Research Question/Abstract

A Comparative Visual Study of Use of Urban Transport in Seattle and Amsterdam

In the city, urban transport is crucial to infrastructure and viability. People often generalize their environment, and this obscures their ability to notice the detail of their surroundings. In our study we plan to explore the interaction between individuals and the overlooked aspects of their environment, specifically related to public and private transport. How do people interact with these aspects of their environment, and how does it differ between people in Seattle and Amsterdam? We will take photographs of similar urban transport areas or items contained within this setting in both Seattle and Amsterdam. Proposed field sites will include various bus stops, bike racks, parking lots, train stations and tracks, and other related areas. Through analysis of these photos we will note the differences in the subtleties of both cities’ transportation systems. This analysis will be coupled with our observations of people within these environments at different times of day and different days of the week. We will also do an online exploration of photo communities such as flickr and video communities such as YouTube to see what others have noted about urban transport. We will incorporate analysis of these visual medias into our study.

(note: although Mark and I didn't specify it in our abstract, he is going to try to focus a bit more on public transport while I will focus on private transport...we figured it would be more interesting if we weren't doing the exact same thing)

uhmmm just saving something here

this isn't actually my assignment...i just wanted to store an interesting link so i could come back to it later http://content.msn.co.in/Lifestyle/Moreonlifestyle/MoreonLifestyle_070307_0401.htm

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/trancedjs08.shtml

reading seattle

Mark and I left the UDistrict in his car originally intending to go somewhere in Capitol Hill, thought maybe the IDistrict would be interesting, and then just ended up somehow driving downtown and situated ourselves in the Starbucks on 4th and Pine, right in the middle of the commercial shopping district. Since our umbrella issue has to do with public transportation we thought it would be interesting to watch a few bus stops and see if we could learn anything from them (how they are used, who uses them, what do people do around them?)

One thing I thought was particularly interesting that I also think could be important to our study in Amsterdam was the fact that when we were sitting in the coffee shop which seemed like a good idea because we could stay there comfortably for a while and just watch the very first notation I made was ‘no benches’ which seemed weird because most bus stops in downtown have benches. We both made a bunch of observations from this viewpoint including how interesting it was that people did indeed situate themselves the way Prof. Ryan said they did by trying to get up on some higher ground and lean their back against things. We even noticed that we in fact had done that exact thing, from our viewpoint we could see over the whole little square that our bus stop was situated in.

Then Mark and I decided to move closer to the actual stop and I realized that there was a whole sea of benches back there, they were just blocked from our original view. So a simple change in position, a different angle of perception completely changed my view of the stop and how it was planned. With all the benches it fit right into the atmosphere of the square that the stop was located in. We had in fact blocked off from our view the exact place where some of the most interesting interactions were going on. We wanted to see who was riding the buses, what they did while they waited, what did they do in the space they were in, did they really interact with it? Or was it such a standard to them to be there that they just ignored it and delved into their own world of music from their ipod and tetris on their cell phone? But we couldn’t even do this until we had moved in really close. I think this would definitely have to be implemented into our research in Amsterdam, if we are going to observe a place it is definitely going to have to be done from various angles.

I found it interesting that people always seemed to need to occupy themselves. Even when waiting for the bus they just couldn’t sit and stare, and if they were it had to be at an interesting building or sign, or more likely another person. Even during our observations Mark and I found ourselves watching the people walk by in front of us and watched what and how they were doing whatever they were doing. It is as though if you have no other way of distracting yourself the next thing to do is to just occupy your time by watching other people. Even if you are going down to the square just to relax or ‘hang out’ with friends, no one really seems to be able to just sit somewhere. There has to be a book, or you have to be napping, or you have to have someone you are talking to.

I noticed that although the buildings down there are pretty impressive that most people just didn’t pay attention to them at all. It was as though all they saw was whatever destination they were headed for. Which I suppose the point of this assignment was for us to slow down and stop doing that exact thing. No one really takes in their environment anymore, we create our own spaces wherever we are and that is what we believe the environment is. I’ve been to that exact place before, had coffee at that same Starbucks a million times and had never even noticed the arch in the square or all the potted plants, or really the intersection of classy hip young Seattleites with the homeless.

As for applying what we learned to study in Amsterdam, we’re really going to have to go to a place with a clear idea of what we want to observe because Mark and I easily spent at least three hours on our trip and felt like we didn’t even get that much information, it was easy to get distracted and not actually pay much attention to what was going on. But also the idea of slowing down and really watching, and even if we have a certain focus to still make sure to notice other things because for all we know we could be ignoring some of the most interesting interactions around. This assignment was surprisingly hard, I wasn’t sure about what we were observing…and what exactly to write about it, but it’s definitely something I would like to do again.

Online manifestations

From Public Transportation to……..Prostitution?

