Final Portfolio yo!

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The Final Blog

As the semester winds down, the due dates for the final portfolio and ethnography draw closer. At this point, everything has been observed and sifting through the content is the most important thing. I would like to say that I am in very strong shape for this point. I have my entire paper complete down to the last sentence and all I have left is my introduction. I feel that with each paper I did better and better and also was able to correct mistakes from previous papers. I would like to think that over the year in this class my writing has greatly improved to the point where I really enjoy writing now and have considered becoming a COMM major in the field of journalism or screenwriting.

The Final Product

By this point of the field working project, it's all about organization of ideas. It is quite possible that it may take quite a few combos of ideas before things begin to stick. The important thing is to keep everything relevant to the project and be able to draw or create a conclusion as to what the field offers. It's important to highlight the most important things in all of your fieldwork that you are positive you're using and keep on adding to them. Sometimes it can also be a good idea to physically move the sheets of paper with info around to create better organization if you're having trouble.

The current stage of the field working project is all about revision. This is where you take an idea you had a take it a further step and run with it. It's a strong idea to look at the good points of your project and not look for errors, they will present themselves if studied enough. Some things will also have to be cut out of your final project because not everything is necessary.

For my field work project, I have taken the last few days attempting to organize all my information. I expected this to be much easier than it was and it has caused a bit of tension on myself trying to put the pieces in order. I also feel that I have made each of my original essay's much more crisp after a second revision.

Interviewing To The Extreme

There is so much more to interviewing than just writing down what someone says. You need to be able to read their facial expressions and know exactly what they're getting at. Keeping an open mind is very important because without one you're creating a biased story. Leaving an important part of an interview out because of bias can create a problem. There are also two important types of questions that need to be asked. The first is an open question which can branch off into many different ways. An open question is something that the interviewee has to explain and usually in detail. On the otherhand, a closed question is one that has a set answer to it. Essentially it is a yes or no question that won't get you far, but it will still answer what you need to know.

Also it's not always about a good question, it's really about a good answer. An interview is only as good as the answers you receive from them. It's also important to look interested in the interview. If the person you're interviewing notices that you're not taking it seriously, neither will he or she. It's interesting just how important what you do during an interview is. From a distance it seems that just making some random questions is good, but in reality it takes so much more, such as strong answers and good awareness.

Interviewing Process

The interviewing process is a very important part of the ethnography experience. Interviewing gives you the side of the location that you can only get through word of mouth. It is impossible to know the back story of your location without talking to someone and it is also impossible to know what the people there think without speaking to them. The customer is just as important to hear from as the provider, especially in the case of your location and mine. It's important to go deep into the subject to gain more knowledge about the area.

In the writer's essay about the Hanover Bowlabdrome (now Boston Bowl) she chose to emphasize the workers and the bowlers there. Bowling is the kind of activity that is best spoken from the actual player. You need to see the artist with his paint brush more importantly than the guy that owns the museum. Laura, Patty and Alice could all somewhat be defined by this essay and you can tell that Alice seems to be less friendly of the three. On the other hand you find out alot about Carol by interviewing her. The higher ups also have strong insight to be head.

For my interviews with the people at taco bell, I plan on spreading it out between employees and customers. I feel like the people that actually buy the food can give me good insight on what they enjoy and what they don't enjoy. Also their habits at the restaurant and why they come. From the employees I can gain information on the founding of the taco bell, the work that goes on in the back and the origin of much of the menu and perhaps even the origin of Baja Blast.


An example of a strong interview

3/17/11 - Document Designing

My group for the assignment features Matthew Schotte, Ian Pulley and Gerber Costa. Our goal is to create a powerpoint to show just exactly what a good document or website should look like. We've all worked diligently together to compare professional websites to awful looking ones and show the certain things that good into a good document. Colors, fonts, pictures, animation and words play a big role in this. There is also an interesting secret twist to our project, similar to that seen in an M. Night Shyamalan movie. I feel as if the project will be a huge success and enlighten the audience on how to make a good document or website.

Midterm Portfolio

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The Observations of Tillinghast Dining Hall

About 1:20 PM
Free candy hearts at the check in desk
Smells delicious, somewhat like BBQ
Not nearly as crowded and expected
Long line for the wraps today
Jake Mullaney is eating a burger, came over and acknowledged me
Lady at the grill area gave me a dirty look for no reason
Phil collins playing on the radio, boosts my mood
Alot of people with backpacks presumably going to class after lunch
Water seems to be the most popular drink at the vending machine
Noticed many commuters
Hot Dogs and burgers on the grill

Judging by the time I would assume that most people still had classes, making the dining hall seem much more vacant than usual. The usual cheeseburger was on the grill with hot dogs and the option of a BBQ burger. The only person that noticed me was my friend Jake. Everyone else seemed far too immersed in their lunch or in conversation with their friends to notice. Judging by the backpacks and my knowledge of the commuters, I would assume most of these people were not done with their day or were grabbing a quick lunch before the ride home.

2/10/11 - Boisterous Bowling Alley

The detail put into the bowling alley was above and beyond my expectations of what this essay should look like. Although I live in the area, I've never been bowling in hanover and have no idea what it even looks. The images used in the essay are potent to all five sense and make me feel like I'm actually there. I can somewhat relate to the feel of a bowling alley, but I literally feel like I know what this place looks like and exactly how the people seemed.

For my essay on taco bell, I plan on going into the same depth in my research. Everything from the lighting to the people and the sounds to the smells, everything will be shown. I can also relate to the slight feelings of awkwardness in the early goings of the project. Talking to strange and different people can seem rather weird. I plan on making everyone who has never been to this taco bell know exactly what it looks like and exactly who goes there.

2/3/11 - Taco Bell

For my ethnography project I am choosing to do the taco bell in Norwell MA. I find this idea interesting as I go there quite often and see numerous interesting things. Not only is the design of the restaurant unique, but so are the people and the product. I personally find many of the children under the age of 16 that go there to be very irksome and annoying, but there are people of all different ages there. You see parents with children, college kids, people under the influence of marajuana and even business men. I believe it's the delicious food that drives people to go here.

Personally I'd love to know people's reasons for coming to taco bell, especially with a Burger King, KFC and McDonalds in the area. Also I'd love to know what the employees think there, especially of some of the more obnoxious people I've seen. It'd be very cool to see the way the food is handled as well. I'm shocked at how fast things are made, especially with such a variety of different things.

1/27/11 - Friday Night At Iowa 80

Reading Friday Night At Iowa 80 has become a good example as to what this field working assignment is like. The essay featured the interviews, sights and atmosphere of the truckstop in Iowa. When reading this article, after the first few pages you can almost envision exactly what the truck stop looks like and who goes there. The writer of this did a very good job putting everything together to give a perfect analysis of what seems to be the biggest truck stop around.