Allie.

Allie is a 20 year old sociology student.

Video:

Her story:

I don't enjoy tying my laces so I tend to tie them in a rush, even if I'm not in a hurry. Because of this they are prone to coming undone throughout the day, so I end up having to tie them more than once. I favour the 'kids' method, with the bunny ears- but I've also been shown the 'grown ups' way. I like it when I'm shoe shopping and the sales person ties the shoes really nicely, pulling the laces individually, so they fit like a glove- but I can never be bothered to do this myself. One thing I do like to make sure of it checking that the laces are symmetric and the knot is nice, other wise I feel off balance. I really should put more effort into tying my shoes. I don't smell or taste my shoes as I don't think that that should be a normal act. when tying my shoes I can hear the sounds of the lacers as I pull them throw the holes but it isn't a very loud sound.

Allie struggled with the task of explaining her story behind tying her lacers she couldn't think of how it effected all of her senses as it was an everyday activity she docent use the senses. but when watching her I could see that she dose use touch and sight to complete the task.

Drawing

Rona.

Rona is a 19 year old marketing student

Video:

Story on the shoes:

When I tie my shoelaces I always tie my right foot first, this is just out of habit. I like my laces to be tight because I hate the feeling that they would slip off, so I make sure they are the perfect tightness before I start to actually tie the knot. When I tie my chucks I have the knot on the outside rather than on the inside as they are high tops and would look silly if the knot was done inside. I double knot my laces because my mum had taught me as a child to do this for a more secure knot and also my laces are too long, so if I didn't do this I would trip over them. I like to tie both of my shoelaces to be in the middle and look somewhat the same as each other as I have OCD with this kind of thing. Then I am tying up my shoes I don't really look at them and mainly focus on touch when finding the lacers and making them into a bow, I also have to rely on touch as I cant see what happening as my fingers are in the way.

Rona's main sense was touch she relied on touch to guide her throw tying up the lacers and also when watching her tie them up you can see that she takes the time to make sure her shoes are as tight as possible and it was also interesting watching her as she pull the loops through the knot as she wiggles it through with quite a focus to make sure it is tight and also to make sure there is enough rope to double knot it.

Drawing:

Mitch.

Mitch is a 19 accounting student

Video:

Story behind the act:

I taught myself to tie my laces when I was younger, as I struggled with dexterity and couldn't work out the traditional method. I do this by making bunny ears, and then knot those two together. After doing this, I make the two loops the same size on each foot. This makes me feel more comfortable with how they look as I like things to be symmetrical. Other people have tried to teach me the traditional method recently but I found I was more comfortable doing it my way because it's better. I don't like the laces to be too tight around my feet, but I don't like them so loose so that they slip as i walk. I always like the sound of the shoes when I put them on on wooden floors when the ground crocks with the different pressure I apply when tying up my shoes. I don't like to smell or taste my shoes because that's a little unhygienic.

Mitch really focuses on the look of his shoes when he is doing them up, he doest like them to be asymmetric and spends the time to make them match up, he had A different approach at explaining how he tied up his shoes as he had to teach him self, I was more personal as he never had a connection with some one on how properly to teach him how to tie them as a kid so he had to look at how how other people and find a way to make it look like theirs, so he had to create the look of them him self.

Drawing

Caitlin.

Caitlin is a 19 year old full time worker
Video:

Story behind tying up laces:

The way I tie my shoes has changed over the years depending on the type of shoe. It has developed with the changes in fashion since I was young and how ideal the technique is for each specific shoe. I tie my vans this specific way because after they are on I do not need to think about the laces anymore. For an example, if they come undone and I trip over them or if they get dirty. They are tucked away safely in my shoes and are not a concern. I always put my right shoe on first and have done that since I first learnt to tie my shoe laces. I do this because I am right handed and also a little OCD. I like my shoes to not be too tight but tight enough for them to stay on my feet. I always wear socks with my vans. I find it uncomfortable without and they tend to decrease smell.

Caitlin felt that sight was the main part associated with putting on your shoes and how it looked in the end result as she didn't want the lacers to be seen and touched them into her shoe after she had double knotted them. When watching her tie them I could see that touch played a big part in the way she tied them up as she would keep the lacers loose for the first knot, not have to much tension on the rope and then when it came to the second knot she would pull it tighter making sure it wouldn't move.

The drawing:

Oliver.

The first person I looked at was Oliver a 19 year old science student who does competitive running  so focuses a lot on how he ties his lacers. I first videoed him doing the task:

I then asked him to explain the story behind tying up his lacer and to think about the senses when doing it.


The way I tie my shoes has been influenced a lot by my running. I tend to smell my shoes before I put them on- it’s a bit of a habit. I like my shoes to feel really firm around my feet, so I tend to put in the extra effort to pull the laces tight. This isn’t always possible, though, as I’m often in a hurry, so my shoe tying suffers. I was taught this method of tying my shoelaces by my athletics coach. It’s much the same as the traditional knot and loop method, except I loop clockwise instead of anticlockwise. This creates a reef knot, and the cool thing about it is it never comes undone. It’s handy for long runs, or in races when I can’t afford for my laces to come undone. And that’s how I tie my shoes.

I felt that he experienced touch and sight the most when tying up his shoes with smell playing a miner part in the act as it was a habit in smelling them before putting them on. I also felt that Oliver had a different approach to the other people as he sees tying up his shoes as an important part of running he has to make sure they are done up tight for support and also so they don't come undone when running.

