Project SHINE Field Note - Nov 30 2005

Anth 142
Field Notes @ Villa de Guardalupe
3:38-6:38pm
30 November 2005
Descripiton:
I entered parked my car on the street near the apartment gate, and I walked to the gate and found the gate was locked. I wondered around and figured out the fence behind the large tree next to the gate was easy to climb over. Since there was nobody around, I thought it would be an alternative choice to get in, if nobody walked by in few minutes. I waited there about 10 minutes and saw an elderly woman with plastic bags in her both hand walking eastbound on the street. Looking at her shopping bags, I thought she must be a resident or a someone related to the apartment, and waited her open the gate. When she reached the gate, I asked her, “Could you open the gate? It’s locked.” Then, she examined the knob and said that was weird because they usually open the gate until ten. She searched her key in her purse and opened the gate. At that point, I explained her that I was there for school project. Actually, she seemed not care about why I was there, it seemed the residents were not aware of visitors.
I then entered the building about 3:28pm, and I saw Mike at the computer lab. All the computers were occupied this time; Mike sat at #1, an elderly woman sat on #2 was checking Yahoo! Mail, the Asian woman sat on #3 was playing Spider Solitaire again, the woman who tried Hawaiian music before sat on #4 and playing game, and Matt sat on #5 and reading some articles on the web. I noticed the all women in this room had a gold ring in their left third finger. When I entered the room, Mike was helping the #2 woman how to attach pictures to Yahoo Mail. Then 3:29pm, figured out in Hotmail and checked hers, and said there should be a way to attach pictures with Yahoo Mail. At 3:39pm, I heard some one saying “Pan, pan, pan” from the hallway. Then I saw an elderly woman pushing a cart with breads on it walked by and talked with other residents about “Pan.” MTM: she must speak Spanish, Pan in Spanish means bread. The woman at #4 started playing Spider Solitaire, and Matt was checking news. Mike at #1 was checking Google pictures. At 3:43pm, I saw that bandana man walked by, and he moved the TV set into the room. He said hello to Mike. Mike moved to a chair and reading magazine (computer related) at 3:48pm. The people at #3 and #4 were still playing Spider Solitaire. At 3:58pm, the Asian woman left after she won the game. MTM: it seems playing that game has ritualistic meaning to her, since I saw her come in and play the same game and leave the room after she won couple of times in my sessions. I saw the man sat at #5 was browsing Dating website. MTM: using computer became a tool for social relationships. Mike was still reading the magazine. In computer lab, everyone was focused on their own screen and people rarely look at others. MTM: Separation from the social relationship in the residents, yet some sharing the time in the sense. Just like people in the library, they share the time and space yet they do not communicate each other. It is a sense of belongings. At 4:04pm, I was almost falling asleep, and I was not sure but Matt might saw me sleeping in the chair. At 4:07pm, the woman sat at #4 left. Then Sandra came and said that there was a presentation and moved the TV set away. The presentation was about recycling and someone came from Green Valley (?). Before she left, she apologized about the yesterday and told me there would be ESL class on next week and it would be the last day, so I could feel free to come in and participate in the event. I thanked her and I told her to visit the class next week. MTM: this will be an extra thing I am going to do, but I guess it was polite to visit the event rather than denying it because of my schedule. Mike said he wanted to get some tea and opened the cabinet, so I signed in the SHINE holder when he opened the cabinet. It was blocked by the TV set before. Mike said he had intermediate math exam today, and he thought he might get C. I told him “I could understand he feels after the math exam,” and told him that I was computer engineering major and changed my major to anthropology because of I had hard time to pass calculus. He said he is taking class at Foothill College and majoring in Enterprise Network. MTM: he is taking class for AA degree. He told me that he was taking a programming class, so I asked him, “Java?” He said it was “Visual Basic Net.” From my experience in Visual Basic, that was the easiest programming tool for Windows OS, and I guessed Visual Basic Net would be the better tool to learn programming related with network. At 4:30pm, two people came in and said they were SJSU student and one of them said his name as Tony. From their conversation with Mike, I learned that Mike is working here from last May. At 5:30pm, the man with cane come in and sat at #5. Patt, the woman in wheel chair, came in and start playing computer game at #1. From their conversation, I learned that the woman who played Hawaiian music is Patt’s mother. And the man at #5 is Patt’s husband. The students came from SJSU were making conversations. At 5:36pm, I started to talk with the young woman while Tony started to talk with Mike. During the conversation, I figured out she is one of my classmate at Anth 142 class. We talked about the class and our major. The woman at #4 and #1 were playing the same game in their PCs. At 6:05pm, Toni and the man with the cane talked about game pad and X-box. MTM: Ludic model of playing computer games. At 6:40pm, I left the site.