8.03 Methodological Considerations
c) Recording Methods.
The ways in which
ethnographic observations are recorded have cultural and historical baggage and
technical limitations. There has been considerable debate about the effect of
literary traditions on the anthropological notebook.[1]
Writing, being relatively slow, is said to make the logbook entries more
reflective. But what does this mean? It is about translating the fullness of
the reality experienced into written form. This means making an apparently
complete transcription of an oral world, in which not all experiences are even
spoken, into a literary form. Usually field notes are meant to be directed to
the concrete[2] and be
exhaustively detailed. However, my log notes are more of a recording of
thoughts, relations and observations of people's opinions. The most obvious
material aspect of the Exploding Cinema activity, the films and videos, has not
been regularly recorded in the logbooks, as these have not been central to my
study.
Of course even participant
observer research is limited in what it can reveal with the resources available.
I was aware that even with such a small group, short period of activity and
relatively small cultural area of influence (at least in terms of geography
and critical responses) the groups activity was more complex and wide ranging
than my study could encompass or represent. Hopefully the inevitable parameters
of the research set by my own resources do not seriously distort my description
and analysis of the principle features of the Exploding Cinema project.