Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Ideas for Your Mapping Project
Before you leave class today, please take 5-10 minutes and tell the rest of us what your focus for our final project will be. What space will you be mapping? What group(s) of people do you think you’ll be observing and interviewing? What’s your plan for the next few weeks to complete these observations and interviews? What do you hope to learn from this project and why do you think this particular space is an important one to study?
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For this project I will be mapping Cherry Creak Mall. I am interested in the behaviors of not only the shoppers but also the men and women that work in the stores. I want to see how people interact and with whom interacts with whom. Over the next few weeks I will be spending periods of time in different stores at the mall as well as the general walkways observing the public and how they use the space. I want to see how different age group and genders use the space. For example, the elderly who use the mall to exercise verses the middle school age boys and girls who use the mall as a gathering zone. I want to observe the different types of people that go into each of the toys. What stores attract what type of shoppers. What those people are wearing, acting like, and who they are with. I am interested to see what people are helped first in the stores and who is ignored. Also, what people are there to shop while others are there just to wander and see what they have. I would like to interview people see whether they just come to mall to look around and maybe find something they like or if they are coming for a specific reason with a certain item in mind.
ReplyDeleteI will be mapping the Colorado State Capitol Building. I have several types of people in mind to interview, including a state senator, a legislative aide, a tour guide, a visiting school teacher, and a tourist. I feel like I could learn a lot from interviewing these people because each of them would be coming to the capitol for a different reason. Since I work there once a week, visiting and observing shouldn't be a problem. I may have to schedule some seperate trips outside of my work time, just so I can get a different sense of who visits on different days and at different times. I feel like the state capitol is used for many reasons, as it appeals to people on political, historical, and cultural levels. I have already observed many people visiting, so it will be nice to see what these people take away from their visits and also why they decided to visit in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI think that for my mapping project I will examine Cherry Creek mall. I think that there are a lot of different people going to and working here and it would be interesting to see what the same space can mean to different people. I think that the best approach would be to choose different spots in the mall (food court, department stores, outside stores) and just spend an hour or two at each looking at how people relate to the space and one another. I would interview a few people working there and a few people shopping. I think that this could be interesting because its a place that sees so many people every day and every person has a reason they are there and their own connection to the space.
ReplyDeleteFor this project I will be studying and observing Wash Park. Many people will be at the park, but I feel the ones that I will encounter most are younger adults who live in the neighborhood who utilize the park for exercise and leisure time with their friends and family. My plan is to go observe on this Saturday evening, next Monday during the class time, Saturday the 15th in the morning, and also hopefully sometime on Sunday the 16th. Throughout the course of this project I hope to get a better sense of what people utilize Wash Park for and why it is important to them. I believe this is an important place to study because it is such a well known and used public space in our area.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping on mapping one of the farmer's markets here in Denver. The groups of people that I will be observing and interviewing would be the sellers who bring their produce and also their respective customers who by their products. The plan for the next few weeks is to go out and interview these people over the weekend when these markets take place. I hope to learn why these markets are important to the sellers and customers and why they choose to go to farmer's markets as oppose to Safeway or other stores. What attracts them? Is there a relationship between the customers and the people the buy from? This particular space is important to study because it is a place that is a very "old world" style of selling produce to customers and it is important to understand why institutions such as farmer's markets have endured when most people shop at huge grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteI will be mapping the Denver Art Museum. I'll probably be observing the people who actually work in the facility. Also there's a good chance that I might interview visitors to the museum and I'm pretty sure that most of them will be artist or have a strong artistic stance. Right now I'm thinking of going sometime this weekend and observe the activity outside the museum, how many people are actually visiting the museum, how do they look like, and stuff like that. Then I'll try to arrange interviews with staff like the curator, guides, even the person who sells tickets and investigate how do they feel about the Denver Art Museum. I would like to investigate how the structure of the museum (very exotic) appeals to the public or the target market and maybe relate it to the fact that the Arts industry is highly important in Colorado, especially downtown Denver. I have always been intrigued to learn why did they built such an edifice as the Art museum and so maybe it is a good opportunity to find out.
