Druid Cycles

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Date of Event: June 23, 2010

What: Druid Cycles Ethnography

Who: Thor Bard and rest of shop

Where: Druid Cycles’ Shop

What happened:

The first part of the day was spent doing some basic data entry, which I can only do in 15 minute increments, so I went as quickly as I could. The shop is trying to be a bit more organized, so instead of having the customers’ names and phone numbers on coffee sleeves scattered about the shop, they are now in a nice excel database.

I was then able to input some of the specs for the bike that Rob had taken down. It is amazing how much knowledge he has. As I had a difficult time reading his handwriting, I had to ask him what many of the words were, however if I had even ¼ of the knowledge he has, I am sure I would not have needed to ask. Getting that done was a good step for the website and making sure appropriate content is online.

Rob ended up having to take the trip up to Hackney to pick out a different fork and some rims for a bike they are working on.  So staying back at the shop, after a bit of cleaning and eating white bread with jam, Thor and I were able to talk about the website.

Here are the links to the documents that Thor and I went over. There were not changes made to any of the documents and he agreed with the personas that I had created. From the personas, came the idea of having quotes from real customers on the website, so that is something I will add.

PROPOSAL druid_webproposal

PERSONAL OUTLINE (not specifically shown to Thor, but generally discussed)druid_weboverview

REVISED SITE MAPdruid_sitemap

PERSONASdruid_personas

We looked at the current website as well, and discussed many of things that were not working for him at the moment. Again, it I was mostly the fact that the content is not organized and he can’t update the site himself.

Later on in the day, Druid also decided to have an impromptu BBQ. Not even sure where the bbq came from, but they got it going outside the shop and all visitors were offered fresh sausages from a place down the street.

During this time, a man also came by the look at a few of the children’s bike that Thor had brought by. Lots of old Raleigh children’s bikes with the metal plates still on the front stem of the bikes. Even for kids! Much nicer looking than those today. The child came in to look at the bikes with his father and Thor was incredibly good with him. Offering a bell, showing how it works and just generally making jokes. It just solidified how good he is with every single type of person that comes along, no matter age or background.

During this time were also going through the content that Thor needed to write to better represent the shop.  Thor had wanted to do it together, which I was not sure about, but as we started talking and I was asking him questions to get ideas for the content, I remembered that this was what I had meant to do in the first place. Because the shop is quite busy, I didn’t want to take time for separate interviews or time consuming content reviews, so I had wanted to combine the two as a way to get to know the shop and Thor better while getting the content done at the same time.  It was short and choppy, but I will have enough points to weave together a nice narrative for the website.

A few of Thor’s business friends also came in today. Good to see how he networks and they all provide for each other. One woman works for a cycle tour company that Thor does all the maintenance for, joined them for the bbq and a bit of conversation. She also knew I was the one doing the website updating and marketing. And another man who runs a cycling event for kids, getting them learning how to ride bikes and doing repairs. Quite cool project he has going, and he is studying sociology and experimental ?learning techniques? Can’t remember exactly, but he is definitely using knowledge to better his community. You could tell him and Thor have a nice, give and take relationship. He came in needing a Sturmey sprocket thing and Thor tried to find it without luck, but the man was comfortable enough to ask him to keep looking because he HAD to have it today. I feel in most instances to be able to do this, you gotta know the person pretty well.

IT was also funny to watch Rob try to figure out where the heck he was going on the map and the amount of patience people have for each others’ confusion and forgetfulness in this place. But it is also what makes the shop work. While it took Rob about an hour to leave the shop, in the  meantime between trying to figure out where to do, he got a few things taken care of while he waiting for Thor to give him more information.

I was also able to help Ian sp? with sending a message to his employer today. It is nice to be able to help them with their English when it really matters. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to live here with a language barrier that can often affect your livelihood. I had also found out yesterday that he used to be a tailor, which is why he is so amazingly good with the bicycle seats. It was obvious that he knew what he was doing, but from how he spoke, I could tell he really does know more than I could imagine. He said that Russia in a phase…there is no work for him…a 15 year phase, but he hopes to be able to go back and work when the country is in a better state.

Oy what else? Thor was on a weightlifting day today, and I also caught part of a conversation were he said he used to “get people in shape not bikes”, which also explains why he is so buff. I guess he also used to be a body builder, as one of the other volunteers and him watch video of him lifting on Youtube. Quite the life he has led.

Posted in Druid Cycles, Nonprofit, research methods, web documents, workflow | 38 Comments »