second take

today is my recording day after a misfire last week. yes, I might be anxious about getting data collection done but meanwhile people have their lives to live! seriously, recording plans falling through (as mine did last week) has reminded me of the generosity of people and the imposition that qualitative research sometimes makes on lives. I am also very very grateful to Gillian who has helped me find participants. as someone remarked yesterday, we rather have a captive audience in school classrooms -not so when recording requires venturing into people's homes.

meanwhile, I've been getting familariar with equipment and gaining quite a few new skills. I spent several hours teaching myself how to "capture" a recording. it was a tremendous sense of achievement when I finally got it. It is dead easy NOW. So, I've been looking at little trial recordings on my computer screen. that is just brilliant. I will soon be purchasing Transana, and I'm itching to learn that. Hopefully, it will make the transcription process a little easier. I also think it should lead to another publication on transcription.

new data

Today I will be making the first recordings for my cyberspace project. I've been playing around with my new digital camcorder and I think I now have the necessary skills to pull it off. I will need to check things carefully of course because there will be no going back to making other recordings should I "slip up". the camera is very easy to use ONCE YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT! So, I spent several hours yesterday taking brief recordings and then showing them back. I think I will try to get two different recordings in the home i will visit today. I"ll do a short ten minute recording, take a break (as much as for the participants as for myself), and then record a different (but usual activity). I am intending to record the everyday activity or natural occurence, however, my presence and recording equipment make it somewhat more than that.

It still seems odd not to be thinking about independent writing and the transcript that has driven my work since 2001. I have often said I could analyse that transcript for the rest of my working life, and that is still true. Of course, I don't have that luxury. Besides, I think the foray into the home and computer activity will be refreshing for my work. i noticed that the 2009 IPrA conference website is available and I think i will submit an abstract based on my At Home in Cyberspace Project. On the site it suggests that posters are useful at this conference, and posters are put up for an entire day. So, I might try to get a poster accepted. I remember the IprA conference in Rheims in 2000 -Carolyn Baker and Greer Johnson had a poster on Greer's work with married couples and courtship.

spot the owl

 

I was thrilled when a colleague pointed out this tawny frog-mouth owl. I've never seen one before but it was an arresting sight.

Meanwhile, the research project is really coming along now. I have a new camera curtesy of the Joyne Maine sale last friday. I am pretty excited about it cos the equipment I used for my PhD data collection was very basic and would often break down. I had to borrow the equipment on a daily basis and so rarely had the same recording devices twice in a row. this added unnecessary anxiety because i only had ten days of recording (according to my ethical clearance application and so needed to get it right at the time). While I will have to get to know this new camera, it is certainly going to take pressure off. The other thing is that I will now upload the recording directly into my computer and use free transcription softward to develop my transcript. yes, I'm out of the Dark Ages (in both senses!).

I will make my first recording on Friday. I'm thrilled because it will involve social interaction between two participants who will be using the computer together. I hope to be able to record the computer screen so that talked indexed to images and print can be understood easily.

I've had confirmation that my article on transcription is now under review. I REALLY want to get this publication.

new focus

top of the town
Originally uploaded by angie cat

Today, I've been focusing on aspects of my latest research project. This work will examine the accomplishment of young children's on-line activities using the perspective of ethnomethodology/conversation analysis. It has taken me a time to get to this work but I have a window of opportunity now. I will be recording the interactions of six young children. I'm looking forward to the challenges of a new project and also to acquiring some new skills. The later will involve DVD recording equipment and on-computer-screen analysis. I hope to take onboard the use of one of the transcription programs that are available for downloading. I haven't seen much written about those so perhaps there will be some possiblities for addressing that aspect of transcription in future publications that will arise from the research project. Most importantly, the final CA focus will develop from the recordings so there is a deal of anticipation.