Now you can find me at:
http://sarahrink.wordpress.com/
Go on, have a look. It's nice...
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Good people
I left work one day this week and it was late, I was hungry, it was raining and I was not wearing the proper London-gear. When I got to the bus stop, my bus was standing there - Yes! Lucky girl! But the doors were closed. I knocked, but the driver didn't open. He just said 'no' and kept looking ahead - to my despair - at the traffic lights.
Aha. The bus was not stopped at the bus stop. It was stopped in traffic. But the coincidence of these two "stops" being in the same place wasn't enough for the driver to open the door to me. Hungry. Tired, Wet, and now Really Pissed Off Me.
Just behind him another bus pulls up. Not the Right one, not the one who would take me to the station, where I change to another bus, the one that takes me to Warm Dry Home.
Damn.
I just stood there, already starting to live with waiting in the rain, when I saw the driver of Not The Right Bus calling me. "Come on, jump in!" And I said "No, you are not the one I need". But he didn't give up and just insisted: "Jump in!"
I don't know why, but I did. I just jumped onto the Wrong Bus.
Before I was able to open my mouth to protest, the driver said:
"We're going to get him!"
And we set off. At speed - taking every possible chance to overtake the Right Bus, in a manic kind of way, yes. But all I could see was his red cape, flying behind him, in what was now this crazy pursuit of the Right Bus Villain.
And before I knew it - he'd done it! My superhero-driver had overtaken the Right Bus and stopped in front of it, at the next bus stop.
So I jumped off, put on my smuggest face, and entered, triumphant, the Right Bus.
I looked the Villain right in his eyes, and said:
"Thanks for waiting".
Friday, 9 October 2009
Read it later
Another quick couple of questions:
1) Do you bookmark things online to read it later?
2) If yes, which application/software do you use (Delicious, Read it Later, etc.)
3) Do you get around to read it later?
1) Do you bookmark things online to read it later?
2) If yes, which application/software do you use (Delicious, Read it Later, etc.)
3) Do you get around to read it later?
Thursday, 8 October 2009
iPhone apps in numbers
Today I did a little research on the numbers and types of apps there are in the Apple Store. As expected there are more entertainment apps than any other. Unfortunately I still didn't have the time to count the games apps (there is no pagination), but all the others are there. News apps are surprisingly down the list, but still, there are more than 1600 of them.
I just had a lot of fun browsing through them all with a research purpose in mind, and thought I could share this.
Apple Store navigation fail
Why is it that I have to click 65 times to see what is on the last page of the Finance iPhone applications?
(You might wonder why I would want to do that? Wait for the next post)
(You might wonder why I would want to do that? Wait for the next post)
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Do you take your iPhone to the bathroom?
Just wanted to run a quick server with my friends who have an iPhone:
1) Do you use it as an alarm clock?
2) Do you have an alternative alarm clock by your bed?
3) What is the first thing you do with your iPhone after you wake up?
5) Finally, Do you take it with you to the bathroom (at any point of the day)?
1) Do you use it as an alarm clock?
2) Do you have an alternative alarm clock by your bed?
3) What is the first thing you do with your iPhone after you wake up?
5) Finally, Do you take it with you to the bathroom (at any point of the day)?
Monday, 5 October 2009
The massive exhibition gap
The main reason that I came back to writing is bad exhibitions. Why on Earth would I want to write about this?
Well, first because I am a museum nerd. I love them. And bad exhibitions give museums a bad rap. Second, because I think that there is a massive gap between the people who design an exhibition and those who attend one. Do they ever, ever wander into their own exhibitions as if they had never been there before and try to put on their observers’ shoes? I suspect they don’t. It is hard. I’m not playing it down for curators. But this missing link might be the key to improving these experiences, that, if done well, can be so damn cool.
For example, yesterday I went to the Moctezuma exhibition at the British Museum, in London. I have been trying to book tickets online for the past 2 weeks (since it opened, really) and the website kept telling me it was fully booked.
But yesterday, a friend decided to go there anyway, to hang out with her sister, and called me to say that there were tickets available, and that the lady at the door didn’t seem to have heard of "sold out" days.
So first thing: why does their website tell me one thing, and the door lady tells me another? Surely the one thing an exhibition website needs to do well is to sell tickets –it can’t go to the exhibition for you, right? But no. Not in this case.
