Project Log

September 15, 2009

I observed 4 people individually for 6 hours each, while writing down every time that person changed the topic of conversation, and the time they changed it. They knew that I was watching them, but not why. I was looking for semantic shifts in conversation, as compared to other realms like thought and the internet. It was inspired by this quote from Ambient Findability by Peter Morville:

“We routinely travel vast semantic distances in the space of a second, and these dramatic transitions aren’t limited to the Web. Our remote controls put hundreds of of television channels at our fingertips. Terrorism on CNN. Click. Sumo wrestling on ESPN. Click. Sesame Street on PBS. Click. And our cell phones relentlessly punctuate the flow of daily life. One minute we’re playing soccer with our kids at the neighborhood park. Seconds later we’re in the midst of a business crisis half way around the world.”

09/12/09 1:09 AM

Today (yesterday technically) was the first time observing someone. I watched A from 6 to midnight. They were really curious the whole time, so I told them that I would let them know what I was writing and why once it reached midnight. I showed them a quote from Ambient Findability by Peter Morville that I had written down in my journal. It explained things pretty well, I think.

It was interesting to have to make decisions in real time about when a conversation topic transitioned and what constituted a new topic. Writing in the context was difficult while trying to keep up. I’m going to have to go back into it, to finish. We also had a break in recording while in a performance for TBA. Not much was said anyway, so I’m okay with it. I now have an idea of how many topics to expect from each person. I don’t know that I’ll need as many forms as I printed out. I’m watching B tomorrow from around 5:30 to 11:30, C on Sunday from 10-4, then D on Sunday from 5-11.

I want to attempt to make objects. There will be a few and I’d like to use them as examples or ways to clarify ideas involving semantic shifts. That could mean that the objects will physically shift to correspond with the shift in meaning. I was also thinking of using the objects as a way to physically graph the information.

I found some information on semantic similarity, which is apparently an area of study. There is a scale that shows semantic relatedness which ranges from -1 to 1, with 0 signifying “little to none”. I’m also going back into Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by George Lakoff. There is a chapter called Cognitive Semantics, that I want to really take time to read and break down. It talks about how we categorize by gestalt perception, mental imagery, and motor movements.

Tomorrow I have to take photos at the Peter Kreider (4:30) lecture for TBA. Afterwards I watch B. Before that, I need to make a powerpoint, go to the art museum, and do a lot of reading. I also need to remember to pack a lunch and dinner.

09/12/09 6:34 PM

I’m currently observing B. They’re writing a paper and watching youtube videos so not talking that much.

09/12/09 10:45 PM

B is using the computer at a friend’s house. They’re currently not talking. I noticed myself not recording B for about fifteen minutes while I was washing dishes and they were outside. I’m okay with situations like that because precision isn’t the point of this project. Although I’m not exactly sure what that point is, I do know that a pivotal aspect is the recognition of semantic distance-which has been taking form as a small act of awareness.

I’ve become really curious to know how our devices change the way we act. Did our ancestors have the same range of dialogue topics? To what extent has our access to resources like movable type or wikipedia shaped us?

I’m approaching the fifth hour of watching B. I have almost double the transitions than that of A. They are getting pretty tired and wants to fall asleep soon. C is trying to keep B awake. I’m okay with whatever happens.

09/13/09 12:58 AM

B made it through the 6 hours without leaving to go to sleep. We ended up walking from our friend’s house to Voodoo doughnuts, so everyone was happy in the end. I’m observing C, then D tomorrow, with lots of coffee to power through 12 hours.

09/13/09 11:27 AM

I am finishing the first hour observing C. We are in a computer lab at school. I’m beginning to notice how often I’m observing people while they’re on the computer, and how they stop speaking while browsing the internet. Its like the act of browsing has become a language in itself. Maybe it would be information overload to actively surf the web while maintaining a conversation.

I am trying to be conscious of my vocabulary for the duration of this project. I’ve started to think that I’m conducting more of a survey than a study.

Study n.

1 a detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation

Survey n.

1 a general view, examination, or description of someone or something

• an investigation of the opinions or experience of a group of people, based on a series of questions.

Though now that I’ve looked up the definitions, I’m not sure.

09/13/09 8:26 PM

I am watching D tonight until 12:15. I’ve become very conscious of what I’m writing, so as not to reveal the subject’s identity. For example, instead of writing down their favorite artist’s web site, I wrote “art inspiration” as the topic of conversation. For each person, after the six hours of observation are up, I’ve explained my project and shown them the completed forms. No one has objected to me displaying them yet, but I’m concerned for their privacy. I’ve considered making graphs to represent the information that I’ve been gathering, but having the forms in their raw shape is really appealing in an honest way. At the same time, I also thought about typing up the forms to create a uniformly neat display and leaving the hand written ones on a pedestal.

09/14/09 8:56 PM

I am currently in a very spacey mood and finding it hard to articulate my thoughts, which is of course part of the dilemma I am facing in this project. It is hard to articulate thought through language because we don’t think in words, we think in abstract symbols.

I had a brief intro to mentalese, the language of thought, this summer in Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct. I found The Elm and the Expert: Mentalese and its Semantics by Jerry A. Fodor through an interlibrary loan. Unfortunately, it took weeks to arrive, and by the time it came, I was too busy to read it. Because it is a fairly short (but dense) book, I scanned the entire thing before returning it to the library. It is ready and waiting for me, but I am hesitant to fully delve into a topic so beyond my comprehension, with only a few weeks left until critique.

Assigning form to something so abstract is going to be exceedingly difficult. What can I do that will mimic thought pathways? And the thought pathways of other people, in this case (an abstraction in itself)? I am thinking of links, trails, branches, drifts, hallways, streets, gateways, transition spaces, movement, arches, plans, blueprints, connections, maps. Also of things that are atomic in structure- in the original sense of the word as something that cannot be broken down. Jerry A. Fodor believes that words are atoms- that we are born with about 50,000 innate concepts (50,000-100,000 is about the capacity of words and idioms we can remember).

I think the answer to this problem is in the study of abstractions, themselves. I need to read a spark notes version of Alfred Korzybski’s essays on first, second, and third order abstractions. I will be making a bibliography as part of this project to acknowledge the ideas behind my ideas.

My development as an artist/person is going to depend most upon the things I am reading and the connections and analogies I am making. My project log and bibliography are equally, if not more, important than the result of the project itself. Reading from the beginning of this log, just two days ago, I can already see a huge progression. I am becoming more comfortable making defined statements as my ideas flesh out.

I need to do more research on information dissemination: the spoken, written, and printed word. Realizing now that my project is on the evolution of the spoken word as influenced by the printed. Also turning into a discussion on the inherent subjectivity of an abstraction.

observation form