Week 3 | What is ‘Field Notes’?
31 January 2022
What are ‘field notes’?
Before I go to the Collective, I read Michael Taussig‘s field notes book and Doing Anthropological Research: A Practical Guide fieldwork practicalities which is recommend by group mate from Anthropology discipline.
As a story writer, I use my phone on a daily basis to record inspirations, or funny moments, which I usually manage with words. But when it comes to exhibitions, or extra-curricular research, words don’t seem to be enough. Because there are so many ideas that go through my head like rabbits, and if I don’t catch them right away, they are nowhere to be found. This is where the importance of field notes becomes clear. A mind map might be a good choice–or just scribbling? – I am sure it will helps me to collect my thoughts when I get back to my desk.
Because field notes are by and large rushed, they will not be very detailed and may even contain confusing scribbles, which I think is normal (it is also normal for me to take notes in my native language, I guess).
Also the use of exhibition posters or exhibition documents as an element of the field notes is usual. I believe it was an act (although one sided) of talking to the artist. The exhibition documentation will show the curator or artist’s reflections on the work, which will help me to complete my own follow-up work. I think I can call the exhibition documents DLC(Downloadable Content, a game word).
I don’t want my post to be too long, so for question 2Collective Gallery and anthropology? I’ll put it in the next post.
Useful intro to fieldnotes Shuwen; you relate this helpfully to you own storytelling. Some more detail on what you got from reading Taussig is missing – what did you learn from Taussig specifically? Remember also to provide full references + a bibliography just as you would in an essay.