I got the museum after a long commute on London's Sunday public transport. (You know what I am talking about if you live in London). I was tired and a bit hungry, so I had a small bite before we went in. At the door, I got myself an audio tour for 3 pounds, so I could make the most of it all.
We get inside and the first thing I see is a black wall with stencilled text, font size 14 – with so many people around it that I couldn’t read it. Up the steps to the main entrance, and again, I couldn’t even see what these people were looking at. Finally, I got closer to find... another wall full of text. And a map. Oh, and there was a tiny number with a headset icon around it, so I inferred that is where I could use my audio guide. Pressed one, and play, and… was hit by this really loud voice, in English (the only language available) with the weirdest fake Mexican accent that proceeded to read me the text that was on the wall. What? Yeah, I know! Audio guide? Or should I say, replacement for the visually impaired?
Bad start, but let’s move on. Next room, lots of pieces inside glass cases. Lots of papers and interesting-looking books, but I couldn’t tell what they were about - because the explanation was in this tiny little stencilled text on the bottom right, which one might just be able to read, if the person in front of you doesn’t have the bad habit of swaying, as if they were in playschool reading Winnie the Pooh.
To cut a very long and painful story short, it was hard. Hard to follow the flow, hard to understand the pieces, but most of all, it was hard to understand Montezuma’s world – which is all I went there for in the first place. Now, I know something about Aztecs because I studied their politics at university, but I walked out of that place with the impression I knew less then than before.
The exhibition didn’t have a story, or if it did, it didn’t tell it to me. It felt like a group of people had laid their hands on a bunch of interesting material and threw it together, without ever thinking that people like me, who wandered in not knowing much, would not particularly be interested in sharing a big illustrated book with hundreds of other people. Because that is what it felt like: a very annoying, shared reading experience. I was so concentrated on reading quickly, because the people behind me wanted to read the tiny text as well, that I barely paid attention to the pieces themselves. And the books, that looked so interesting... if only I could flick through the pages, see the cover… Thank you very much, I’d rather rent a DVD.
Anyway. This story is just one example of the classic design problem: the designers believe that the users are just like them, and the users think that they are the ones who are thick.
The gap. We are here. To fill it.
Well, first because I am a museum nerd. I love them. And bad exhibitions give museums a bad rap. Second, because I think that there is a massive gap between the people who design an exhibition and those who attend one. Do they ever, ever wander into their own exhibitions as if they had never been there before and try to put on their observers’ shoes? I suspect they don’t. It is hard. I’m not playing it down for curators. But this missing link might be the key to improving these experiences, that, if done well, can be so damn cool.
For example, yesterday I went to the Moctezuma exhibition at the British Museum, in London. I have been trying to book tickets online for the past 2 weeks (since it opened, really) and the website kept telling me it was fully booked.
But yesterday, a friend decided to go there anyway, to hang out with her sister, and called me to say that there were tickets available, and that the lady at the door didn’t seem to have heard of "sold out" days.
So first thing: why does their website tell me one thing, and the door lady tells me another? Surely the one thing an exhibition website needs to do well is to sell tickets –it can’t go to the exhibition for you, right? But no. Not in this case.
I got the museum after a long commute on London's Sunday public transport. (You know what I am talking about if you live in London). I was tired and a bit hungry, so I had a small bite before we went in. At the door, I got myself an audio tour for 3 pounds, so I could make the most of it all.
We get inside and the first thing I see is a black wall with stencilled text, font size 14 – with so many people around it that I couldn’t read it. Up the steps to the main entrance, and again, I couldn’t even see what these people were looking at. Finally, I got closer to find... another wall full of text. And a map. Oh, and there was a tiny number with a headset icon around it, so I inferred that is where I could use my audio guide. Pressed one, and play, and… was hit by this really loud voice, in English (the only language available) with the weirdest fake Mexican accent that proceeded to read me the text that was on the wall. What? Yeah, I know! Audio guide? Or should I say, replacement for the visually impaired?
Bad start, but let’s move on. Next room, lots of pieces inside glass cases. Lots of papers and interesting-looking books, but I couldn’t tell what they were about - because the explanation was in this tiny little stencilled text on the bottom right, which one might just be able to read, if the person in front of you doesn’t have the bad habit of swaying, as if they were in playschool reading Winnie the Pooh.