ReplyDeleteFor my Mapping Project I am considering observing 16th street mall and the people there. This will provide an interesting variety of people to interview and observe. There will be families there, adults shopping, people going to and from work, as well as people going to eat with friends or by themselves. These people will most likely have different perspectives on how they define the 16th street mall. My plan is to go down on sunday during the middle of the day and observe for an hour, the different people. I might get one or two interviews in during this time, but I first want to know how I define the place before I ask anyone else. Since it is supposed to be sunny on Monday as well, I am hoping to go down during class time and catch people in bright spirits and have a willingness to participate in interviews. After this the only time during the week I can observe will be during the night time so I will be observing people at a different time and hopefully have different perspectives. From this study, I hope to learn what the 16th street mall is. I might learn a little history and definitely discover how the place is defined by the people who use it
ReplyDeleteAs of right now, I expect to map the Lamont School of Music here at the University of Denver. As far as people I will be interviewing, I will interview a voice student, a jazz studies student, a student who has been disengaged from the school, a student who worked at the school, as well as a student who has no connection to the school but participates in activities. In order to do field notes and see the school in different aspects,I will observe the space during the Friday night jazz on May 7, during a special event on May 13, and during a concert in Gates on May 17. I will look visit the school during weekdays when there is no concert or event, to view the space in its "natural" state so to speak. From the project, I hope to learn about how students use the space and feel about the space. I think this space is important to study because it is not one that is spoken about a lot, and I would like to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteI plan on mapping the dorms of DU (south side of campus). I feel like there are a lot on interesting interactions with the space that happen, and my current plan is to observe the dorms during different times of day (or late night) and discuss how the time of day shapes the way people interact with the space and with those working the front desk.
ReplyDeleteI don’t have a concrete idea of where I want to do my research, but I was thinking either Coors Field or this old restaurant called Buckhorn Exchange. Coors Field would be fun and interesting, but finding time to go the one game, then thinking about my two other observations was a bit tricky. Buckhorn Exchange is this interesting restaurant that was in Denver for a long time and serves wild game. It’s not my cup of tea, but my dad took me there once and the history and atmosphere of the place is very unique and interesting. Either idea, I would try to go on the weekends, one observation this weekend, the second and third the following weekend.
ReplyDeleteThe focal point of my research and observation will be centered around the Coors Fitness center on campus here at DU. I plan on observing the inner workings of the gym and exploring the underlying motivations behind working out. Inherently, going to a place to sweat, and over-exert oneself is not indicative of an appealing facet of the collegiate experience. However gym attendance is incredibly steady and those who attend are commonly regular users of the gym. I hope through diligent and thorough research I can unveil some of the reasons for attending the gym as well as how it works and the unspoken etiquette of gym use. In regards to the specific demographic I plan on interviewing, my hopes are to speak with gym users who I have seen frequently working out. By interviewing these people I may uncover what importance they place on going to they gym and what value they extract from this specific location. Although the obvious answers of “ I want to get in shape” or “I want to get big” may recur throughout my research, I hope I can delve deeper into the unsung impetus behind physical exertion. I hope to observe the gym on Thursday and Friday as I have noticed that many try to complete their workout prior to the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI am still contemplating my exact destination but the idea of observing a library has been on my mind. I think that mapping a public library would be a great experience because it can be considered a space that is helpful and calming for some while it is the exact opposite for others. I am thinking that the people I will be observing and interviewing would be library staff and library visitors. I am interested to see why people choose to work there, whether out of necessity or out of passion. Also I would like to find out if people come to the library because of the tranquility it offers or because they are forced to for work, school, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs I am a frequent visitor of the library anyway, I see myself starting my field notes Thursday of this week (tomorrow) which would give me plenty of time to write up my observations and present them in a blog post. Then I would return the following Tuesday for my second set of field notes which would then have provided me with more insight. My following trips are as of yet not determined but I am sure I would have plenty of time to get it accomplished.
For me the library is an oasis away from the daily, routine stresses of life and I like to get away and recollect my thoughts whether it'd be through reading an old, library novel or just working on my laptop. Because I know what the library represents for me, I would be delighted to find out if there are people out there that feel the same way about libraries as I do. While I would like to meet people that share the same sentiments, it would also be a great opportunity to meet visitors that are there out of need whatever that need may be. I hope to learn how the library space functions personally and pysically for the staff and visitors.
For my Mapping Denver Project I’ve picked Jazzman’s Café in Driscoll at the University of Denver. I’m doing it to gain a different viewpoint of the people who occupy the space than the viewpoint I get every day through a simple glance into the café. I’ll be focusing on the students who use the space and the employees along with employee student interaction. I plan on asking a view random people about what Jazzman’s offers them and how frequently they use the space. I went on a Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday at different times in the day to observe a wide range of interactions. I plan to define the place myself before interviewing others so I have a baseline to compare opinions with. I hope to learn a variety of qualities that people believe Jazzman’s has and how it helps people operate from day to day.
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