I felt to show how they did their lacers I would document it in illustrations as it was simple, unique and easy to follow.  this is the one I made of oliver:

Doing Dashers auto-­‐ethnography

my last auto-­ethnography I looked at was doing breakfast dishes 


 Touch/temperature: when doing the dishes I feel that temperature and  touch interrelate as changing from hot water to the cold air, and when the utensils change temperature before and after entering the warm water. I can feel the hard bowl and spoon in one had while I hold the scrubbing brush in the other and occasionally brush my hand with the brussels. I can feel the bubbles up my arms and the water on my hands when they are emerged in the water. I can also feel the bench pressed up against my hips when I lean in to scrub.

Smell: I can smell the sweet soapy smell of the lemon dishwashing liquid and a slight smell of my porridge when scrubbing it off the bowl.

taste: I can still taste the remains of my breakfast, the taste of brown sugar, cinnamon, peaches and porridge  and hoping that I wont get a splash of soapy water as I don't want the taste of soap

Sight: as most of this activity is done under the bubbles it is hard to see what is going on, so most of the cleaning is done by touch. occasionally I lift the bowl or spoon up to check if it is clean if I can see food remains still on the bowl or spoon the I dunk it back into the water for another scrub. I find that when I am cleaning I manage to get water every where on the bench so I can normally see bubbles and water up the side of the tap or along the bench and not all just in the sink. depending on how much dishwashing liquid I use results in the number of bubbles accrue so the more liquid the more bubble and if I have more bubbles the harder it is to see the dishes under the water. Before I start washing my skin on my hands are normal colour but after I put them into the warm water the start changing to pink.  

sound: I can hear a slight splashing sound when I push the bow into the water and when it hid the bottom of the sink it makes a tingeing sound against the metal sink. then scrubbing the dishes i can hear a rattling sound as the brush courses the bowl to rattle sightly from side to side this also results in the water to move making a sloshing sound as the water makes waves as it hits the sides of the sink. 

these are my two photos I picked to show my ethnography the top on shows how the colour of my hands turn pink and how the temperature of my hands changes due to the warm water and shows how the bubbles and show the force on gripping on to the glass as when my hand is pressing against it, it goes white. the second one shows the movement I insert to clean the spoons and how i have to hold tightly onto the spoons as I scrub them clean.

putting on shoes, auto-­‐ethnography

The second auto-­‐ethnography I looked as was putting on my shoes

Touch: when putting on my shoes I can feel the lasses rap around my fingers as I loosen up my shoes, when I am putting up my foot into the shoe it if normally a tight squeeze to get it to fit with out loosening to much of the laces. when tying up the laces I put tight and can feel the whole shoe push against my foot.

smell: The smell of my shoes is not a pleasant smell as it smells of old damp feet from past event when I have walked in the rain and through muddy terrane, the smell is quite strong when tying up the laces but when i move my nose away from it I luckily can't smell it again.

sight: My shoes are old and wearing out, I feel they tell a story with mud on the sides, scuffs on the toes, the laces are no longer white from were the metal has rubbed on them and the inside backs are wearing down. I can also see the normal things like the red shoes with white laces and also can see my feet go into the shoes and tying them up. them I tie up my shoes I can't see parts of the laces as my hands get in the way but I use my tough to navigate my way. 

taste: when I am normally putting on my shoes it is the beginning of the day and is the last thing I do when getting ready for the day so I can still taste my breakfast in my mouth, porridge with brown sugar and cinnamon with peaches.

Sound: when I am loosening and tying up the laces I can hear a slight sound of the laces and also the sound of the rubber as I bend the shoe a kind of squeak when it moves and adjust.

these are the two photo I picked to show my ethnography, the first shows sight with the dirt on the shoes and mud on the fabric, it also shows the tension of pushing my foot into the shoe, the second shows the touch as i pull the tough of the shoe up to loosen the shoe. 

Drinking Ice cold water, Auto-­‐Ethnography.

One of the three ethnography's I chose to look at was drinking cold water.  

Temperature/touch: I feel the that temperature of water plays a big part when drinking it, I feel different when drinking warm, cold and room temperature water. I felt that in this ethnography temperature and touch interrelate as when I drink the water I can feel a cold sensation go down my throat and into my stomach. I can also feel the water move from the glass into my mouth feeling the weight of the glass change. The glass is cold and is wet from condensation and can feel the groves on the glass press against my fingers.

Taste: When I think of the taste of cold water I think of the taste from a jug I have at home, It is a big metal jug that when drinking water from it has a metal taste to it, and now I feel is what proper cold water should taste like and always hope that water not from that jug will taste like that.

Sound: I am unfortunately a loud drinker so when consuming water I hear the sound of myself swallowing, it is a loud sound that I normally get in trouble from my family from when drinking at the dinner table. 

Smell: when drink water I can smell a faint smell of the dishwashing liquid from the last time it was cleaned and the smell of the plastic from the cup containing the water, soapy musty smell. 

Sight: I always like the look of condensation forming on the glass after pouring the water in, I like the indication it gives to show that the water inside is cold. I sometimes find that then I am drinking and I look down at my glass in my hand I go cross eyed and my vision blurs up 

These are the two images I picked to show my ethnography, the top one i feels shows the touch of the water as I drink it as you see the water on my lips and I feel the second one focuses more on my sight as when I look down at my glass when I am drinking my vision is limited so I think represses but from someone else's view.