digital short.

My video begins with some graphics, setting the scene and introducing the main point: the library is where homework happens.

Then, I have several shots of students in the library.  Some show students working on homework.  Then, there are some shots of students in the atrium late at night, since most of what happens that late isn't homework.  It's more of a social gathering than anything.

After several shots of students working in different places, I have a shot of an aisle in the stacks, with nobody to be found.  I put in some cricket sounds for added effect, to highlight that people in the library are generally spending their time doing anything but looking at or reading books.

The video ends with another graphic, again pointing out the theme of homework in the library.


Here's a screenshot of the storyboard in iMovie:

project update.

My project is coming to a close, and I can see some ideas coming together in unexpected ways.  I've taken a look at the library's vision statement: "to promote lifelong learning in a dynamic environment, inspiring critical thinking, inquiry and discovery."

In all my time spent in the library, I can't say that I've seen anything that looks like it's "inspiring critical thinking."  I don't know that I've seen students inquiring or discovering anything more than the answers to their homework or maybe the right source for their paper due the next day.  It's more of a culture of homework than a culture of learning.

I think I'll use that idea--that homework is what happens more than anything else at the library--as the centerpiece for my digital short.

methods.

I've been working on a Methods section of my paper.  Here's a bit of what I have so far:

I went to the library to observe students using the space as much as possible.  Because using a laptop is very common, I decided to take notes in electronic form while observing.  These notes varied from quick storytelling of events that I saw to simple descriptions of what I heard and thought while there.  I made an effort to spend time in every room, watching for any differences as I moved around, and to observe in the library at different times.  Because it is open 24 hours throughout the work week, I was not able to observe at every open hour, but I intentionally observed students in the early morning, throughout the day, and very late at night.

In addition to observation of students, I conducted several interviews with students regarding their use of the library.  These interviews were via Facebook messages, and the responses I received were understandably short and direct.  I interviewed one student in person who works at the library desk, knowing that she spends more time there than I was able to.  This interview was very helpful, as many of the hours in which she works were times that I was regularly unable to be there, and she gave valuable insight into what happens in these hours.  I also spoke with one of the librarians about her personal involvement with the students and how she and the other librarians go about helping students with their research. Her insight will be very useful.

archives.

It's a bit interesting to go looking for archives about the archives.  Or literature about the library.  But, I've found a couple things that will be useful to my project:

--documents from '06 to the present detailing the plans for increasing Information Literacy in the student body
--floor maps of the library building
--an online repository of digital scans of antique documents important to Belmont history
--journal articles about the recent history of academic libraries in American universities
--books on the same subjects

Lives on the Boundary

Lives on the Boundary was truly an informative read.  Much of what Mike Rose writes about sheds a new light on my own educational experiences.  I am his target audience: that group of people who assumed too much about the education of their peers and never thought twice about students who struggle in education.  "They aren't working hard enough," or, "They just don't seem to care."  Maybe even, "They just aren't smart enough to understand..."

Such were my experiences.  Rose points out the hard truths: these "working-class children, poorly educated Vietnam veterans, underprepared college students, adults in a literacy program...lived for many of their years in an educational underclass."  He tells stories of his own experiences growing up not learning much in school.  Going to college on that rocky foundation.  Aside from a handful of caring and insightful teachers and professors, he never would have made it.

But my use of the words "made it" are exactly what Rose is critiquing.  What has he "made it" to?  Yes, he graduated.  But that's not what I meant.  He is successful.  He wrote a book, with no grammatical errors found in a first read-through.  Despite growing up in an "educational underclass" of his own, he now teaches the struggling students.  Has he really "made it" somewhere?  Or is education just some special example of being socialized into another class--those with a liberal arts degree?

Rose argues that even these students in an educational underclass are intelligent.  He proves it by giving them an opportunity to write, to enjoy poetry, to read Shakespeare.  They might not get the syntax perfect, but those things will come with time.  He lets them enjoy their freedom before cracking the whip of the grammarian.

I really enjoyed reading Lives on the Boundary.  Rose has a special knack for seeing through another person's eyes, and understanding why they make the errors they make.  It shows up in his writing, as he relates story after story.  At times, I felt that I was reading fiction, only to turn the page and find an argument for educational reform.  If you can weave story and analysis this well, you've made it...somewhere.

online. (community?)

Today I found that the library has a wiki: http://bunchlibrary.pbworks.com/w/page/6284024/FrontPage

It has several pages discussing the library, and appears to be mainly geared toward faculty, as much of the content discusses how they ought to teach several General Education courses like First Year Seminar and First Year Writing.  The site is very old.  The last thing posted on it was uploaded over a year and a half ago, so it doesn't seem to be a very popular place.

Continuing around the site, I realize why it's been so neglected.  A new online space has taken its place: http://belmont.libguides.com/content.php?pid=221098&sid=1835350

This one is not only more aesthetically pleasing, it also looks like it gets a bit of traffic.  It has research guides for every major imaginable, offering suggestions on first places to look for information and contact information for more one-on-one help.  While the first page hadn't been updated in almost two years, this one has had research guides updated in the last few days.  To be honest, I'm impressed.  The view count on the Pharmacy guide is over 13,000 views in the last year.  For a library website, that has to be a lot.  But, for as many views as the site has, I can't find any sort of discussion.  Almost every box on the page has a "comment" button at the bottom.  But every one that I see reads, "Comments (0)."  As useful as the site is to those 13,000 students, they didn't stick around to talk about it.  Likely, they were a bit too busy, with a deadline fast approaching.

glossary.