To cut a very long and painful story short, it was hard. Hard to follow the flow, hard to understand the pieces, but most of all, it was hard to understand Montezuma’s world – which is all I went there for in the first place. Now, I know something about Aztecs because I studied their politics at university, but I walked out of that place with the impression I knew less then than before.
The exhibition didn’t have a story, or if it did, it didn’t tell it to me. It felt like a group of people had laid their hands on a bunch of interesting material and threw it together, without ever thinking that people like me, who wandered in not knowing much, would not particularly be interested in sharing a big illustrated book with hundreds of other people. Because that is what it felt like: a very annoying, shared reading experience. I was so concentrated on reading quickly, because the people behind me wanted to read the tiny text as well, that I barely paid attention to the pieces themselves. And the books, that looked so interesting... if only I could flick through the pages, see the cover… Thank you very much, I’d rather rent a DVD.
Anyway. This story is just one example of the classic design problem: the designers believe that the users are just like them, and the users think that they are the ones who are thick.
The gap. We are here. To fill it.
Sunday, 4 October 2009
The return, 2009.
Ha.
I know. More than a year. Shameful.
After being delighted with my friends' blogs last month (Aisha and Cynthia, yes, this is your fault), I remembered that I too have blog.
The academic ethnography is over. But the true adventure should begin here: no deadlines, no supervisor, no bloody theoretical freaking framework to fit my thoughts into. This blog will continue to be my exercise of observing the world. Yes, I know, genius. No one on the Internet does that, eh?
(Ian screams from the other site of the room: "There is too much on the Internet". I'm about the add some more).
I know. More than a year. Shameful.
After being delighted with my friends' blogs last month (Aisha and Cynthia, yes, this is your fault), I remembered that I too have blog.
The academic ethnography is over. But the true adventure should begin here: no deadlines, no supervisor, no bloody theoretical freaking framework to fit my thoughts into. This blog will continue to be my exercise of observing the world. Yes, I know, genius. No one on the Internet does that, eh?
(Ian screams from the other site of the room: "There is too much on the Internet". I'm about the add some more).
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Finished! Part 1.
Just delivered the thesis for my supervisor to read it.
It is a curious process, this of delivering the thing. It is like a birth, really. It spent so much time being mine, in my small computer, and now it is out there, in the world, being handled by a complete stranger. ...
Difficult to concentrate these days. Have my mind into other affairs. Desert-like.
Also I have been doing some research about usability in Brazil. But this is a subject for another post. Maybe even to another blog??
I have plans about reformulating this blog. I want to have time to do it.
It is a curious process, this of delivering the thing. It is like a birth, really. It spent so much time being mine, in my small computer, and now it is out there, in the world, being handled by a complete stranger. ...
Difficult to concentrate these days. Have my mind into other affairs. Desert-like.
Also I have been doing some research about usability in Brazil. But this is a subject for another post. Maybe even to another blog??
I have plans about reformulating this blog. I want to have time to do it.
Friday, 8 August 2008
Geeky blogs and academic work - a good match?
In a conversation with Stephan at Tinseltown over a rather nice glass of milkshake, he told me he investigated the use of blogs in academic research -- and the little ant only told me this now.
He even published two papers on the subject (!) available on his webpage.
That made me
1) remind me that I have a blog
2) think why I stopped writing.
Number 1) brought me here today to try to answer number 2). I think -- and Stephan's studies confirmed -- that is because I don't have a reason to write. In fact, I do, but I am writing somethin else (the thesis).
I guess that if I had used this blog to communicate with my supervisor, i.e., if I had made this blog available and that he could read and comment on my posts, it could have been interesting. But how much of my thesis would I really want published on the web? How much of my line of thinking would I want exposed to people I don't know. And, considering I have an external host, how much of their identity would I have given away?
During the first part of this research I didn't have anything concrete to write about, and a lot of anxiety to be ejected from my system. So I think that writing had this main function. At the moment I re-directed the anxiety to somewhere else, the blog lost its function.
