Transcription

Today I transcribed one of my first research interviews from my PhD fieldwork.  It was 8000 words in total, 13 pages, and took just over 4 hours to do, which is pretty good going if I say so myself.  Because my methodology involves walk-and-talk interviews with people around their community there were a couple of issues - firstly with the wind making certain sections of the recording hard to hear, but I think I did okay.  Might have to invest in some sort of wind guard.  It was funny though, as I was transcribing I was walking round the area again in my head, and at certain points could hold an image of what we were looking at as we talked about certain topics.  I think the method has been quite useful so far because on numerous occasions questions have arisen from our surroundings, and in planning the route it allows me to use a number of features of the area as prompts for conversation.  It is early days but some of the early themes to arise from the data include:

Emptiness: one of the prevailiing senses is that the area is underused, and for such a densely populated part of the city, there are rarely many people out and about in their neighbourhood.

Territoriality: related to this is the fact that people do not seem to take responsibility or ownership over their neighbourhood.  Even though they live there they do not see it as their territory as such.  Hence they do not feel like the open spaces are theirs to defend from intrusion.

Permeability: the area feels very loose and diffuse.  A number of separate entities and very loosely bound together, and do not form a coherent whole.  It doesn’t help that the neighbourhood has been developed piecemeal over a number of years.  Of course being open and empty means that while connections between different parts of the area are weak, one can see how attractive it may be to criminals.

Another thing that has come up in the interviews so far is the way that people don’t need each other to go about their daily business; they have cars, computers, telephones, security, technology to help them.  The potential for community interaction is really quite small.  Perhaps the only time people interact with others in their community is when they have a need for something (i.e. resolve a parking dispute) but this community interaction is not a necessity itself.

In terms of crime and disorder, the topics that are underpinning my studies, the themes that have emerged so far from my interviews have a definite relationship and a part to play, but at this early stage I would not say that notions of security and safety are necessarily bound up in the way people perceive the public, and private, spaces of their neighbourhood. 

Guitar latest

I just bought a book called ‘Open tunings for blues guitar’ because it had the tab for a Robert Johnson tune that I love - drunken hearted man. I’m slowly picking my way through it (!) and it’s quite satisfying to be able to develop some different skills.  To be honest it’s only in drop d so not that radically different from normal open tuning but I really like the song.  There are a few others to get to grips with but I think it makes sense to attempt them one at a time.  I really love playing my guitar even though I know I’m not that good at it.  It’s just really satisfying to be able to express your personality through six wire wound strings.  Sometimes I can pass hours at a time just sitting on the sofa and plucking about.  I have tried to write some tunes of my own but always feel my lyrics are roquefortesque and my melodies malodorous.  Still fun though.

Here is someone more adept giving their interpretation of RJ’s tune:

Not sure on the singing style…it veers around being spot on like a dog through the cones at crufts…but good effort mate!

 

 

Useful sidetracks

To quote the Cranberries ’everyone else is doing it so why can’t we?’ What could be more normal than detailing the minutiae of one’s diurnal endeavours for all to see?  Notably I only use one other Cranberries quote, ‘do you have to let it linger’ which is directed at those people producing noxious gases in my vicinity.  At a stretch those last three lines actually form a rhyming triplet so that’s a free poetic intro straight off…

The reasons for starting my own blog aren’t really crystallised in my head but these are some of the vague catalysts:

practice a different style of writing

act as a diary for my phd

help me put my musings and ponderous moments into a more memorable and accessible format

let me create an archive of accountability for all those interested in what i get up to when not in the office

always good to do something new

probably the only way i will be able to assess how i am developing from day to day in terms of ideas for my research project.

I see this as something separate to my academic work, but something that can be beneficial.  I don’t subscribe to the perspective that procrastination is a waste of time (although it can be a way of passing time) but almost everything done during that day can have a positive spin put on it.  Why think that ’work’ is the only useful or notable achievement from one’s day?  I think it is a sad state of affairs that we are continually defined by our work.  When someone asks me what I do I am tempted to answer, ‘well I play guitar quite a lot, watch films where the creators have tried to do something different or interesting…listen to a variety of music that has meaning…read books…make my girlfriend happy…cook…play football…run…try to stimulate my senses everyday and not be a twat to people I encounter….what do YOU do? 

 

i think that’s enough! right, on with the writing!