Okay, so my anthropology professor assigned us basically a 5-8 page paper in which we basically do our own ethnographic/anthropological study of a group of people. OBVIOUSLY it's due November 17th, because really, when else would you assign an ethnographic study? Anyway, I nearly died, thinking, "It's right in the middle of NaNo and I'm going to have to go find some random group of people who happen to be in a room somewhere and spend hours with them and then write this stupid paper and WHEN WILL I WRITE THIS DAMNED NOVEL?"
At which point I calmed down and decided I would use you all as my ethnographic study, if everyone's on board (and if ML's approve, no animals are harmed, etc.). This also gives me a convenient excuse to come to as many write-ins and meet-ups as I can for the next two weeks.
Uhmmmm. I'm trying to read through the assignment to maybe think up questions I can ask everyone, and I may make up surveys and pretend that they'll give your mind a rest during write-ins. But for now, I guess to legitimize my thread, if anyone wants to share anything about the NaNo way of life, type away.
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15,150 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 19 35
I'm interested, but then I was a sociology major for a while and I love anything that studies people in groups. Could you explain the parameters of your assignment a little more?
----------~Alexis. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. Write hard!
Co-Municipal Liaison for New York City
10,765 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 20 25
Well, as everything is with this professor, everything is vague and general. The paper is about the "cultural and social context for some group of people" and an analyzation of "a portion of their behaviors and attitudes as witnessed through participant-observation."
He suggested a few of our key concepts as areas that we can concentrate on:social stratification, ideology, reciprocity, gender issues, ways of making a living, economic systems of organization, and systems of belief. I didn't include them initially because they feel basically meaningless if I just throw them at everyone. He also advised that we describe relevant aspects of the physical environment, so the cafes will be convenient for that.
I basically magically came up with this idea in class today, so I'm still a little fuzzy on all the details. Hopefully I can come back to everyone with something actually helpful.
45,654 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 07 24
He suggested a few of our key concepts as areas that we can concentrate on:social stratification, ideology, reciprocity, gender issues, ways of making a living, economic systems of organization, and systems of belief. I didn't include them initially because they feel basically meaningless if I just throw them at everyone. He also advised that we describe relevant aspects of the physical environment, so the cafes will be convenient for that.
I basically magically came up with this idea in class today, so I'm still a little fuzzy on all the details. Hopefully I can come back to everyone with something actually helpful.
While i'll confess to a healthy disrespect for sociology (it's something we psych majors had to sign up for when issued our diplomas), i'm very interested in this as well. And you have a lot of flexibility, i'm sure you can make something work. (Could word wars be seen as a sort of motivational reciprocity? What about baked goods? Are the subset of NaNoers who show up at Bar 9 meaningfully different than those who don't? Etc, whatnot.)
----------Not the sharpest clown in the happy meal.
15,150 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 08 04
This sounds very interesting, and I think one of your best courses of action is to come to as many write-ins and meetups as possible! :) Yes, for the fun of writing with all your fellow novelists, but really for observational purposes. It will give you the opportunity to make direct participatory observations and also talk and mingle with lots of people. I would suggest that anyone you take down personal info about (regarding their job, etc) be told what you're using the information for, since you'll probably be writing it down. I think most people would be more than willing to help you out with a school project, especially if you assure their privacy.
Have you been to any of the write-ins so far? The Manhattan ones are getting upwards of 50 people, and there's a lot to observe!
----------~Alexis. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. Write hard!
Co-Municipal Liaison for New York City
20,962 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 08 16
I would totally love to help.
Perhaps you can make the study looking at different write-ins based on location? While there's a core group of people that go to everyone, I assume a lot of the people are very location specific. And hey, chat! You can do an analysis looking at nano nyc as a whole, and then breaking down to the various groups people are self-selecting into.
(former psych major year, love this stuff)
45,654 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 08 38
Best yet, you can have your protagonist be an ethnographer, and you can put your entire report into your novel. Or perhaps your antagonist could be the ethnographer... hmm... that sounds like even more fun.
----------Not the sharpest clown in the happy meal.
15,150 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 08 46
Now there's an idea!
And duchez is right, you can try logging into the chat tonight to see what you can get from that. At the very least I'm sure there will be sprints to up your word count. :) Especially if Villa is in there.
~Alexis. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. Write hard!
----------Co-Municipal Liaison for New York City
~Alexis. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. Write hard!
Co-Municipal Liaison for New York City
10,765 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 09 57
You guys are awesome. Thanks for all your help.
I was definitely going to try and get to as many different areas as possible for write-ins. I'm hoping to get to the Park Slope write-in tomorrow for the last bit. I'm going to a panel at school about the museum industry to find how and if I could get a real live job once I graduate that I won't despise with the core of my soul. As a baby history major, I figure museums are a good place to start. Anyway, it depends on how long that runs and if I'm up to running down to Brooklyn afterwards. Friday and Saturday I'll definitely be there, hopefully next week I'll be able to make all three no problem.
I also posted a thread in the general forums just asking people generally about anything they think is relevant to the NaNo way of life. You can never have too much data, I guess.
Sadly, Silea, Adrian is already employed as a knight and quest-er, and is also too big of a jerk to ever care about anyone's culture. He'd just stomp around being angry that he couldn't understand what anyone was saying.
69,000 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 19 10
ooooo, can i be an outlier? i mean, i'm already an outlier in real life, it might be fun to play one in someone's ethnographic study!
j/k. it's probably best for you that you're doing this when i'm not in nyc to skew your data. good luck!
cornbread
----------"drench yourself in words unspoken
live your life with arms wide open
today is where your book begins
the rest is still unwritten"
-"unwritten" by natasha bedingfield
write hard!