Our final course project is quickly approaching, and you are tasked with conducting no less than five field site observations where you collect extensive notes and build rapport with members of the community you are investigating.
You must list two communities you are interested in researching for your project. The community you choose should NOT be a community you are already a part of. College is a place where you are supposed to get diverse experiences, and this project calls you to step outside and away from communities you are familiar with. In past terms I've had students explore congregations of churches, tattoo parlors, restaurants, Paul Mitchell's school of Hair Design and Cosmetology, and many more.
You must pick at least two communities because one may not pan out. Consider how difficult it will be to access a particular community and also consider your time constraints (you have about a month to gather all of your data).
List at least two communities you are interested in investigating. Give some background on the communities and explain why you are interested in researching them. You will eventually pick one of these communities to pursue for your final paper. For now, I want you to list two just in case one doesn't pan out.
For our final assignment I have decided to observe either Publix or Nemours Children's Hospital.
ReplyDeletePublix is a large supermarket chain in Florida with amazing customer service and hospitality. I would be very interested to learn how they communicate with one another and how they keep such a tranquil environment and execute their customer service.
Nemours Children's Hospital is an organization devoted specifically for sick children. I have been there a few times and it is a wonderful place full of life. I would love to explore how they come up with ideas to make the hospital fun for children and how they are different from normal hospitals.
I look forward to completing this assignment.
For our Ethnography project I have picked two communities that I have always been interested in.
ReplyDeleteThe first is the modeling community. I have always wanted to be a model and to see how a real photo shoot takes place and what kind of technical aspects are necessary. There is one particular group of freelance Models and Photographers living in Orlando who have invited me to be a part of their group. I figured I could attend the photo shoots and observe the important processes and precautions used while also conducting interviews with some of the models.
The second community I am curious about is that of pastry chefs. I have always wondered how much hard work and dedication is needed to make deluxe cakes for special occasions such as birthday parties or weddings. A friend of mine owns Lake Mary Cheesecake, and I'm sure she would not mind me coming down and observing the bakery and taking quotes from some of the bakers.
I am still torn between which community to choose, but I think that in the end, I will be satisfied either way.
The two communities I have chosen to potentially explore for this assignment are a local church and a theme park giant. As I prepare for this field work, I will be considering a variety of topics for each community which will peak the interest of both my reader and myself. One organization, a local Oviedo church, UCUMC (and their members and staff), have always interested me. They are very active in mission work and in helping with local community service initiatives. I first became aware of this church group last year, when I found out that the church not only sponsors, but promotes and participates in UCF tailgating on their property. They seem very contemporary. I have been considering attending a service and think they are an ideal community to research.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea which I will explore is the culture of Disney World. What suprises exist about their operations? I want to learn more about the cast members who live among us in the Orlando area. Who are the people who play as characters within the park? I have a friend who works at Animal Kingdom. She has made no promises, but says she may be able to hook me up with some insights to the inner workings of the most famous theme parks in America! Does Mickey Mouse really smoke cigarettes on his lunch break?
Depending on access, I will be considering these groups for my Ethnography Project
For my Ethnography Project, the two communities I would like to explore are a local church in Oviedo and Publix.
ReplyDeleteThe local church that I was thinking of would be River of Life church. It is a small church right across from the Oviedo Library. I have attended a few services before and even one of their wednesday night services and they seem pretty nice. I want to learn more on how the Senior Pastor governs his staff and I want to observe what the staff does on a daily basis.
The other community is the food market chain Publix. I have friends in different Publix stores and I want to see how different it is in one Publix than another. I want to see the different interactions between the workers and the Higher Ups as well. Hopefully they can get me a closer look
For my Ethnography Project, I am thinking about choosing either The Master's Academy's guidance office or a local church.
ReplyDeleteMy first choice is The Master's Academy's guidance office. I have graduated from this school and I wanted to observe the place during school hours.There are three people working in the guidance office and their work hour is from 8AM to 4PM. If I choose to observe this place, I would go on the Fridays when I don't have any classes.
