Final Portfolio

http://ryansportfolio.weebly.com/

Ethnography Examples

The examples that we were assigned to look at were very intersting. I now understand that there a few different layouts that can be done with this task. Most of the portfolios didnt have seperate pages for the different projects but had just one tab for the final project. I like this approach however i think it would be better if the reader could see the drafts of all of the projects. I think it is very important that they see the writing process that goes into creating a paper. Also i saw that the examples had the parts of that paper broken down. These break downs were pretty much that paper topics that were assigned to us.

Assignment- Mike Rose

One of the major things that I realized with this essay is the fact that the writer uses a lot of detail. When talking about his grandmother’s kitchen, he goes into the different aspects and then goes right into talk about his uncle frank. The writer, once again, gives a lot of detail about this person so you feel that you actually know him. After talking about him he introduces the railroad and, in that, then talks about different jobs that require real manual labor. Then we go into how he watched his mother working hard and I think this is where he gets his work ethic.

The different aspects of this piece, such as talking about the different people and different locations, make it very interesting. These things make the reader want to keep reading and keep your attention. In the beginning he talks about how his family was very involved in manual labor and then mid way through, he goes into watching his mother work as a waitress. I like how the writer describes things before he tells about his personal experiences with it. This allows the reader to know what they are reading about before they learn about the experience or the location. All-in-all, I believe this is a good reading with a lot of sophisticated things included in it.

Ethnographic Analysis

I believe my project is missing some secondary research. I would like to get some more information about the area around my site. I would like to learn more about the residents and what Blacksburg is like. I feel most of the college students are shielded from the real residents because we are always on campus. My project has a lot of first hand research from being in Kroger so much and seeing different people.

At first look, you wouldn't think there were many patterns because of how random everything is. You could go in there two days in a row and see completely different things. There are a lot of consistencies with the staff. You always see them dressed in their full uniform, even in the middle of the night, and they are always courteous and professional. As for the customers, I believe there is a pattern along the lines of when people shop there. Usually in the morning, you do not see many students. The main flow of students comes around 3 because everyone is done with classes and most are going to or coming from the empo. Around 5 or so, you see an influx of adults which are getting off of work and coming to get things for dinner.

What is important for my project

For this project i think that there will be many things to research. The first thing i would look at is the history of supermarkets and some background information about the topic. As far as the employees, i would look up what kind of jobs that are available at a supermarket. Also i would go into the retail market. This could go into the different types of retail and what is sold at different places. The last topic i would like to bring out is what types of people shop at supermarkets and what they buy.

Supermarket Customer Service

This video talks about customer service in supermarkets.

Supermarket Sources

For this project I decided that the online databases would be the way to go to get accurate information about supermarket and the people that shop there. When i began my search, Academic Search Complete was the first place i went to. This site database has helped me immensly in other classes as well as for some projects that i had to to in high school. When searching i came upon a result that appealed to me. It was a study done on an Australian Supermarket that kept track of the different people that bought different products when going shopping. This source will ceratainly make it into my paper because it talks about the different people you would encounter in this setting.

Portfolio

http://ryansportfolio.weebly.com/index.html

Essay 2

While on the site that i picked for my essay, i took account of the layout of the store. In addition to that, i checked where different people are in different parts of the store. I also took into account where the different employees were and noticed the manager running around back and forth through the store. Some things i saw were: a woman beating her child because he was crying (not that that will help), a couple fighting about how late it was and that they hadn't started dinner, and a man walking around the drinks section with a large box of KFC chicken. The vast range of people that i saw in kroger, was astounding and i cant wait to go to my site a third time to get more info.

Bowling Alley on Saturday

This video shows a group of kids in a bowling ally on a saturday night.

The Bowling Alley

This writing was very interesting because you get all this information about a bowling ally and who frequents at it. It goes really in depth about the men's bowling leagues and how they interact with each other. The mention how busy it is on one of the league nights and how intense the competition. I think it was good that the essay gives good discription about what the ally looks like inside. It talks about how there are no women there except for the middle aged women that works in the concession stand that serves the men the pizza and other finger foods that are served. Her son also works there to help out. Although they do not have one, i think it would be good if they put a bar in. This would make the ally really good money and allow all of the bowlers to have a good time.

Get Back 25 Feet

The point of this assignment was to visit a site somewhere on campus and observe it for around 20 mins. For my site, i chose outside of Prichard Hall at 7pm. To any normal person, this site might seem a little boring or a little stupid, however it is really an interesting place to be. About every minute or so there is another group of people that comes out, whether it be on a mission for food or to meet up with friends.
During my investigation i realized that this area was a frequent place for smokers of the Prichard Dorm building. In addition to them, people from other dorms come to this place to light up. After awhile i realized that it was a smoking lounge of the surrounding dorm buildings. Kids come here to smoke and hang out. IN one corner, i heard kids talking about a test that they all bombed in physics. In another corner, i heard guys talking about the frat they were all planing to join this semester. The last and best part of the whole experience, was when the RA opened the window above us and told us to get 25 feet back from the building. When no one moved, she promptly came down to start yelling. She threatened to call the cops and issue conduct referrals. This was right about when my 20 minutes was up, so i left.

Project Ideas

This semester we have to do a interview project which is spit into three parts. These are the ideas I had for my project:
1.)Kroger
2.)The Gym
3.)A Gas Station/Mechanic shop
4.)D.P. Dough

New Semester- English 1106

To all my readers...I am in a new english class for this new semester, so be aware that all the posts after this are from the new semester.

-Ryan