We just finished our last day of work until after Thanksgiving. Cannaregio is entirely done, and San Marco is finishing up the stores that were temporarily closed the first time around. After that, we are done with field work and just need to get our deliverables in working order.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Project Changes
As is inevitable with any major undertaking, we have reached a few snags and have had to change our plans somewhat.
Whereas we had previously hoped to go through the entire city in the first month, that is clearly going to be impossible. We are still plugging away in the same two sestieri (San Marco is giving us particular trouble because it is so densely populated with tourists and thus stores) and it seems like that is all we will be able to do. Apparently, none of the preceding groups were able to map the entire city, so we don't feel all too bad about it.
The flooding is not as regular as we thought. We were informed that it occurred every other week, with the full and new moon, but the flooding really only becomes a problem at the full moon. Since we only have two major periods of flooding to work with instead of four, we are going to dig more heavily into researching newspapers instead of data collection.
We originally planned to track flower sellers at night using our cameras, but most of them won't take good night photos. Because they are almost always dark-skinned, it makes the problem even worse. We won't be doing this until after Thanksgiving, though, so we will have to test it out, maybe go at twilight for as long as we can, though the sun is setting earlier and earlier.
Apart from that, things are pretty much on track. We have people on the databases and maps, and the data collection and entry is continuing at a steady rate. We hope to finish entirely by Thanksgiving.
Whereas we had previously hoped to go through the entire city in the first month, that is clearly going to be impossible. We are still plugging away in the same two sestieri (San Marco is giving us particular trouble because it is so densely populated with tourists and thus stores) and it seems like that is all we will be able to do. Apparently, none of the preceding groups were able to map the entire city, so we don't feel all too bad about it.
The flooding is not as regular as we thought. We were informed that it occurred every other week, with the full and new moon, but the flooding really only becomes a problem at the full moon. Since we only have two major periods of flooding to work with instead of four, we are going to dig more heavily into researching newspapers instead of data collection.
We originally planned to track flower sellers at night using our cameras, but most of them won't take good night photos. Because they are almost always dark-skinned, it makes the problem even worse. We won't be doing this until after Thanksgiving, though, so we will have to test it out, maybe go at twilight for as long as we can, though the sun is setting earlier and earlier.
Apart from that, things are pretty much on track. We have people on the databases and maps, and the data collection and entry is continuing at a steady rate. We hope to finish entirely by Thanksgiving.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Out at work
We started going out in the street last week. If you look at our first presentation (previous post) you can see a picture of the form we're using. For a bigger version, go here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/atSLLvZDgaPZxaeMfRKRqg?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGhkqHu6PL7qQE&feat=directlink
You'll notice that there are fields for recording information about informal vendors and beggars. We decided to add that in to make things more comprehensive. We will be looking at where they are, at what time, how many items they have (if any) and what those items are. That way, we can start determining if there are any patterns or network behavior among them. So far, there seems to definitely be communication between them, and a few have preferred spots, so we'll hopefully get some good data.
Going through the streets can be difficult. Some store owners are very touchy about people taking pictures of their store and writing things, thinking that we are spies from other stores trying to steal prices. Hopefully, this won't end up being a major hindrance.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/atSLLvZDgaPZxaeMfRKRqg?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGhkqHu6PL7qQE&feat=directlink
You'll notice that there are fields for recording information about informal vendors and beggars. We decided to add that in to make things more comprehensive. We will be looking at where they are, at what time, how many items they have (if any) and what those items are. That way, we can start determining if there are any patterns or network behavior among them. So far, there seems to definitely be communication between them, and a few have preferred spots, so we'll hopefully get some good data.
Going through the streets can be difficult. Some store owners are very touchy about people taking pictures of their store and writing things, thinking that we are spies from other stores trying to steal prices. Hopefully, this won't end up being a major hindrance.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