My second choice is a local church. I have been going to church since i was very little. I want to observe a church to see how and what is different from Korean churches.
I have choosen to pursue my interest in the community of running a bar/ lounge, therefore my first choice for my Ethnography Project is a bar/lounge in Lake Mary called Dexters. I was a bartender when i was younger and still do it sometimes. Being a bartender is completely different than owning, or managing one. I really would like to investigate the bones of the industry, and see if it is something I would like to invest in.
ReplyDeleteMy second choose is a dog walker. I don't know how easy it will be for me to find a company that will allow me to follow them, but it should be interesting if I can. I think it would be a great community to investigate. I always wonder what kind of training if any you would have to obtain, and where you would get the training and what all goes into being a dog walker
The two communities I am thinking about observing for my ethnography project are a small pharmacy in downtown Sanford and Lockheed Martin.
ReplyDeleteTrue Value Drugs is a small pharmacy located in Sanford. My sister works there as a pharmacy tech; the owner of the pharmacy is her boss and also works as a pharmacist there. I am really interested in pharmacy and plan on maybe becoming a pharmacist one day. Her boss has already said that I am able to come in and shadow him whenever I like. I think that this would be an excellent choice for my project and it will also give me a better idea about what a pharmacist’s job is like.
My father is a software engineer at Lockheed Martin. I used to go to work with him on “take your kid to work day”, but I never actually paid any attention to what he was doing. I think this would be a really good opportunity to observe what my dad does for a living and on an everyday basis. I have never really considered a job in engineering, but perhaps getting a closer look at what they do could change my mind.
For my Ethnography project I have chosen to either observe the Marriott Hotel or a dentist office.
ReplyDeleteI think the Marriott Hotel would be interesting to do a project on because it would be interesting to learn what the point of view is from someone who is working at a hotel. Everyone mostly knows what it is like to stay at hotel and how that feels like, but not too many people know how it feels to work at the actual hotel instead. I would try to interview with the general managers, kitchen staff, and the cleaning crew. My friend's older sister had worked at the Lake Mary Marriott for a long time and has the position of Restaurant Supervisor. I would contact her to see if I would even be able to interview staff there and find out what life is like at a hotel as a staff member.
The second place I would choose to observe would be a dentist office. I would go to the dentist office I have been going to since I was little, Dentistry for Children. It is a local dentistry in Oviedo. I would talk to my dentist Dr. Troy King and see if I would be able to go in and interview him and his assistants. I would observe how work is in a dentist office and use the information I gained from interviewing.
My first community it the hair salon specifically Paul Michelle school. I would love to learn hair and the art of makeup and going there would be a good learning experience for me. I think it would be easy for me to go watch, so I won't have conflicts trying to get in. Paul Michelle school is a hair and make up school that integrate teaching and hands on techniques. They make getting your hair done cheap to the public while giving the students good experience that will serve them well in the working field.
ReplyDeleteMy second community is any music studio. I love music and would love hands on experience and a closer look at the process. This will be a great experience that I can experiment in. It is also a good skill to learn and have fun with. Music involves the instrumental making, musical lyrics and putting the finishing product together. I would love a chance to get a close look to observe the process that goes into putting everything together.
The first community I will research is an online gaming community. The Final Fantasy XIV online forums is a place I have been interested in since the actual mmorpg (massivley-multiplayer-online-roleplaying-game) was released. I am very drawn to this game because it's one of a few games of it's genre to be released on a gaming console instead of a PC. Furthermore, it has experienced great critical acclaim and praise from players. It's release represents a breakthrough in gaming innovation that I and many others have been waiting to see for a while. I will discuss with the players on the forums their feelings about where mmorpgs as a genre are heading in regards with its evolution and how this game is pioneering the trend for the transition of this genre from PCs to consoles. I will also make note of what kinds of players play this game and explore the game's developer's relationship with the players.