I've compiled a short list of terms that are important to the library:

Atrium -- area above the first floor lobby, on the second and third floors

Bruin Grounds -- cafe offering food, coffee, and other drinks, located next to the circulation desk in the first floor lobby

Circulation Desk -- desk where books can be checked in and out, located in the first floor lobby

CubCat -- online catalog of library materials

Multimedia Hall -- information literacy classroom available for use by classes located behind the circulation desk

Reference Desk -- desk where students are encouraged to ask the librarians for assistance with research and other academic tasks, located on the first floor, next to the computers which are available for student use

first interview: student worker.

I asked a friend of mine that works in the library if she would do an interview to help me out for my project.  She helped to point me in the right direction, as someone who spends several hours a week there.  A couple things that she said were interesting and helpful:

MC: Do you ever get distracted by noise from people upstairs?

My Friend:  Sometimes, so… you might have experienced this, but the library has those couches that are, like--I don’t know what material they are made out of--but when you sit on them, they make this noise, and it sounds like you’re farting.  And they have those couches upstairs, and so literally like all day long it’ll be that noise and then people start laughing.

MC: Are there ever large groups of people that might get louder at times?

My Friend:  Umm…  Sometimes... [she goes on.]

MC: Are there specific times that you’ve noticed that are more busy than others?

My Friend:  Well, yeah.  Thursday mornings there’s always a lot of people.  A lot of that I think comes from the café. People get coffee in the mornings and so the lobby is always like super packed on Thursday mornings.  The weekends, its usually pretty quiet: Friday and Saturday afternoon.  But then Sunday night is usually fairly busy because everybody tries to get their homework done for the next week.

MC: Were you surprised by anything when you started?

My Friend:  I had to take a little test about like call numbers and stuff to make sure I knew how to put all the books in order.  So that was kinda funny.  

We talked for about 10 minutes, so this is only a part of it.  It'll definitely be helpful as I move forward.  There are a couple themes that I had already begun thinking about that she touched on, so I was glad to talk to her.

artifact: keyboards.

For my cultural artifact, I thought I'd write about something always present in the library, though rarely examined.  My thoughts about the keyboards in the library started when I began to simply sit and listen.  One sound that never stops in the first floor of the library is the keystrokes all across the room.  How many students have used those keyboards? How many late-night papers typed?  How many are used to surf Facebook between classes, or to quickly print out an assignment, thanks to the lack of printer ink at home?

These keyboards have had a lot of use, and that use isn't slowing down.  While few people walk into the library expecting to hear the clicking of keys throughout the room, that sound definitely characterizes the space more than the sound of a page turn.  Funny isn't it, that a library, known for its books, would be more utilized for its computers?

spacial map.

I sketched out the first floor of the Bunch library as I sat, taking field notes.  It's amazing to see the concentration of people in the room.  In my map, X's are where people are sitting.  This obviously changed during my time spent in the library, but I marked locations at one time.  While I was there, I saw no one venture past a bookshelf.  It's like only half of the room is used: the half with computers and no books.  People were clustered around the tables with computers, though a few (including me) sat at tables in the middle of the room.  Most of these (again, including me) were on laptops.  The round tables marked 'iMacs' have no people at them, likely because, according to the blue papers taped to each, they are "Not in Use...yet! But set up is almost complete!"  It will be interesting to see if these are as popular as the older PC's, once they are up and running.

Once I draw out the physical location of people in the room, I see that the actual use of the room may not match the intended use of the room.  Yes, students are present.  But they are rarely even physically near the books that are present.  I remember one girl sitting at the table in the back of the room (top left circle on my map), but it was almost as if she was using the bookshelves as a barrier between her and the outside world.  Her defense: no one would dare get too close, for fear of touching a book when a keyboard would suffice.

My map is by no means to scale, but I did the best I could from my vantage point in the middle of the room.

ethnographic account: concert production

My major is Audio Engineering Technology, and I've always enjoyed live concert production.  So as soon as I heard about this assignment I knew I wanted to take the chance to describe what I would see at the Christian Showcase this weekend.  I am taking Belmont's Advanced Sound Reinforcement class, so I was required to be there to help out with load-in, load-out, and everything in between.  I thought I knew what I would find: a very distinct set of behavior, clothing, and speech.  That's the way all shows are.

That's not what happened.  I was surprised.  There were a few things of note, that I will get to soon, but overall, most of the audio crew was not acting noticeably different than what I would consider normal.  There were no crude jokes, superfluous fowl language, or even the expected arrogance towards those who don't know as much.  It was weird.  I think because the showcase is supposed to be a learning experience for all those involved, the arrogance must be thrown out the window.  Also, most of the students that showed up to help had never done anything like it before.  They didn't know what to expect.

