Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) Field Notes
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE TEACHER:
How to Begin and Carry out Field Work on Associations in Los Angeles:
-The goal of this project is to use the theories we read about in class to guide your investigation of an organization, and see if the theories apply in real life.
-You will be attending a group as a typical participant, and should act like one. You will enter an organization as a typical member, do tasks that typical members do, and try hard not to stick out or disrupt the organization?s normal process.
Your field site has to include meetings or events where you can observe fellow volunteers and participants.
It cannot be a situation where you are working alone.
-You need to find a group, organization, coalition, or project that has ongoing meetings or events (e.g. not a
single event, conference, or festival). The point is to get a sense of how a group of citizens talk and act together to address a social problem. You need to observe this over time to arrive at valid conclusions.
This essay consists of a 5 page (double spaced) fields notes plus one page (double spaced) Memo about a meeting that we had to attend of an organization in Los Angeles. The organization that I should have attended is called Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and there are open meetings taking places almost each week (they come together and discuss an issue). The time/date of the meeting and the subject (what they will be discussing that day in the meeting) are available on their website. I needed to attend a meeting, observe (see how they are talking, what they are talking about, what conclusions they come to) and write a 5 page field notes + 1 page Memo about it. You could choose any meeting which took place in the last 3 weeks and write about that (the meeting dates are shown in their website, I could have attended whichever I wanted to) I think notes about what they will be talking in that meeting are available on the internet as well.
This is my third field notes essay for this semester, and I can send you the first two I’ve done. The essay has to be in present tone (as if I am doing it right now) For example: ”As I approach the building, I am shocked to see a lot fewer people participating in this meeting than the one I attended the first time.”