I think it would be really useful, though, if I was working with someone else on the project. for two reasons:
1) We are not always in the same room, so it is nice to be able to communicate online. But what are emails for. That leads me to two:
2) Conversations over comments are organized and restricted to specific themes. I find that in emails people feel free to go astray, because it is like a little letter you are writing to someone. You can include lots of "BTWs", like "what are you doing tomorrow", "did you see Heroes yesterday?" or "I hate the weather", which can lead to other infinite, non-related topics (specially the last one, if your partner is English).
Need to refine these thoughts, but this is a very interesting topic.
He even published two papers on the subject (!) available on his webpage.
That made me
1) remind me that I have a blog
2) think why I stopped writing.
Number 1) brought me here today to try to answer number 2). I think -- and Stephan's studies confirmed -- that is because I don't have a reason to write. In fact, I do, but I am writing somethin else (the thesis).
I guess that if I had used this blog to communicate with my supervisor, i.e., if I had made this blog available and that he could read and comment on my posts, it could have been interesting. But how much of my thesis would I really want published on the web? How much of my line of thinking would I want exposed to people I don't know. And, considering I have an external host, how much of their identity would I have given away?
During the first part of this research I didn't have anything concrete to write about, and a lot of anxiety to be ejected from my system. So I think that writing had this main function. At the moment I re-directed the anxiety to somewhere else, the blog lost its function.
I think it would be really useful, though, if I was working with someone else on the project. for two reasons:
1) We are not always in the same room, so it is nice to be able to communicate online. But what are emails for. That leads me to two:
2) Conversations over comments are organized and restricted to specific themes. I find that in emails people feel free to go astray, because it is like a little letter you are writing to someone. You can include lots of "BTWs", like "what are you doing tomorrow", "did you see Heroes yesterday?" or "I hate the weather", which can lead to other infinite, non-related topics (specially the last one, if your partner is English).
Need to refine these thoughts, but this is a very interesting topic.
UPA & BBC
Went to the UPA event yesterday at LBi, to see the what the BBC is up to. Of all presentations we heard, the most interesting was definitely the one by Nicky Smyth, head of Innovation and Research at BBC -- who I met at the VizThink event last month, with her lovely friend Sal.
I was fascinated by the approach they had to research -- despite the fact that her 15 minutes only allowed her to give us a taste of what they are doing. The Participate project seems to encompass a myriad of areas, from augmented reality to encouragement and perception of media. I will look at their delicious logs as soon as I get over this bit of work.
I was fascinated by the approach they had to research -- despite the fact that her 15 minutes only allowed her to give us a taste of what they are doing. The Participate project seems to encompass a myriad of areas, from augmented reality to encouragement and perception of media. I will look at their delicious logs as soon as I get over this bit of work.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Returning comments
Well well, here I am. I spent the last ten or so days writing myself up, so didn't have time to blogging. In fact, I didn't even think of this.
At the moment, my comments are:
- It is a very frustrating thing having to put all the experience one has in the field into a 12.000 words document. That is including all the protocol of a thesis.
- Having said that, I am in a moment of choice. I can either explain something really well, or lots of things superficially. In fact, I am trying to explain two things and not quite managing. So the solution could be to concentrate on one of them. But then questions about the quality and usefulness of my thesis arise, with that feeling of "so that is all I have been working so hard for?".
- On the other hand it has been a brilliant experience to play around with the English. Not my husband (who hasn't seen me for quite a while now), but the language. I am absolutely adoring the writing, no better satisfaction than the sound of a well written paragraph. I am not sure about my style, if it is academic enough,... I am sure I will edit over and over and over again.
- Distance is good. Every time I struggled with something, it was better to close the word window and do something else and then come back to that.
-
At the moment, my comments are:
- It is a very frustrating thing having to put all the experience one has in the field into a 12.000 words document. That is including all the protocol of a thesis.
- Having said that, I am in a moment of choice. I can either explain something really well, or lots of things superficially. In fact, I am trying to explain two things and not quite managing. So the solution could be to concentrate on one of them. But then questions about the quality and usefulness of my thesis arise, with that feeling of "so that is all I have been working so hard for?".
- On the other hand it has been a brilliant experience to play around with the English. Not my husband (who hasn't seen me for quite a while now), but the language. I am absolutely adoring the writing, no better satisfaction than the sound of a well written paragraph. I am not sure about my style, if it is academic enough,... I am sure I will edit over and over and over again.
- Distance is good. Every time I struggled with something, it was better to close the word window and do something else and then come back to that.