I had an extremely hard time finding any seemingly worthwhile information about public transport other than various descriptions of the types of public transport that exist in Amsterdam and in other cities throughout the world. Sunil gave me a link http://portlandtransport.com/archives/netherlands_trip/ to a blog that described in detail types of public transportation in the Netherlands but I couldn’t really link it to anything else that seemed particularly promising….so I eventually just decided to search on technorati about another topic I became more interested in after listening to Haley’s ideas and thinking about a book I read a few years ago called Brothel written on the topic of legal brothels in Amsterdam…I am particularly interested in the stigmatization of prostitutes as I know this exists in the state of Nevada even though prostitution is legal in its brothels…some links I found were:

http://jizzbuzz.wordpress.com/2007/03/01/legalized-prostitution/

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14643863&blogID=229771544

http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=12632&department=BLI&categoryid=dotcommentary

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/mhvpim.htm

http://sextradeworkers.blogspot.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3900361.stm

http://www.newint.org/issue252/whore.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_the_Netherlands

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/netherl.htm

http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/

I found a lot of general blogs (often just one entry) about people's views on legalizing prostitution, there were the classic views against (oppresive towards women, stds, drugs, etc) and those for (actually lowers stds, not a correlations with drugs...women do it anyway might as well regulate it)...

I also found a lot of information tying prostitution to human trafficking, and the increase in this phenomenon in the Netherlands and Europe.

I also found some interesting articles and opinions on stigmatization of prostitutes which is the issues I am most interested in pursuing after searching through google.nl. So far that seems to be the best source of information I have found so far, but I feel as though not being able to speak or read Dutch is definitely going to hold me back as far as finding information.

As far as analyzing the online manifestation of my topic I guess I would have to create categories, such as simple onetime blog posts, entire blogs devoted to the topic, separating out information focused on stigmatization rather than just legal information, separating anti vs pro, etc. It seems difficult to quantify this type of thing especially because there is so much more information out there...

research groups and ideas con't

First off how did anyone add pictures to their profiles? I definitely couldn't figure that one out....

On the issue of topics, I feel pretty similarly I think to a lot of others in the class..which is sort of lost and overwhelmed by the vast number of possible subjects to study. I feel like everything is so interesting, and trying to narrow it down to just one topic that I can stick with for our entire time is difficult, actually commiting to something is going to be rough...

Now for the assignment:

a&b) As far as research groups go I came to the realization that I wasn't as interested in studying sustainabilty issues as much as I originally had thought I was, after listening to everyone elses ideas and coming up with others myself I decided not to join Alex and Julia's group about ecofriendliness and sustainabilty.

Mark and I have thrown around a few ideas about urban planning and public transport, one of my TAs in another class studied in Amsterdam for almost a year and talked about the segregation of housing by race, and the dutch conceptions of race, I think it could be interesting to tie in the implementation of public transport as a research topic. In general we both seem to be leaning towards some kind of issue in urban planning. (Whether that will involve the use of parks, or public transport, housing, etc...I am still not completely sure) I am definitely still interested in issues of art.....but am still not sure if it would even be possible to tie that in, or if just visiting galleries on my own will be enough to satisfy my own curiosity and interest without doing a formal research project with it.

I think the general research idea would focus around urban planning...and perhaps my own study would be on public transportation. How effective is it? Does it keep certain groups separate? Is it easy to get from certain neighborhoods to certain areas where jobs are, or are those people essentially cut off unless they have their own vehicles? Does it help keep the populations segregated? If so how do people feel about it, do they like it the way it is even though the Dutch are supposed to be so pro-equality? What is the feeling of bus/train drivers towards those who use public transportation?....

c) I am definitely leaning towards the pilot study or exploration end of the spectrum as far as research goals go, I'd like to have the freedom to talk to whomever without being constrained by what is acceptable for academic research.

d) The biggest challenges so far are definitely figuring out and defining for sure what I plan to study and finding a for sure group to do a project with. Then of course narrowing down what kind of methods to use to find out whatever information we are interested in. I think almost any project would start with internet research and use of existing literature, and then move to see if we want to do mostly observational study, or interviews, surveys, and on..

I am still open to a lot of ideas...and any comments or anyone else interested in anything I've said, or who might need a group should definitely let me know!

IDEAS?

Ideas: Originally I had thrown around some ideas about studying issues of sustainability in Amsterdam. It is known as an innovative city with positive attitudes towards sustaining the environment. People use bikes rather than cars, I had read about the recycling of old abandoned public spaces into hip new clubs in Rotterdam, and other examples of sustainable practices all throughout the country. But how would I tie ideas about sustainability with those of pragmatic tolerance? And exactly how could I go about studying any of it? My main interest is to find some way address and study the issues of sustainability in Amsterdam, and what it says about the Netherlands and the views of people that live there.

