Project Analysis

For Project 3 I did an ethnography comparing Watterson Towers' dining center to Southside in Feeney's dining center. I liked working with the ethnography genre because it was much different than any other school related genres we have done for past projects. This genre allowed us to take the research in to our own hands by conducting observational research and personal interviews. It was nice not to have to rely solely on the internet for all our research but only for one part of the research: the archival research. Starting this project, I thought it would be a bit more fun or interesting than it was. But I think the reason it lacked my high expectations was because I already knew, or at least predicted, exactly what I found out after conducting my observations, interviews, and archival research. I have experienced this "ethnography" first hand every day since I became a student at Illinois State which was almost a year ago. I have already observed students unconsciously every single day, several times a day in both dining centers. Because of this, though, the project was very easy. I knew what to expect, what to watch for during my observations, and how to conduct my observations. I also already knew the perfect candidates for who to interview for the project and they gave me the exact information I predicted they would. Having such a strong background and familiarization with the ethnography I was working with did make this an extremely easy project to complete. That was one thing I really did like about this project besides the fact that it was so hands on and even personal. All in all, I enjoyed working with this genre for Project 3 more than the other genres we have worked with. The other genres such an the reviews and the unethical text were interesting and I did not dislike writing them, this genre is more of an individual effort whereas the other genres rely so heavily on the internet.