-
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Tools
Tools can be a very, very distracting thing.
At the moment I am using HyperResearch to analyse my data, Freemind to organize my thinking and Omnigraffle (which was my friend Joahanna's recommendation) to put shape on things. I just wish that there was a way of doing them all together.
I wish HyperResearch had a graphic way of representing the connections of concepts. Couldn't they have just made a way to connect codes from different cases? Another big BIG frustration is that it doesn't like "cosmetics highlighting", meaning that you can't just highlight a quote or a passage of a text: you are obliged to code it if you want to retrieve it later. That forced me to create a code that is actually "highlights", which is ridiculous -- but a quite nice workaround. Now I can see why all those heated posts from those irritated researchers make sense: the software can indeed influence the shape of your analysis!
Now Omnigraffle is, for sure, the biggest distraction I had so far, with its little furniture shapes, and its cute colours and arrows.
This is why today was not be most productive of days. On the other hand, it was a nice day because I met Carly Stevens, a UCL MSc student like me and a very interesting person. She is doing research in electronic publishing, more specifically, she is investigating personalization and why it didn't really catch on.
At the moment I am using HyperResearch to analyse my data, Freemind to organize my thinking and Omnigraffle (which was my friend Joahanna's recommendation) to put shape on things. I just wish that there was a way of doing them all together.
I wish HyperResearch had a graphic way of representing the connections of concepts. Couldn't they have just made a way to connect codes from different cases? Another big BIG frustration is that it doesn't like "cosmetics highlighting", meaning that you can't just highlight a quote or a passage of a text: you are obliged to code it if you want to retrieve it later. That forced me to create a code that is actually "highlights", which is ridiculous -- but a quite nice workaround. Now I can see why all those heated posts from those irritated researchers make sense: the software can indeed influence the shape of your analysis!
Now Omnigraffle is, for sure, the biggest distraction I had so far, with its little furniture shapes, and its cute colours and arrows.
This is why today was not be most productive of days. On the other hand, it was a nice day because I met Carly Stevens, a UCL MSc student like me and a very interesting person. She is doing research in electronic publishing, more specifically, she is investigating personalization and why it didn't really catch on.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Design implications
It is incredibly refreshing to find a paper that terminates all your doubts: now you not only can justify yourself, you can say that there is someone else, out there, in the academic authority Olympus, who agrees with you.
I'm talking about the never-ending discussion about design implications for ethnographic research: to be or not to be?
One of the most mind-tearing, heart-squeezing, leg-shaking questions one can ask himself during the fieldwork is "what if I don't find any design implications??". Every time this evil question came to my mind during the days (or nights) at The Newspaper, my stomach felt funny.
And the reason for that is that you don't know until it is over. And, even when it is, it might be that you simply don't have anything specific to tell anyone. Yes, the main role of ethnographic work for CSCW research is to inform systems design, but trying to squeeze a list of things that need to be done in the end of a report might to asking to much from the researcher.
It might be that you just have an insight, and a solution for a problem is right in front of your nose: clear, objective ways of improving people's work, accompanied by a thorough analysis of why this or that innovation might work in this specific culture you just spent 3 months examining is obviously a good thing.
However, if a study describes a specific work setting in detail, giving a sound, thorough account of how those people do what they do every day explaining what works what doesn't work and why it doesn't can be already a good contribution to a corpus of study.
Lydia Plowman, Yvonne Rogers and Magnus Ramage agree with me. According to them:
"...workplace studies carried out primarily to understand a particular working practice are making a valuable contribution to the body of CSCW knowledge in their own right As pointed out in the section on basic research such studies can inform CSCW design through raising awareness of important conceptual issues and questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about work activities and how they should be supported. In essence, 'the main virtue of ethnography is its ability to make visible the 'real world' sociality of a setting' (Hughes et ai, 1994).
They also say that:
1. researchers should not feel obliged to force design implications from their material;
2. researchers and designers should engage more in a continuous dialogue to help bridge the gap and misunderstandings between 'techno-talk' and 'ethno-talk';
3. workplace studies for 'their own sake' have played an important role in shaping CSCW and should continue to be supported unfettered to provide further insight into the social, the cognitive and the technical aspects of work.
