Methods can’t be separated from theories.

Fieldnotes

• Methodological and Theoretical
• The “raw material” of the research
• Where description happens
• Aide-memoire
• Archives

• In the field

  • Disruptive
  • Conspicuous

• Materiality, it has agency

Types of Data

• Texts
• Sounds: songs, music, interviews, ideas, thoughts
• Images
• Web… ?

Fieldnotes: an organization

• Notebooks
  • for interviews and description
  • For technical activities
  • For drawings
  • For genealogies
  • For ideas
• Those you carry around, those you don’t…
• Leaflets
  • Proliferate
  • System of “cards” (A5)
  • Maps
  • Local documents
  • “Address book” for index and vocabulary

Fieldnotes and their materiality

• Paper or Digital?
  • Different types of fragility
  • Different quality of notes
  • Different relations with people
• Pen? Ink? Others?
• Instruments: compass, GPS, etc.
• Transport
• Supplies (battery?)
• Back-up
• Organize for analysis