ReplyDeleteThe second community I will look into is a church community. The community is called CRHP (Christ renews His parish). They are a group of people who meet every week to discuss readings from the bible and share their life stories. They hold a retreat once a year for parishioners where they pray, celebrate mass, and share their life stories. After the retreat, they ask if the parishioners are willing to join them and help others in the next retreat. I will meet with the people and ask them about their goals. I will try my best to become a part of their brotherhood as well for my personal gain and for this project.
List at least two communities you are interested in investigating. Give some background on the communities and explain why you are interested in researching them. You will eventually pick one of these communities to pursue for your final paper. For now, I want you to list two just in case one doesn't pan out.
ReplyDeleteI am looking into either gay club life/culture or into how an attorney's office works.
The gay club option is something I want to look into because I grew up going to church every sunday, saturday and wednesday and so until I met my best friend, I always sort of believed it the hype that it was a choice and that it wasn't right. Even though I know better than that know, I still know relatively little. I think visiting the clubs, drag queen shows and other related places and activities will be a growing experience for me.
The other option, the attorney's office, is because The Fund, Attorney's Title Insurance Inc. is where my mother works. As her daughter, I have realized that I haven't paid the slightest bit of attention to what it is that she does. Sure, she had complained about office disputes between coworkers, but as for the job itself I couldn't actually tell you what it is she has done for the past 25 years there
For my ethnography project, the two communities I have chosen are The orange county animal services/shelter, and my second choice would be "The voice" youth service at faith assembly. The animal shelter is my first choice mainly because I have always had an interest in the well being of animals. I work at petsmart in the pet care department and Ive grown to love caring for the wide variety of animals we get. Another reason is that my mom works there, she delivers the cats and dogs we get for the adoption centers in our stores and many other pet stores in east orlando. She cares for the ones she is in charge of delivering, and I have volunteered once to help her and I really enjoyed being around the animals. My second choice is "The voice" youth service at faith assembly because my friends invited me once there and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the energy of people around me, everyone was so passionate about why they were there. I was not raised to believe in anything really so this was a new experience and I would like to explore Religion and see it the way others do.
ReplyDeleteFor my ethnography project, the two communities I have chosen are the First United Methodist Church of Oviedo's choir and the Hagerty High School Chorus. I chose these two because I play piano and one day I want to accompany a choir. The FUMCO choir is the choir at my church. It would be interesting to see how a church choir operates with the high demand for a good performance every week and the song choosing decision making. I played piano for the Hagerty Chorus last year but there is a new teacher this year so it would be interesting to observe the differences between the teachers, which one the students like more, which one I prefer and which one gets the best results.
ReplyDeleteFor this project I am choosing to investigate the church community. I am one of religious belief but I don't attend church on a regular basis, or at all in a matter of fact. So I am choosing to go out of my regular routine and away from what I am familiar with and go to a catholic church. I much prefer this community, I know a few people that gather in a church group every week, and I have already asked if I could attend for a few sessions and ask questions.
ReplyDeleteMy other choice that would of been, but I am not going to choose, comes from a idea of a friend. She attends a club that is a psychic teaching class. She says its fun and interesting. I believe it could be. I wouldn't mind learning from people who believe in such miscellaneous things.
For my ethnography I have chosen two communities I am interested in.
ReplyDeleteThe first community is most precious blood Catholic Church. I have never been religious and I rarely if ever go to church. However I am suppose to belong to the catholic community so observing how they act will be interesting. I will sit in on a few masses and maybe attend a local church event.
The next community I would like to observe is the UCF college community. I am still in high school and have been accepted to university for next years fall semester so seeing life on campus is of great interest to me!
for my ethnography project, I will be interviewing the trucking bussiness. Many probably don't know what the trucking bussiness is or what it's all about, but, coming from a history where my father was a trucker for over 20 years, I think I can say I know just a little bit about it through the stories my father used to tell me and past memories of when I was traveling in my fathers truck on road trips. But what I really want and need to know is, " What's really going on on the job? Is there more to trucking and its community that I never really knew about or experienced aside from what I already knew growing up with it or that my father never really told me? These are some of the questions I'd like to answer myself to get further in depth of the history of trucking that I have grown up to love and be apart of me.
ReplyDelete