CULTURAL PROBE v1

I am happy to start my documentation of grad school, starting with our first assignment:

After writing thick descriptions of a coffee shop, we designed a cultural probe to elicit information about ritual. I approached ritual on a macro scale, and wanted to investigate Cup A Joe coffee house as a "third place" environment, finding out what needs were being fostered there (aside from the obvious brewed beverage).

Ten regulars at Cup A Joe would be given my cultural probe kit, and then instructed to take pictures of places they go to when they're not at home or work. Included would be guidelines that would direct participants to the right kinds of locations. Once the photograph develops, they are asked to immediately draw themselves into the photo. This project would take place over the span of a month, during which time there would be a drop-box located at Cup A Joe. Afterwards, I would meet with them to retrieve the camera and debrief.

An assessment of the conscious and subconscious semiotic indicators from the drawings would give insight into the participant's relationship to third place environments. I felt this would be more effective than if the camera had been turned on the test subjects in all the photographs.

This coming week we will be refining our probes, so I'm curious to see where this can go.