Ahem…

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Trying to get started on this whole blogging/field notes thing has proven to be quite a difficult task. Such small increments of writing appeared to be an easy and possibly fun assignment, but it has taken quite a bit more confidence and organization of my thoughts (and research time) than I imagined. But I suppose, just as with many other things, this will get easier with practice.

* I am having quite a few problems with Wordpress reformatting my text and code (more than usual). Something I am looking into…but obviously I am also trying to write my thesis…so please be patient.

This will be a place for:

1. 1. Field notes both for my research project as a whole and nonprofit web design case-study (beginning in June). I have chosen to keep them in the same space as they will reference and build on each other.
2. 2. Random thoughts
3. 3. Helpful articles and resources
4. 4. Sections of thesis chapters
5. 5. Transcriptions of interviews alongside analysis where needed
6. 6. Photography, audio and film documentation
7. 7. Your comments, feedback and criticism (Be harsh!)

A few issues to contemplate before the blogging begins:

1. 1. My opinions will be influenced by the knowledge that those I am writing about may also be reading my posts.
2. 2. The amount of effort put into the field notes is increased in certain ways. By putting them online, it forces me to organize my thoughts more than usual because I know it will not just be me reading them. I have decided to write my first version of the field notes in Word, and to type anything and everything I can remember from a day’s events, and revise later in the evening to achieve a more coherent picture. I hope this will be helpful, in the same way that transcribing interviews helps one truly hear what the other person was saying. However, this also forces me a do a bit of extra coding to format the notes in Wordpress. Helped with the CMS.
3. 3. I have never really enjoyed writing (thus not improving my writing as much as I could have), so hopefully I can use this daily experience to find a way of making it fun.
4. 4. I do not aim for this to be highly academic. I will make connections where necessary, using tags and categories to filter my data, and use my thesis to truly organize my thoughts and data.

Goals of putting my field notes online:

1. 1. To get feedback from a wider audience of academics, designers and the general public and to improve my own web design and academic workflow.
2. 2. Particularly to gain the feedback of those involved in the project and for them to question my interpretations or to correct any errors I may have made.
3. 3. To share my knowledge and adhere to the ideals of the open source community. I hope that my research can be useful to nonprofits, designers and academics alike and restructure the relations that limit collaboration and participation.

I shall soon have more thoughts about blogging the field notes and my research in general, but I just have to get started and make some mistakes before I can get any more intelligent thoughts out. Thanks to all who read in advance for their patience, thoughts and feedback.

*And one more: Please do feel free to comment on the visual design and layout of the site. It is not near completed yet, but I welcome all ideas.

Tags: autoethnography, Blogging Field Notes, Field notes
Posted in Blogging Field Notes | 101 Comments »