BA #2 - Observation Preparation

This post is optional. To receive the extra credit, it should be posted to your own blog by 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday 2/8/11.

Purpose and Context

This optional Blog Assignment is an opportunity for you to try on what theorist Ann Berthoff has called "consciousness of consciousness" (11, as qtd. in Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater 90). Most of you have not yet had a chance to begin observing at your community agency, so you do not have the benefit of a set of fieldnotes on which to reflect. However, you can begin training yourself in analysis by using spaces, images, or artifacts.

For this post, select either a space that is somewhat familiar to you, an image (try our image databases), or an artifact that you own or that is in some way important to your community agency. Write a reflexive description of this space, image, or artifact. In other words, challenge yourself to -- like Scudder -- "look at your fish" in as many ways as possible, until you realize your own selective perception and the factors that cause you to notice some things over others.

Think of your description as a critical verbal snapshot (something like Box 13, 16, or 18 in FW, but with more awareness of how your description reflects key concepts in the textbook). Feel free to bring Fieldworking into explicit conversation with your verbal snapshot.

Evaluation Criteria
I will evaluate this extra-credit post according to the “plus” system discussed on page 4 of our syllabus. The assignment is fairly flexible and I will accept a broad range of responses. Please be original, but please keep in mind the following criteria:

• Depth of Response – your response to this assignment demonstrates an in-depth verbal snapshot, and demonstrates your ability to work with particular passages or concepts from Fieldworking
  
• Focus and Coherence – your response is claim-driven (even if that claim is implicit) and your supporting claims are well organized
  
• Evidence and Justification – your response provides sufficient details from the space, image, or artifact and relevant passages from Fieldworking
  
• Clarity and Style – your paragraphs are well focused, your sentences are grammatically sound, and your writing has a sense of polish, as if you have thought carefully about what you want to say and how you need to say it
  
• Blogging Guidelines – your assignment follows these and uses them to your advantage