Monday, January 12, 2009

Ethnographic field notes & live-blogging


This week I prepare for a trip to the Valley, a birding trip, a trip to the WALL, the big border wall, a meeting of the State Sierra Club, in other words, a big mashup of opportunity to be observer, blogger, processor, participant. All at once.

I'm taking my digital journal, my Macbook Evernote ap. I'm writing down everything all the time. I'm taking photos. I'm thinking about angles and possibilities. I'm reviewing birdsongs and calls. I'm birding. I'm cooking and helping feed cattle. Attending a potluck dinner and tracking down a Pine Flycatcher, a bird I hear is on this side of the WALL for the first time ever -- to observe the dark side of birding. To tell on my friends.

Oh boy! I'm an ethnographic storyteller. In 10 years. When I realize that at some point I have to stop observing and writing everything down and start reading and analyzing what I've been writing. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. I am just trying on the ethnographic storyteller outfit for a long weekend. See if it fits.

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