflections

Each student is required conduct at least 4 formal interviews during the course of the project, 2 in-person and 2 online. These interviews are not to be confused with the casual conversations you will no doubt have with people during the course of your project. These are formal interviews that have an arranged time and place.

For the in-person interviews, use the interview techniques and ideas discussed in InterViews to inform your approach to the interviews. That is, you should see them as discussions. Have preset ideas in mind for what topics you want to discuss, but don’t have preset questions. For those of you who are journalists, this is your opportunity to leave the journalist behind and bring forward the ethnographer. That is, the goal is not to just see the participants as repositories of information; rather, these interviews should be seen as conversations during which you learn about the person as well as the topics they will discuss.

Though you are conducting 4 formal interviews, you are only required to blog about 2 of them: 1 of the in-person interviews and 1 of the online interviews. Each of these interviews will have 2 blog posts.

In-Person Interview Blog Posts
Choose 1 in-person interview and compose 2 blog posts—one that discusses the preparation for the interview and one that reflects on how the interview went. The preparation post should be posted before the interview takes place and the reflection post should be posted after the interview takes place.

For the preparation post, discuss at least the following:

  • the interview specifics: who you’ll be interviewing (first names are just fine), where, when, and why you are interviewing this particular person
  • the theoretical approach you are taking to the interview—reference, quote, and cite InterViews
  • the main topics you hope to cover in the interview (no questions; topics)

For the reflection post, discuss at least the following:

  • how the interview was similar and/or different from your expectations
  • what you learned, what questions you still have, and where you hope to go next
  • what was successful about the way the interview ran and what you might have done differently (here, look to InterViews to see how authors critique the the approach to questioning)

Online Interview Blog Posts
For the online interviews, your interview participants should be found online. That is, they can’t be an in-person contact that you then interview online. Find them via Twitter, blogs, forums, Facebook, and so on. The interviews can be conducted via Google Chat, Google Doc, email, Twitter, Facebook Messaging, Skype, or other online communication medium. The medium should be agreed-upon in advance as should the interview specifics (for example, if an email interview, how many questions, how many follow-ups, by when they will get their responses to you, and so on). The medium should determine your approach to the interview. For example, an email interview will necessitate preset questions that will be emailed to the person whereas a Skype interview can be conducted as if it were an in-person interview.

Choose 1 online interview and compose 2 blog posts—one that discusses the preparation for the interview and one that reflects on how the interview went. The preparation post should be posted before the interview takes place and the reflection post should be posted after the interview takes place.

For the preparation post, discuss at least the following:

  • the interview specifics: who you’ll be interviewing (first names are just fine), where, when, and why you are interviewing this particular person, as well as how you found them online and what medium will be used
  • the medium you will use (email, Skype, and so on), why that one was chosen, and how that medium structures your approach to the interview
  • depending on the medium used, the list of questions (for email) or the main topics (for Skype, Google Hangout, or chat) you hope to cover in the interview and why you wan to discuss those questions or topics

For the reflection post, discuss at least the following:

  • how the interview was similar and/or different from your expectations
  • what you learned, what questions you still have, and where you hope to go next
  • what was successful about the way the interview ran and what you might have done differently (here, look to InterViews to see how authors critique the the approach to questioning)

Former student pre- and post-interview blog posts that you should use as models:

Lookings

Each student is required to conduct at least 2 lookings during the course of the project by re-seeing a space or object with an expert in a field relating to your subject matter. The inspiration for this part of the assignment is Horowitz’s On Looking. From those two, compose one blog post in which you describe the result of looking at a space or object in a new way.

Like Horowitz, you have the option of moving through through a particular space with an expert with the goal of seeing that space anew. Or, you can have the expert take you through looking at an object (such as your handwriting or a cadaver or a cupcake) or an event (such as a dog agility competition trial). Whichever you choose, the key is to have that person describe what they are seeing with their own eyes as a way to open yours to a new understanding of what is being seen.

The idea of an expert is flexible here: they don’t need to be as expert as those in Horowitz’ book. An experienced pastry shop owner or ghost hunter can be considered an expert. A teacher for students with Down Syndrome can be considered an expert. And so on.

Examples

Due Dates

No later than March 24: Interviews and Lookings Schedule due on your blog (who, where, when, in-person or online, and the exact dates when your posts will appear in your blog) [Note: this date is getting late; if you can have it all online during Spring Break, that is better.]
At the absolute latest, April 21: Fieldnotes, Interviews, and Lookings blog posts are to be recorded within 2 days of the field research and interview (preparation posts should be 1-2 days before the interview). This will ensure the experiences are fresh in your mind.

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