Stop Watching Me

Much of the article seemed obvious, though couched as always in the high-falutin language of the Professional. For the most part, too, it came across as an introduction, as if some sort of deeper treatise or book were meant to follow.

Useful was the article's advice as to how one might more fully "legitimize" observational findings--through the compared and contrasted interpretations of multiple observers (rather than just one), conducting observation at different times and in different places, and combining observation with other research methods.

I found the discussion concerning the ethics of this form of research extremely interesting. In particular, I found the debate on the definitions of "public" and "private" enlightening, having never thought of any activity taking place in a public setting as inherently private before. It makes sense, though--we do create enclaves of privacy for ourselves and resent those who violate said enclaves, even if we're standing in the middle of Times Square. Note to self: when observing people, don't walk into a near-empty coffee shop, sit right up against the only two patrons, and begin furiously scribbling notes in plain sight. I'm inclined to agree with the liberty-preserving argument that calls for letting "sleeping dogs lie." Sorry, but there are lots of interesting and useful things to study without whittling away at the privacy--the very liberty--of others.

I'm trying to think of how this reading might be applicable to my particular field. Auto-observation, for example, seems fairly useless to a historian. Studying, say, the Tibetan Uprising of 1959, or the exertions of the Canadian military during the Battle of the Somme, how might observational methods come in handy? Perhaps in studying old videotape footage. And sound recordings, maybe. Do photos count? The reading certainly inferred that they do. Observational methods might be employed during an interview, too. Getting another's take on my own observations, then, would help to validate my conclusions. Drawing from multiple resources--video footage, photos, sound recordings, what have you--obviously also strengthens conclusions.

So there; I guess I have my answer.

This is all, of course, merely the humble opinion and scattered ramblings of a lone man modest as to the things of the world and the grand learning of its great thinkers.