What did I find, though?  Everyone was wearing black.  This is easily explained: on a dark stage in a dark room, stagehands aren't seen as easily if they wear black.  A yellow t-shirt wouldn't work very well.  This is such common practice that my professor even remarked that he would be present at the show wearing neon green.  We all laughed, and the next day he was wearing black.  A few of the new students hadn't figured this out yet, so the first day there was a little variety in color, but by the second day, everyone working audio had on black.

I definitely didn't experience what I thought would happen, but it's still interesting to see how something as simple as shirt color can give someone away as inexperienced or "illiterate."

fieldworking: frothy monkey.

I went to Frothy Monkey to do some practice note-taking.  I really enjoy coffeeshops, so it was nice to spend some time there actually paying attention for once.  I saw some interesting things...  There was a couple that showed up that looked like they belonged (they were dressed like Nashvillian hipsters, if I can use the term), but they had two kids with them.  I don't think I had ever seen that before.  I wrote: "Hipster meets parenthood?"

A little later, a family came it.  Mom and Dad were in their 50's, with a daughter about 15 years old.  They came in, proceeded to the cash register, ordered drinks (Dad got plain coffee to go, Mom ordered an iced fruit tea, and their daughter got hot chocolate), and then left.  The longest part of their experience was waiting for their drinks.  And those 45 seconds were very awkward for them.  Why didn't they just go through the drive-thru at Starbucks?

I wouldn't say that anything disturbed me while I was there.  After all, I'm as much a part of the culture as any.  I was a little taken aback by the guy that walked in with a 2-3 ft. long beard.  But he didn't seem out of place.  Any other day, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it.  It's interesting how your perspective changes just because you're paying attention.

ethnography idea:

In the last several years, I have become what some might call a "reader." As such, I really enjoy spending time in libraries, so I have thought that I may study the competing Discourses within and between a few libraries in Nashville. I know that there is a strong secondary Discourse associated with presence in a library, and I think it would be interesting to study how these norms vary from library to library.  I hypothesize that Belmont's library would have a vastly different culture than the downtown public library.  Knowing that Belmont's library is open 24 hours during the week, I would enjoy seeing how the culture changes throughout the day.

I know this idea needs some refining: there is no specific question I have in mind to answer.  But I think it will turn out to be an interesting project.

Competing Discourses: O Brother Where Art Thou

In this clip, taken from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, I see two distinct Discourses showing up.  The three men share one Discourse: having broken out of a chain gang, they try to get away.  Their language is rough and improper, and they seem to share the unassuming southern drawl with which they speak.  However, the main character, Everett, displays two Discourses, switching between them.  His tone of voice seems to change as he switches to a more proper and educated Discourse.  Watch again from 0:33 to 0:47: he begins in a distinct southern drawl, saying, "Say, any o' you boys smithies?"  But then he continues: "Or if not smithies, per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wandering?"  And again, at 2:13, the southern speech of the blind man is starkly contrasted with Everett: "Well, that right there may be the reason you've had difficulty finding gainful employment.  You see, in the market of competitive commerce..."

The movie is full of such comments, contrasting rural speech with Everett's more sophisticated mannerisms.  This is used for humor throughout.  If you haven't seen the movie, make time to watch it all.  It'll be worth it.

Rules and Breaking Them Well

What were you taught NEVER to do as a writer? Come up with about two or three such mandates, and write some of your reflections about each one. Was this rule a good one? Are there sound reasons for it? Are there times when you can/should ignore it?


As a high school student, I was taught to never split infinitives.  As a middle school student, ending a sentence with a preposition was something I became increasingly aware of.  And as early as elementary school, beginning a sentence with a conjunction was flat-out wrong.


However, none of those sentences need to be deemed grammatically wrong.  (There went my fourth 'error.' Did you catch it?)  Without proper rules, some might say, our language would fall apart at the seams.  To which I would reply: "hve u ben on fbook l8ly?"


Is there not a middle ground between rigid use of formal grammar and such blatant disregard for any guidelines whatsoever?


I quickly came to appreciate the critique that Williams presents in chapter two of Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, because of the way that he distinguishes between rules that should not be broken and rules that should.  Yes, I said it: Some rules should be broken.  And broken often.


It is the writer's belief that he has, in his education to the present point, been instructed in grammar and the proper rules of writing to his own demise.  Would that he could return to a less learned state, to write freely again!  It seems that his voice has been smothered by an imposing  set of guidelines from which he can never fully remove himself.  These rules have permeated his writing, his critique of literature, and even his speech.  Formality has become not only his single mode, but also his standard for all others.


Why is it that in my mind such writing has been applauded!?!  (I'm back, if you couldn't tell.)  I read back over that paragraph and shudder.  Surely there are places and environments that don't require such precision! But to me, thanks to my 'education,' all that I read and write has voiceless, soulless impersonability as its highest aim.  Even in this paragraph I wanted to write:

Surely some places and environments exist for which such precision is not necessary!

So I arrive at the conclusion that not all writing must follow strict rules.  Yes: grammar is great, but not when it gets in the way of communication.  Not when it suffocates.  Never should formality be the goal when lighter conversation will do.