On the Nature of Dialogues, Ideas, and Video Games

Here is another one of my test posts from FWD:Everyone - Dialogue On Art & Video Games. As you can probably tell if you read this post and the last one I am not using this platform in the way it was intended. The idea of FWD - as it was presented to me - was that people are having amazing conversations through email that are lost to the world because email is private (relatively speaking). The man I was talking to then compared this to historic letters that have gotten published.

I understand the logic here ... but I rarely see email used in this way. In my social and work circles email is a very utilitarian method of communication. It is to share information or files that are pertinent to a particular class/job/etc. Alternatively, when I have something of interest I want to discuss I may use email to arrange a coffee or beer over which I can discuss issues of importance. I do, however, often have fascinating conversations of varies real-time communication platforms - as you can see from the 2 posts I made over at FWD. This behavioral pattern suggests a couple of observations about personal communication and idea generation.

On Memory, Or the Importance of Fieldnotes

This post is a personal account of how memory, as discussed in the above video, effected my recollections of fieldwork once I came home.

The importance of taking detailed notes while in the field and doing interviews was stressed in every methods and research class I took throughout my college tenure. I never doubted my teachers were right, but as with many lessons, knowing something intellectually and understanding it experientially are two very different levels of knowledge. On an intellectual level I knew what these professors were saying was correct, but it wasn't until recently that I experienced the reality of it.

Writer’s Block

I came home from the field in time for last Christmas with no intention of beginning on my dissertation for a couple of months. It had been 2 years since I’d seen my family and friends, and on top of that I needed to prepare a syllabus for the first class I would be teaching on my own (as a lecturer rather than as a TA). Besides, I was advised to take a break before delving into writing.

So in the beginning I wasn’t worried, but as the weeks passed and I still hadn’t written anything I began to worry. The problem was I didn’t know what to write. It was the strangest thing. I spent over 2 years (close to 3) in the field and had a mountain of data, but I was so overwhelmed by it all that I couldn’t start.

169 days into being home the first words finally came to me.