Blog # 5

On Thursdays class Professor Chandler had us participate on an ethnographic exercise and asked us to take notes on what was going on as we talked to people whom we did not know. Below I will share with you my notes!

Jottings

-Melissa
-Iphone note taking
-some people talking in groups
- Holly
-talked about how awkward it was
-Some people were laughing
-Professor Observed
-some people were quiet
-Some convo's were "how we have so so and so class together"
- Awkward laughter
- group formed and the conversations flow was at ease
-some people did not make an effort to meet everyone in the class
- Some stayed close to their friends
-Professor asked us to mingle and move around
-Professor's tone was friendly
- Got really quiet at some


Headnotes

• Have to go talk to someone we don't know
• Walked directly to someone I did not know
• Spoke to Melissa first then spoke to Holly
• Most people had their cell phones out to take notes, I had paper
• People seemed to be uncomfortable
• Some stayed close to their friends and people they knew, where they were comfortable
• Professor asked us to keep moving around the room and talk to others
• Spoke to Melissa about not really knowing what to do/write down
• Felt Awkward and did not know what to talk to people about
• The class got really quiet but there was 1 group still talking 
• Then they stopped because everyone else stopped talking
•  We were instructed by Professor Chandler to go back to our seats

Things I remembered Later that day

• Professor Chandler asked the class to talk to someone else, probably because she saw that no one was really moving around.
• There wasn't much eye contact, this did not feel natural rather it felt like an assignment for me
• It was very hard to start a conversation
• Groups formed
• The body language in some people were very relaxed , chatting
• Others body language seemed tense
• I heard some conversations , one group was talking about how they had another class together
• Some people connected easily with each other , some didn't.
• There wasn't much movement in the room

Field Notes


Professor Chandler asked us to get up and meet one another and take notes on our observations. At first everyone was looking around in confusion and didn't know who they were going to talk to first. Since this assignment was meant to meet and talk to someone you did not know in the class I walked over to a girl who was standing alone looking for someone. Her name was Melissa! After we exchanged names we were writing it down , I then asked her " do you know what we are supposed to do?" I was still confused about what we had to write down, I was nervous and treated this experiment as a chore. After not knowing what to say to each other we went on meeting others. I then met Holly, we chatted for a bit and I noticed that we both felt a little awkward and didn't really make much eye contact. I looked around the room to see if anyone else was feeling as awkward as I did, and sure enough I noticed that some people were having trouble just like I was. I also noticed that not everyone was making the same attempt as I was to talking to people we did not know in the room. There were people who sat together in this class  stayed next to each other, then there were some people who talked to each other because they knew them from another class. This I knew because I could hear conversations around me. Some people even formed a group and held conversations, while some held back a little and observed. Professor Chandler observed us while in the process and I guess she noticed that people stayed where they were comfortable, so she asked us in a laid back tone to move around and talk to someone else. Some people did and others didn't. I think she didn't press on that too too much, which was good because the situation she put us in was awkward enough! (Thanks professor!)  After a while the room fell to a silence and all we could hear was two girls having a conversation, then they stopped after realizing how quiet it got. At that point I thought Professor Chandler would tell us that the activity was over, but she didn't , so we continued talking. People still stayed in their groups talking seeming to get more comfortable as they got to know each other, while others still seemed to be tense. Then Professor Chandler asked us to say good bye and take a seat. I know for me it was a relief that this activity was over!



My thoughts on this exercise!

I think that Ethnographic research is a challenge because it is hard to observe while your interacting . Making jottings and head notes on things that I need to remember is something I learned in our class discussion . These are good tools to use while observing, I usually write details which is not good while doing Ethnographic research because I will miss a good chunk of observation time. Another thing that I thought was a good idea was to ask your self what I remember after some time has passed because I found that I remembered some things I did not mention right after the exercise.