Questions: What are the attitudes towards sustainable practices? What are examples of actual sustainable practices? Is it even really all that important to the people of the city? Are the attitudes forced on society by laws/policies? Or are they readily supported by the public, or even pushed by the public? Is there a conflict between trying to conserve the city and trying to implement new urban planning? Do the policies and practices currently implemented even seem to be working? How do they differ from other areas of Europe? Or of with major urban areas in the United States or Canada? Are the attitudes of the public in these areas different?.....

Evidence: I am still pretty unsure about how to go about this kind of study, and exactly where to focus it, or if it is even a valid point to consider. It would require internet/library research about policies in the city, and perhaps more research in comparing policies with other cities in the world, and other research about examples of practices in the city, including likely visiting real sites. Perhaps it would also entail interviews of citizens and policy makers, urban planners, architects, business owners, home owners, college students, recent immigrants etc etc about their attitudes towards the issues.

However this is definitely not my only possible path in research…I also am intrigued by the artists of Amsterdam and what kind of work they produce and whether it is a reflection of their views towards policies or life in Amsterdam. (How do they feel about prostitution, marijuana, euthanasia, etc) Are there trends throughout history? How does it differ from other European art, how is it similar? Has recent immigration had a sharp influence? What does art in the Netherlands say about the people that live there? Is there a pronounced art culture? Is it vastly separated from the rest of society, or integrated? Is art important to the culture of Amsterdam? What is the environment of museums and galleries? Is there distinct art that is political in nature such as Theo van Gogh’s films? Does it actually have any influence on the attitudes of the public? Do the attitudes held by artists represent those of the rest of the public? What about the style of art…is there something distinct about it, is there anything inherently ‘Dutch’ about the art it produces?...

I am particularly interested in visual art….but that could include paintings, drawings, photography, 3D installations……but also other forms of art could be equally if not more telling…music, music culture, literature, theater……

As far as finding evidence this would include looking at a large variety of works of art, visiting galleries, interviewing artists if possible, studying the art history of the Netherlands and of Europe, interviewing the public to study public perceptions, etc.

I feel as though there are so many possibilities for study in this city, and the main problem is going to be narrowing down an idea enough to actually get a good amount of information on it in order to analyze and come up with a good research project and final product. I am definitely open to many other ideas, this is just a starting point, and I feel as though there is so much to consider that I could continue writing pages and pages about possible ideas that I would find equally interesting….

...on "Submission"

Prior to viewing the short film of "Submission" by Theo van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali I had prepared myself for something particlarly provocative or appalling and yet my initial reaction once finishing the film was far from one of shock. A man was killed just for that? Clearly Ali is using the film in order to show what she sees as a negative aspect of Islam (stemming I can only assume from her personal experiences with the religion), but it seems as though there is much more offensive material about religion including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc. out in the realm of media. This film in particular seems to equate the men who follow the Qu'ran to wife beaters or rapists of women which could be the case, but these instances of abuse do not occur only within followers of Islam. As a strong feminist Ali must realize that inequality between the sexes exists throughout all societies and religions. Admittedly I am not a person of religion, I know little of the Qu'ran or the Islamic faith, yet the larger issue in this film seems to be the oppression of women in this culture. It seems much less about the actual religion, but in general about the views of a community of people that maybe legitimized by the teachings of the Qu'ran but even more so are legitimized by the members of the society. Is it really the teachings of the religion that are the problem, or is it simply how certain individuals misconstrue religious texts to suit their needs. From background readings I know that Ali considers the entire religion to be a means of oppresion, but I am a little unclear about what point Ali and van Gogh are really trying to make here with the film. If just to bring an important issue to light, then they have definitely succeeded, but I don't feel this video is all that affective at changing people's views of Islam. I certaintly haven't now decided to equate the religion completely with violence and opression of women. Perhaps it is simply because van Gogh was murdered before the final portions of the series were created, and that all together would tell a more complete and convincing story.

I found many expected viewpoints in responses to the video. In opinionjournal.com Leon de Winter, a novelist discusses his critiques to the film. He believes that "people offended by this film have a big problem." He discusses some of the same ideas I noticed, such as that the nudity in the film isn't really there. He also goes on to talk about some of the issues we brought about in our discussions, such as the idea that liberal multiculturalists could live peacefully with radical Muslims was perhaps not ever going to be a reality, and that it was an issue the politically correct Dutch media tried not to ever address. Other responses I found were many short ones reflecting the view of the Muslim communities, people made statements about how the film was a product of Ali's ignorance about Islam or a creation based only on the teachings of her misguided parents. There was of course a lot of support for the film, one of the first responses on the Youtube.com site is one in excitement about the 2nd part of the film. Many people discussed similar view points to Ali and van Gogh's about the evil of Islam and it's use as a way to oppress women in society.