Field Notes Paragraph
Having seen everything from anti-abortion displays to fire baton twirling practice on Landis Green, no activity would surprise me. One can never predict what will be happening there on a given day. This particular afternoon, a multitude of activities were taking place. One appeared to be practice sessions for campus tour group guides. As I arrived, I noted two pairs of individuals; one in each wore a name tag and carried a clipboard om which they made notes. The other person in the pairs was making a presentation upon which the first person gave feedback. My assumption about campus tours stems from overhearing part of the presentation from one pair which included information about Landis Green and University Health Services. Both pairs left Landis Green headed in the same direction. In addition, there was a group with dogs who seemed to be meeting to allow their pets to socialize. A female sitting near me seemed to think a retriever mix’s decision to urinate near her was personal in nature. I suppose this could be true given her loud complaints over the phone about dogs being on Landis.
On Ethnographic Observations
While observing the activities on Landis Green, I realized the near impossibility of observing one small group in the midst of many activities. Instead, I should have focused on describing the space and the general activities, which would have probably produced better observations and a more insightful field notes paragraph. In the process of writing up the observations, I also noted the importance of immediately writing up one’s observations. I doubt I would have gotten any level of detail had I waited a while to write it up. However, it is also nearly impossible to get all the detail from field notes into a coherent and descriptive write up. So much of what I scribbled down did not make it into the narrative for various reasons. Tim and I swapped paragraphs, and his questions again highlighted the gaps in the narrative into which I should have inserted much of the detail from my notes. Tim did a much better job than I of capturing each individual person’s apparent personality in his notes and paragraph. It was likely the time constraint that negatively affected my notes and write up; I also should have formulated a better plan for my observations and focus.