Colin Miller Ethnography Sarah Davis November 22, 2013

A council observe
!he "irst #ee$ o" college is one o" the busiest an most e%citing #ee$s o" someone&s lives' (e"ore that #ee$ #as even over stu ents #ere "in ing #ays to get involve #ith the school an any organi)ation they sa# "it' !he Moore *all Council #as no i""erent' +ithin a month o" school the council #as alrea y organi)e an planning to#ar s the "uture o" our resi ence hall (a future as in what, maybe expand here on what that means. What are they planning?)' A community can be escribe as a group o" people that coe%ist an #or$ together to#ar s a common goal' !he council is a per"ect e%ample o" a community in that sense' !heir purpose is to come up #ith, then implement their i eas to ma$e Moore *all a more en,oyable an better place to live' !hey are a very iverse group o" people having a "airly even split o" gen ers, an races' *o#ever accor ing to -ice .resi ent /ustin 0aiser, 1The demographics, particularly skin color have not made any significant effect or influence on anyones role on the council, I mean our president is black, however the females do bring a bit of a more creative outlook to events and decorations. 2 Each language or iscourse community has its o#n istinct #ay o" interacting #ithin itsel"' !he Moore *all Council is no e%ception to this' !he #ay the council interacts #ithin itsel" is a phenomenon that coul only really be un erstoo i" it #as as astutely observe as this assignment as$e o" me' !he council "oun this per"ect "luctuation o" completely casual an business3oriente parliamentary proce ure' !he biggest observation 4 ma e #as that there #as an obvious "eeling o" com"ort bet#een all o" the members to the point #here they $ne# that at any point in time it #as acceptable "or them to voice their opinion on the current topic o" iscussion' +hen as$e about the ynamic o" change bet#een casual an "ormal 0aiser sai 1As far as structure, we are good at keeping the parliamentary procedure going, and keeping it professional, however sometimes we tend to veer off of what we are supposed to cover and the friendship shows in our conversation more than it should. 2 *o#ever 4 observe that #hile parliamentary proce ure #as al#ays being hel , the tones use #ere o" "rien s conversing rather

than colleagues iscussing business' A pattern 4 notice in the iscussion #as very o"ten that the conversation #oul shi"t "rom open brainstorm to one3on3one bet#een the pitcher o" an i ea an the .resi ent #ho #oul as$ "or an elaboration or plan o" action to implement the given i ea an put it into e""ect.(what kind of ideas. Maybe give some examples on what you observed) !his observation le me to the belie" that the council #as not concerne #ith mere brainstorming, but they sought a"ter i eas that alrea y ha a plan o" e%ecution alongsi e them' !his 4 reali)e #as a metho use to #ee out the hal"3coo$e i eas an blurt out ans#ers' !he pattern 4 recogni)e also le me to the reali)ation o" the obvious hierarchy' 5reg the presi ent, not only ran the meetings, but e"initely ran the council' 1Yes, our president Greg especially calls the shots during the meeting, calls the motions, organi es the flow of conversation, and when I chime in I am making decisions towards the topic without taking over the idea. 2 /ustin sai this #hen as$e i" there #as a signi"icant hierarchy' 4n my notes 4 ac$no#le ge ho# o"ten 5reg #oul consult #ith /ustin be"ore ma$ing a motion o" coming to a ecision' Something that #as a little tric$ier to notice #as ho# you coul tell #ho #as an insi er, an #ho #as an outsi er' *o#ever uring both observations, espite the short secon one there #ere outsi ers at both' Every time an outsi er gave input 6#hich #as very "re7uent in observation 18 you coul see ho# unre"ine an not very thought out it #as' !he insi ers have gro#n to be e%perience an $ne# #hat #oul #or$ in #hich situation, an #hat $in o" i eas #oul "ail' An agen a is han e out at the beginning o" every meeting an that e"ines the structure o" every meeting, as #ell as giving the presi ent a re"erence as to #hich irection the meeting nee s to be riven ne%t' (What is the agenda? Maybe elaborate, as a reader I am not uite sure what is in it that helps the !oun!il) Conclusion paragraph has gone missing9 mil$ carton companies have been contacte ' .lease on&t ,u ge me'

I think the paper flows well, you also analy"ed the group well and had supporting eviden!e. I would elaborate more on what the group worked on, you in!luded Moore hall future, maybe add examples of an event they worked on and what they planned or how they put it together. (what ideas and work they put into it.)