Once we had established who was in our group and where we all lived, our method for tackling this project began by attempting to lock in some days where we could visit Springvale as an entire group. This proved tougher than it sounded and while we were unable to organise a day for all 5 of us to go together, the below table highlights we all did manage to go for at least 4 solid days and the 5th was spent researching on the computer.
Following the days we’d locked in our calendars, we then preceded with assigning roles to each person. It became clear right from the beginning that no one in our group were very technically minded thus, all very hesitant to take on the task of setting up our blog on word press. Gita stepped up however, and said she wouldn’t mind being the Technician Media Specialist if no one else was willing to take on the role.
Jane immediately voted Yalenka to be Project Manager as she had already started sending out group emails about what we should be doing, who’s meeting who when and trying to organise a school meeting. Yalenka was honoured to take on this role.
Jane put up her hand as Demographer has she’d already started researching statistics about Springvale and enjoyed this side of research. No one objected to this.
We all then decided that we should each play a part in Web researcher/Event Planner as we would all need to plan what to see on the days we’d visit Springvale and researching the area was a large task and without individual research, we wouldn’t be able to plan where to go or what to see as we weren’t all going on the same days, thus we all did our own research and shared ideas and findings with each other.
That left Leah and Daniel with Artist photographer and Archivist/Curator. Daniel said he wasn’t fussed with the role so Leah decided she’d prefer to be the artist photographer, thus Daniel took on the role of the Archivist/Curator. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we during the week before our project was due Daniel dropped all contact with us and had handed in no work thus far. We all started to panic as we were worried we would have to complete his part of the blog, thankfully we were told not to worry and continue without him. Luckily he was only supposed to do the map, which thankfully didn’t provide crucial information such as the demographics section and therefore the rest of the blog hasn’t been too affected by it and we were able to still successfully come up with a conclusion.
Once all our roles had been assigned this automatically lead to who was writing each section of the blog as it was basically outlined in Cloud Deakin, so we followed that format. We didn’t wait until all the data had been collected before we assigned written sections has we wanted to write everything up as soon as we could.
Yalenka (project manager) wrote the methodology, Daniel was supposed to (archivist/curator) write the map section, Gita (technician/Media specialist) wrote the introduction, Leah (artist/photographer) wrote the photostory and Jane (demographer) wrote the demographic narrative. Once we had pulled all our individual research and findings together we were able to write the conclusion as a group.
Once all the formalities were out of the way we were finally able to assess the question.
How do learning sites (early childhood, primary, and secondary) in this community appear to respond to the social, cultural, geographical and physical contexts (needs and aspirations) of the community they seek to serve?
We tried simplifying the question in a few different ways: ‘How do the learning sites within Springvale serve the communities’ needs?
‘Do the learning sites in Springvale meet the criteria of the needs of the community and how do these sites do this?’
We broke down the question into sections:
Learning sites– early childhood, primary and secondary. Other?? Learning centres, churches, sports clubs, libraries, community centres etc.
Needs – social needs, cultural needs, geographical needs and physical needs. What are the needs of this community? Are the needs being met? Who’s meeting these needs? Who’s not meeting these needs? Are all needs of the community identified?
Aspirations– what do the members of the community aspire? What is their goal socially, culturally, geographically and physically?
Our approach changed slightly to the question when we were told we weren’t allowed to contact or visit schools. Our focus then became more towards what school based programs e.g English classes, homework help, were available to the community to assist those at school and even those not at school.
Once we had established what the question was asking, our individual approach to analyzing the data we had collected looked like this;
Jane’s approach to the data analysis was met with a bit of humour
“My approach to data analysis – lots of temple massage!” (Deering, 2013), but her serious approach looked like this;
Jane first sourced all the relevant data she thought she’ll need and then pull it apart and make interpretations from what made sense. Then she looked at how the statistical data and info that she had, compared to fieldwork observations and findings. Then from what she did know, she tried to find out what she didn’t know -look for holes in the information that she had and question them- look for answers to these questions, to fill in the gaps. Then she decided to look for more data or information to support her findings, either statistical, online articles, or talking to someone who has personal knowledge of what she doesn’t know and finally, she tied all this back to her observations and personal experiences from fieldwork.
Leah’s approach was more visual as she worked on the photostory. Therefore, her approach began with going in with eyes wide open and ready to photograph anything and everything while at the same time looking for unique photo opportunities that highlight Springvale for being the unique area that it is. Once she had developed an understanding of the area she then proceeded by going back to certain areas already visited to capture anything she’d missed and going to new areas that had yet been photographed. Leah researched these areas before going to Springvale via community brochures and the Greater Dandenong website. Through her own personal experience and verbal communication with people in the community she feels she was able to capture the true essence of Springvale and the people who live there. By getting to know Springvale from an insider’s point of view, she was then able to analyse the photos and information addressed with each picture and pick out the best ones that represent Springvale and that answer the ethnographic question.
