For this exercise you are going to look for physical traces to learn about a specific setting, specific behavior, or specific problem (urban design, social). For example, use physical traces to study homelessness in downtown Phoenix, signs erosion due to flash flooding in now populated river basins, educational environment at ASU New College, Residential design in your own apartment, management of public areas in South Mountain, etc.
Take pictures of physical traces NOT PEOPLE. Be mindful of your safety, do not take any risks, do not take pictures showing incriminating illegal activity or items. Be aware that you could witness a crime and make sure to protect your own safety first. We are not policing
You can take your own pictures or a combination using some pictures from the internet (but must acknowledge the source Q: How do I cite an image found through an online search engine, such as Google Images? https://www.easybib.com/guides/forums/topic/q-cite-image-found-online-search-engine-google-images/ (Links to an external site.))
Procedure
Spend some time walking around your workplace, home, neighborhood, campus or any of your familiar settings (e.g., favorite grocery store, park, bar) searching for physical traces. Find traces that can tell a story of the place. When you find a physical trace, take a picture of it, briefly describe it, and make an inference of the type of activity that took place (e.g., party, drinking, ball play, smoking, childrens play, studying in groups, etc.).
For each trace, describe the location (can be from “my bedroom” to GPS coordinates or google map), the type of trace you think it is using Zeisel’s categories listed above, and a specific description of what it is (e.g., empty beer cans, rotten veggies, fruits, tires, etc). All these descriptions should be included in your assignment. When you have found and photographed about 15 traces, then select the 10 best ones and describe your inference from each and/or how they document a behavior, behavioral practice/ or event. Include a map or diagram (if the location is your house or a store) and submit the document with, your pics, and all the information requested. A plus will be a well written, thorough, clear, and well-organized “story” of how all the traces are tied together to describe one specific behavior in multiple settings or multiple behaviors documenting how people use a specific setting —stick to the evidence. A ‘story’ in terms of behavioral inference has to be objective based on your pics, closer to what police detectives would do. You can submit a word document, a pdf, or a link to a web document/ site (Just make sure your link works!).
Present your case. Provide context to your observations. Importance of studying the setting (e.g., school), a behavior (e.g., littering, graffiti bombing), or a social problem (e.g., homelessness, desert erosion) you documented. You must include at least two references: one academic journal and any other sources (magazine, newspaper, online article). You must cite your sources following APA citation style both in-text (https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext (Links to an external site.)) and at the end of your report https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/overview (Links to an external site.) . Citation machine is a web-based app that accesses information from across the web, drawing the relevant information into a fully-formatted bibliography that helps to presents your sources. http://www.citationmachine.net/apa (Links to an external site.).
clear and creative photographs
clear description of each included
Each properly identified per Zeisel’s categories
location properly documented
different kinds of traces/ settings, examples: That is photographs depicting different types of physical traces or clearly different settings. NOTE: The same photograph of cigarettes butts outside your work from multiple angles do not count as multiple examples of traces.
Recommendations: Coming back to why we observed, that is to make an environment better suited to what people actually do while they are in it. So changes do you recommend to the setting so it will better serve the needs of the people using the space.
References: Information used to provide the context for your observations clearly identified, all links included and checked. The goal is that I can click and find your source.
For your paper you must include two references AND Zeisels.
