After a long absence, I used the first opportunity that I could find for a visit to the island which is the focus of my new research project (which is still in development and funding-acquisition stage). It does not get any more off-season as it was during the last two weeks… which gave me plenty of time to catch up with work, reading, and the ever-changing geography of the island – and it made it much easier to repeatedly encounter and have some small interactions with those who live on the island the whole year through.
Posts Tagged ‘island’
Getting the research back to the name of this blog.
Friday, March 16th, 2007
Finally. I am currently spending my first research week on the island. My main objective during this stay is to arrange future stays, check out the general way things have changed in the course of the last 10+ years, get back into touch with people, and take a lot of photographs of the island’s coastline, nature, buildings, places, and people. Some of the photos serve more or less aesthetic purposes, documenting the attractions and peculiarities of this place, others serve as a background for future assessments or comparisons.
Time passes both more slowly and more quickly here. To keep a grip on this and the many other things and thoughts that I encounter here, I have started writing a more thorough log than I did for any of my past research projects. I am pretty sure solid logging practices (as recommended by Lofland & Lofland in their great book Analyzing Social Settings) are a very good idea for a long-term project such as mine. I can only recommend OmniOutliner to those of you using a Mac. It is as useful for keeping a log as it is for writing outlines.
Dunes, wind, the whole package.
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
Ah, what a wonderful time. This year we spent our new year’s break on the North-Sea island Juist. The weather was a perfect mixture of wind, rain and sun. Sadly, the last grains of sand have been washed away during yesterday morning’s shower. Since my new research project will take place on this island, you can expect more pictures and a story or two in the coming two years…