meish dot org: life, unfolding

Part of the toolkit of ethnography and anthropology in general is observing patterns. This could be patterns in behaviour, appearance, ritual, language or otherwise. The anthropologist’s job is to spot the patterns and try to understand what (if any) significance they have, especially in relation to social or cultural environment, or other prevailing conditions.

I use this technique a lot when thinking about online culture, social activity and communities – not just for work, but also in my own experience of social web use, too. There are always patterns to be seen, and they can reveal a lot about the priorities and passions of the people involved.

Sidenote: I’ve been meaning to write at greater length about being a participant observer online, and the disciplines of ethnography and anthropology on the web, ten years after I wrote my MA thesis on the subject of how individuals and groups were starting to (re)define culture, community and identity in what we rather grandly called back then the “age of the Internet” (isn’t it funny how that now seems like an antiquated phrase: much like “the age of the train“).

I’ll get around to that soon, I promise. But in the meantime, I wanted to briefly share an observational technique I used when doing fieldwork in the Andes which helps train your brain to spot patterns in seemingly random data or situations. It’s especially useful if you find yourself either overwhelmed by stimulus or other input, or your brain keeps getting in the way of what you’re seeing: if you’re thinking too much, in other words.

Basically, either sit somewhere for a specified period, or use a particular timechunk with varying scenery and visual stimulus, and find patterns, keeping a mental note as you do so. The important thing is not to find one of a thing and then look for others like that thing, but to cast your gaze around until you become aware of certain similarities and patterns emerging from the chaos. I find a good example is what people are wearing – people who may not be together, but who nevertheless seem to represent a common purpose or message or approach with their style.

Yesterday’s post (along with countless others on this site over the years) was purely observational – snatched moments spotted from the top of the bus, and thumbed into the Blackberry as we chugged along.

This morning, in contrast, I did the same with patterns of people. See the results after the jump…

Morning Tribes, 17 June 2008

• Walking across Barnes Common, two dozen beige-chinoed, blue-polo-shirted, white-trainered, neat-haired, discreet-logoed men and women; the Association of Brtish Tennis Officials must be having a pre-Wimbledon all-hands at the LTA.
• On the train, eight men in light linen suits and floppy hair check their blackberries; it’s warming up to be a good day.
• A sprinkling of late-twenty-something women with gym-damp hair and white earbuds jammed in tight read the morning freesheet.
• At Waterloo, a brace of aging men in morning suits complete with toppers, accompanied by a clutch of consorts in knee-length skirts or dresses topped by pastel fitted jackets and silly hats, plus one woman made uncomfortable by thinking that a fascinator from last year’s wedding would suffice for the races. Other Ascot-bound faces, shaded by brims and stiff veils, reveal that it really won’t.
• Two, then another three, then one, then another art student, conspicuous and cool in bold graphic print t-shirts, unwashed hair and calculated vintage, sporting odd overplanned quirks like a single trouser-leg rolled up, overlarge retro sunglasses, carrying bulging portfolios and bags which go beyond kitsch to somewhere only they appreciate.
• Six sleeping children in pushchairs, wearing dot/cherry/apple/sunshine-print pinafores or shirts, heads lolling under seersucker summer hats, wearing red or blue sandals. Are those the only colours you can buy for the 18month old in your life this summer?

For a more in-depth look at fashion tribes, the people behind the Exactitudes took images of particular fashion styles posed in particular ways on the streets of various European cities and then clustered them together for an exhibition. The results are fascinating and almost eerie, but I do wonder whether they took photos of all sorts of people and then found the patterns later, or went on a treasure hunt first (“Right then, we need to find a dozen goths wearing corsets. Go!”) The poses suggest the latter, but I’d be interested to know otherwise.

Not particularly patterny, but somewhat related: I also very much like the HEL LOOKS site which just takes photos of people’s unique style on the streets of Helsinki, with some really beautiful results.