Assignment for Paper Two: Spaces and Artifacts

Prompt

Now that you have positioned yourself with respect to your chosen technology, you must begin the difficult task of paying close attention to this technology in places where people interact with it. This assignment will ask you to focus intently (“look at your fish!”) on the artifacts and spaces related to your field site(s). All through this unit, you will need to take copious field notes, slow down, and notice detail.

Write a four to five page paper in which you do all of the following:

• Give a detailed and focused description of the site or sites within which people interact with/use the technology you've chosen. By “focused” I mean that you should make choices about what to describe.
• Your description should not just list details, but it should rather give the reader a real sense of what it is like to be at the site, and what it is like to use the technology.
• In addition to description, you must also analyze the ways in which the space of the site is used by the sub-culture. That is, you must interpret how people use that space, and how the technology affects that use.
• Focus on at least one artifact from the site, and analyze its function or role in that site. That is, interpret or “read” the artifact and its context.

Remember, this is not a list of questions to ask, nor should you organize your paper according to the bullet points. Rather, you should develop a main idea (or thesis) about how your technology and its relation to specific spaces. The latter part of chapter three and all of chapter five in Fieldworking should help you with this paper.

Format Requirements

• This paper must be at least four, double-spaced pages long, and not much more than five.
• A “page” is a sheet of paper with at least 250 words on it. Set your documents to have one-inch margins all around, and use the Times New Roman (12 point) font.
• Your name, my name, the course section, and the date should appear in the upper-left corner of the first page (do not use a cover sheet). Your last name and the page number should appear in the upper-right corner of every page (use “header” function).

Important Dates

Sunday Oct 3: Draft of paper due by email to group members and Derek.
Tuesday, Oct 5: Conferences in class
Thursday, Oct 7: Final Draft Due