Welcome to FieldBlogs
July 8th, 2008
This morning Brian Tyler and I met and talked about his preparations for dissertation fieldwork. He floated the idea of a blog to share experiences with—and get feedback from—others in the med anthro research group about his fieldwork. An hour later, this blog was born.
Our first task is to develop a shared vision of what the blog should be. I’ll let Brian take a first stab at jotting down some of his thoughts and then invite Doug Monroe to join the conversation. Doug is working full-time to collect interviews in Tallahassee before he returns to UF for classes in the fall. He surely has some tips and tricks to share from his first foray in the field.
Some questions:
- Who’s the audience? Should the blog be restricted to members only, or open to the whole Web?
- What purpose does the blog serve? What types of information belongs here?
- Do you want a different name for it (e.g., Brian’s suggestion of Dispatches from the Field)?
- What policies need to be in place regarding privacy, etc.?
- What’s the relationship between the blog and the soon-to-be-developed wiki?
The links I’ve added to the blogroll (on the right) may provide some inspiration. See, in particular, Erkan Saka’s whitepaper, “Blogging as a Research Tool for Ethnographic Fieldwork” and Cicilie’s reflections on how blogging “sharpens the attention” in fieldwork.
Let’s hear your ideas!