I couldn't agree more. When I first heard this argument -- from my supervisor's mouth, before starting my fieldwork -- I had the impression that this was somehow connected to lazyness. Yes, I did my friends, I thought that. For me it seemed quite reasonable that the researcher should also come up with the design solution for any problems they find in the field.
And that is the mindset behind much of the research we see today: researchers go to the field so obsessed with finding "what's wrong" that it is difficult to believe that the bulk of qualitative research today isn't biased.
Anyway, this is enough discussion. I made my point, I guess. :)
I'm talking about the never-ending discussion about design implications for ethnographic research: to be or not to be?
One of the most mind-tearing, heart-squeezing, leg-shaking questions one can ask himself during the fieldwork is "what if I don't find any design implications??". Every time this evil question came to my mind during the days (or nights) at The Newspaper, my stomach felt funny.
And the reason for that is that you don't know until it is over. And, even when it is, it might be that you simply don't have anything specific to tell anyone. Yes, the main role of ethnographic work for CSCW research is to inform systems design, but trying to squeeze a list of things that need to be done in the end of a report might to asking to much from the researcher.
It might be that you just have an insight, and a solution for a problem is right in front of your nose: clear, objective ways of improving people's work, accompanied by a thorough analysis of why this or that innovation might work in this specific culture you just spent 3 months examining is obviously a good thing.
However, if a study describes a specific work setting in detail, giving a sound, thorough account of how those people do what they do every day explaining what works what doesn't work and why it doesn't can be already a good contribution to a corpus of study.
Lydia Plowman, Yvonne Rogers and Magnus Ramage agree with me. According to them:
"...workplace studies carried out primarily to understand a particular working practice are making a valuable contribution to the body of CSCW knowledge in their own right As pointed out in the section on basic research such studies can inform CSCW design through raising awareness of important conceptual issues and questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about work activities and how they should be supported. In essence, 'the main virtue of ethnography is its ability to make visible the 'real world' sociality of a setting' (Hughes et ai, 1994).
They also say that:
1. researchers should not feel obliged to force design implications from their material;
2. researchers and designers should engage more in a continuous dialogue to help bridge the gap and misunderstandings between 'techno-talk' and 'ethno-talk';
3. workplace studies for 'their own sake' have played an important role in shaping CSCW and should continue to be supported unfettered to provide further insight into the social, the cognitive and the technical aspects of work.
I couldn't agree more. When I first heard this argument -- from my supervisor's mouth, before starting my fieldwork -- I had the impression that this was somehow connected to lazyness. Yes, I did my friends, I thought that. For me it seemed quite reasonable that the researcher should also come up with the design solution for any problems they find in the field.
And that is the mindset behind much of the research we see today: researchers go to the field so obsessed with finding "what's wrong" that it is difficult to believe that the bulk of qualitative research today isn't biased.
Anyway, this is enough discussion. I made my point, I guess. :)
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
A step ahead
Yesterday was my last day in the newspaper, and it was a great one. I felt sorry for leaving... not only I got used to those people, I even liked them. I think they liked me too. It is a strange thing a fieldwork ... you create bonds with people, you know what they are thinking, what they are doing, the way they move, ... and then you go. It's almost heartbreaking.
But well, now it is writing time. I found that:
- It is almost irresistible not to start drawing conclusions about what you found. The "data analysis" that must happen during the data gathering didn't happen for me in any formal way, i.e., I didn't code any data before the end of the fieldwork, as you are supposed to do, but I believe I did a sort of analysis by writing up the summaries for each day and comparing things from one day to another. How I am going to explain this in the theses is another subject.
- In many many ways, ethnography is like making a long news story. You go there, you listen to what the people have to say, you ask questions, you make notes, you transcribe tapes, and then you come back to the office with the hint, that feeling that you know what the lead of the story is, but you need to check the transcriptions again, see if you are not jumping ahead with conclusions, and you check with your editor what he thinks (that's Simon, in a way) and then you seat down and write the story. There is always the "uh, am I sure this is the lead? Did I get this right?" question you ask yourself, but in 99.999% of the times, you are spot on.
The difference here is that, as a reporter, if you are not right about the lead you will get to know the day after when you read the other newspapers. And what a horrible feeling that is...