Daniel’s approach- quit the group with no contact saying he’d done so or not.
Yalenka approached the data by working out what she did know first and found information to support this knowledge. Then she researched what she didn’t know and found information to support her new findings. She then went back to the break down of the question and analyzed each section, making sure information had been found out about each area. The she tied it all back to her observations and personal experiences from the fieldwork.
Gita approached the data by firstly spending five hours researching on line and reading stories about Springvale through newspaper articles and websites such as www.springvalestories.org.au. This gave her a real feel for the area from a theoretical view point. She looked at what services are provided, what facilities the area has, what festivals and restaurants there are, as well as reading personal stories of people who live in the area. Having visited Springvale a few times to shop at the Asian supermarkets, she chose to approach the first visit with new senses. Gita was keen to visit Springvale on the train to get a different perspective as she had only driven in previously. Gita did as much observation as possible on the first day to get a sense of what day to day life is like in the community and to make plans for the rest of her visits. She then focused more thoroughly on particular places including Springvale Services for Children, Springvale Learning Centre, the local parks and the local library as well as eating at restaurants and meeting more local people.
TIME SPENT IN SPRINGVALE PER PERSON
| 24/3 | 6/4 | 7/4 | 20/4 | TOTAL | |
| 10AM-5PM | 930AM-330PM | 930AM-230PM | 9AM-1PM | ||
| Leah Sharp | Train to Springvale, looked around area, went to Police Station talked to Police Sergeant, library, community house and SLAC | Train to SpringvaleWalked around local shopsRestaurants
Observed people eating, shopping, weekly coffee meetings Cambodian Friendship Association Community Centre ChineseTemple Nails done in local business-chatted to owners Library-Observed school holiday program Pilipino Society
|
Train to Springvale and droveDrove around borders or area and looked at houses, parks, Visited Springvale Caravan and TouristParkRestaurants and Shops | Train to SprigvaleVisited places where lacking in photos | 25 hours |
| 24/3 | 1/4 | 4/4 | 8/4 | TOTAL | |
| 10am-5pm | 11am-6pm | 10am-5pm | 12pm-6pm | ||
| Jane Deering | Train to Springvale, looked around area, went to Police Station talked to Police Sergeant, library, community house and SLAC | Sandown racecourse and surrounds-Participate in Holi FestivalPlaygrounds and Restaurants | Drove – Springvale Services for ChildrenSpringvale Learning CentreHistorical Society
Visited some of the services |
Interview with Library resource managerResearched/Observed in libraryWalk around local shopping area | 27 hours |
| 4/4 | 7/4 | 9/4 | 20/4 | TOTAL | |
| 10am-5pm | 930am-230pm | 11am-3pm | 9am-2pm | ||
| Daniel Sandalowicz | Drove – Springvale Services for ChildrenSpringvale Learning CentreHistorical Society
Visited some of the services |
Drove around borders or area and looked at houses, parks, Visited Springvale Caravan and TouristParkRestaurants and Shops | Interview with Mayor- Researched/Observed in libraryWalk around local shopping area | Train to SpringvaleVisited places where lacking in photos | 23 hours |
| 6/4 | 7/4 | 8/4 | 9/4 | TOTAL | |
| 930am-330pm | 930am-230pm | 12-6pm | 11am-3pm | ||
| Yalenka Clement | Train to SpringvaleWalked around local shopsRestaurants
Observed people eating, shopping, weekly coffee meetings Cambodian Friendship Association Community Centre ChineseTemple Nails done in local business-chatted to owners Library-Observed school holiday program Pilipino Society
|
Train to Springvale and droveDrove around borders or area and looked at houses, parks, Visited Springvale Caravan and TouristParkRestaurants and Shops | Interview with Mayor- Researched/Observed in libraryWalk around local shopping area | Visited SpringvaleCemeteryObserved bus stop, tennis courts and restaurants | 22 hours |
| 24/3 | 4/4 | 4/4 | 8/4 | TOTAL | |
| 10am-5pm | 11am-6pm | 10am-5pm | 12-6pm | ||
| Gita Pearce | Train to Springvale, looked around area, went to Police Station talked to Police Sergeant, library and SLAC. | Sandown racecourse and surrounds-Participate in Holi FestivalPlaygrounds and Restaurants. | Drove – Springvale Services for ChildrenSpringvale Learning CentreHistorical Society
Visited some of the services |
Interview with Mayor- Researched/Observed in libraryWalk around local shopping area | 27 hours |
| DATES | TOTAL | |
| Leah Sharp | 17/3, 2/4, 5/4 | 8 hours |
| Jane Deering | 16/3, 25/3, 20/3, ¾, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, | 20 hours |
| Daniel | 16/3, 20/3, 5/4, | 8.5 hours |
| Gita Pearce | 15/3 and 21/3 | 10hours |
| Yalenka Clement | 20/3, 2/4 and 5/4 | 8 hours |
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