If you are a researcher, nobody will know if you missed the lead or not, because is pretty much your choice, it depends on what the data tell you, but also how you want to look at it, and from which angle you want to describe what you saw.
So being an ethnographer, for me, is like a step ahead: it is journalism with choice, thought and freedom. I think I love it! (godforbidsomeonereadsthis!)
But well, now it is writing time. I found that:
- It is almost irresistible not to start drawing conclusions about what you found. The "data analysis" that must happen during the data gathering didn't happen for me in any formal way, i.e., I didn't code any data before the end of the fieldwork, as you are supposed to do, but I believe I did a sort of analysis by writing up the summaries for each day and comparing things from one day to another. How I am going to explain this in the theses is another subject.
- In many many ways, ethnography is like making a long news story. You go there, you listen to what the people have to say, you ask questions, you make notes, you transcribe tapes, and then you come back to the office with the hint, that feeling that you know what the lead of the story is, but you need to check the transcriptions again, see if you are not jumping ahead with conclusions, and you check with your editor what he thinks (that's Simon, in a way) and then you seat down and write the story. There is always the "uh, am I sure this is the lead? Did I get this right?" question you ask yourself, but in 99.999% of the times, you are spot on.
The difference here is that, as a reporter, if you are not right about the lead you will get to know the day after when you read the other newspapers. And what a horrible feeling that is...
If you are a researcher, nobody will know if you missed the lead or not, because is pretty much your choice, it depends on what the data tell you, but also how you want to look at it, and from which angle you want to describe what you saw.
So being an ethnographer, for me, is like a step ahead: it is journalism with choice, thought and freedom. I think I love it! (godforbidsomeonereadsthis!)
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Relationships and The Dog...
Building a relationship with the informants is the single most important thing one can think of doing in the field. I have 21 interviews after 4 weeks of research, but I am not sure how many are actually of any use, because I don't know how some of them represent the truth about what these people do and think in their work.
People, and journalists specially, can be very doubtful of our intentions in asking all those questions about how they do things, they are afraid that giving in to much could put them in risk, or make them vulnerable. Also, I perceive in some of them a discourse that matches the management's discourse, and the opposite in others, which means that the the first case is when they are not disclosing what they really think, what they really do: they are just afraid of where am I going to send that tape...
Also, I am not sure if I observed enough. It is very difficult to tell what they are doing from any distance. Unless they talk you through it, it is a very misterious -- or dull, depending on your take -- think to do to watch a journalist working.
I had some very honest testimonies, people that said very confidential things, complained and told me what they think about things. But in those the problem is now separating their personal opinion about management from what are actually processes they go through in a days' work.
I think the most difficult part of my job is about to start: analysing this data will be The Dog...
People, and journalists specially, can be very doubtful of our intentions in asking all those questions about how they do things, they are afraid that giving in to much could put them in risk, or make them vulnerable. Also, I perceive in some of them a discourse that matches the management's discourse, and the opposite in others, which means that the the first case is when they are not disclosing what they really think, what they really do: they are just afraid of where am I going to send that tape...
Also, I am not sure if I observed enough. It is very difficult to tell what they are doing from any distance. Unless they talk you through it, it is a very misterious -- or dull, depending on your take -- think to do to watch a journalist working.
I had some very honest testimonies, people that said very confidential things, complained and told me what they think about things. But in those the problem is now separating their personal opinion about management from what are actually processes they go through in a days' work.
I think the most difficult part of my job is about to start: analysing this data will be The Dog...
Monday, 23 June 2008
Looong time no see
So, that was it, I dropped the ball. It is too much, the whole fieldwork thing is too much. I thought that the uncertainty was something that haunted you on the first couple of days, maybe first week. But here I am, fourth week in, and still don't have a clue.
The funny part of it is that I seat there, at the newsroom, and sometimes I think I've seen it all, I heard it all, I know how it works. It can't be, I know, I know. And that is when my paranoid side talks louder into my ears (which are soar from the combination transcription headphones + glasses): "You must be missing something. "These people are all lying to you. You have no idea of what goes beneath..."
I think I should had just remained as a journalist, a profession where paranoia is a great skill.
Have I finished? Being bored and finding it easy means that I'm done? Should I know what to write about? Am I extending this further than I need to? Do I have enough material to write about? Did I find anything interesting?
I have 6 weeks to find out.
The funny part of it is that I seat there, at the newsroom, and sometimes I think I've seen it all, I heard it all, I know how it works. It can't be, I know, I know. And that is when my paranoid side talks louder into my ears (which are soar from the combination transcription headphones + glasses): "You must be missing something. "These people are all lying to you. You have no idea of what goes beneath..."
I think I should had just remained as a journalist, a profession where paranoia is a great skill.
Have I finished? Being bored and finding it easy means that I'm done? Should I know what to write about? Am I extending this further than I need to? Do I have enough material to write about? Did I find anything interesting?
I have 6 weeks to find out.
Thursday, 19 June 2008
The story so far
Almost end of the third week in the field and I have done 16 interviews. I don't know what am I going to do with all this... I started reviewing the literature again (very slowly) to guide my thoughts in this last week, and I think I drew a line here and there, of things that I am NOT interested in. For example, I am not interested in the details of editor's interactions with the Content Management System. Poor usability there abounds, but this is not what my theses is about. In the same way, I am not interested in fixing management problems (shortage of staff, for example).
On the other hand I can start seeing patterns in what people tell me, about what story I can tell about the comparison I set myself to do.
"Acting with Technology" is Bonnie Nardi and Victor Kaptelinin's new book on Activity Theory, which I recommended to UCL's library to purchase and happily collected today!
On the other hand I can start seeing patterns in what people tell me, about what story I can tell about the comparison I set myself to do.
"Acting with Technology" is Bonnie Nardi and Victor Kaptelinin's new book on Activity Theory, which I recommended to UCL's library to purchase and happily collected today!
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
After the badge, the backpack attacks!
After a few weeks at the newsroom, I have the strong feeling that people started avoiding me. They look at me and pretend they didn't see me -- even if their eyes cross mine -- and they change their routes to avoid me.
There are two very possible things happening here:
1) They have been told off by management for slowing or not being very efficient, because they were being distracted by me
2) They got gradually aware that I am talking to everyone in the newsroom, and therefore the possibilities that I know things that they don't increased, as well as the risk of me letting off information they gave me or opinions they expressed.
I also realize that people pretend not to see me or get slightly uncomfortable when I approach them with my blue notebook -- which is not full of "secret notes" -- in hands. So I left the notebook in the bag and, else, went to see people with my backpack in place (on my back, of course), so to transmit the message: "I will not disturb you now, whatever I will tell you will be quick, because I am either arriving at the newsroom or most probably, leaving". It did work!
I interviewed a very concerned person today. And I must say it was a shame to have to ask this person if I could turn on the recorder, because the issue we discussed was very delicate, and I am sure that had we been just chatting I would have got more from him. But then, how would I remember it in detail? Specially today, as I seem to have a gray cloud over my head.
Trade offs.
The more people tell me what they think, the more I get involved with delicate issues, and the bigger my awareness of how it is important to keep their identities safe.
There are two very possible things happening here:
1) They have been told off by management for slowing or not being very efficient, because they were being distracted by me
2) They got gradually aware that I am talking to everyone in the newsroom, and therefore the possibilities that I know things that they don't increased, as well as the risk of me letting off information they gave me or opinions they expressed.
I also realize that people pretend not to see me or get slightly uncomfortable when I approach them with my blue notebook -- which is not full of "secret notes" -- in hands. So I left the notebook in the bag and, else, went to see people with my backpack in place (on my back, of course), so to transmit the message: "I will not disturb you now, whatever I will tell you will be quick, because I am either arriving at the newsroom or most probably, leaving". It did work!
I interviewed a very concerned person today. And I must say it was a shame to have to ask this person if I could turn on the recorder, because the issue we discussed was very delicate, and I am sure that had we been just chatting I would have got more from him. But then, how would I remember it in detail? Specially today, as I seem to have a gray cloud over my head.
Trade offs.
The more people tell me what they think, the more I get involved with delicate issues, and the bigger my awareness of how it is important to keep their identities safe.
Changing habits
Interesting comment by Julia Hailes, sustainability consultant:
The biggest challenge is not the technology, but in changing peoples’ habits.
After these weeks at The Newspaper, I couldn't agree with her more.
The biggest challenge is not the technology, but in changing peoples’ habits.
After these weeks at The Newspaper, I couldn't agree with her more.
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