{"id":969,"date":"2014-10-26T16:45:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-26T21:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/?p=969"},"modified":"2014-10-26T16:45:02","modified_gmt":"2014-10-26T21:45:02","slug":"post-6-wi-fi-and-transportation-needs-as-expressed-by-residents-of-portland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/infrastructure\/post-6-wi-fi-and-transportation-needs-as-expressed-by-residents-of-portland\/","title":{"rendered":"Post 6: Wi-Fi and Transportation Needs as Expressed by Residents of Portland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflection on Mental Maps and Caf\u00e9 Ethnography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gathering the mental maps and conducting the caf\u00e9 ethnography mostly confirm many of the suspicions I had about the ways some residents of Portland use caf\u00e9s and view the city. What I found most rewarding were the suggestions for smart technologies I prompted the mental mappers to give after finishing their drawings. Some of their smart city suggestions lined up with my own, so it was nice to have some confirmation of my ideas. The other ideas were valuable in their naturalness as they were fresh ideas coming directly from our population of interest.<\/p>\n

The mental maps demonstrated very different views of Portland, which was not surprising considering that I collected maps from people of many different backgrounds. The first person I collected a map from had spent far more time living in Portland than the others and I saw this in her map through her brutally honest descriptions of neighborhoods (e.g. Old Port = “douchebag bars and tourists”). The participants with less experience living in the city, seemed to provide less social commentary. Those who had the least amount of experience also seemed to have most difficulty drawing a detailed map which makes sense as well. I did find all of their smart city technology suggestions to be very helpful. Wi-Fi and the bus system were both technologies I was concerned about and these both came up. I also found the bike sharing suggestion to be particularly helpful and this is something I will definitely consider.<\/p>\n

The caf\u00e9 ethnography revealed a strong need for Wi-Fi as well. Most of the people in our caf\u00e9 (including all of us) were on a computer or smartphone and requested the Wi-Fi password at some point while we were there. It appeared that many of the people who choose to drink their coffee in the caf\u00e9, did so while also using a computer or some device that can connected to the internet. It should be noted that not everyone in the caf\u00e9 who sat down alone went on their computer or phone, and not everyone who were not alone were not on their computer (e.g. there we some people on computers working together too). Also, there were many people who came in to get a coffee to go and left and therefore never required a Wi-Fi password (though I feel that they likely left because there were not seats). Thus, I feel that there is a strong demand for places to go to be on your computer and connect to Wi-Fi outside your home that stretch beyond the public library. We had actually ventured to the Speckled Ax caf\u00e9 after encountering two caf\u00e9s that did not have any room to seat us. This high demand for space in caf\u00e9s could be attributed to the fact that we visited on a Sunday, but I feel it is likely a common phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Following these experiences, I will focus more on public Wi-Fi and the bus system, and also more thoroughly consider biking as a method of transportation in the city in my research. These three smart city recommendations seems to be some of the most important and have all been expressed as a concerned by residents of the city of Portland. For now, I am just intrigued by how simple these recommendations seem considering my own privilege as a Bowdoin student. Free, public Wi-Fi and transportation (e.g. Saferide) are simply given to us as Bowdoin students and we are very fortunate in the respect. However, we should be wary of seeing our own community as a utopia in these respects and should be careful to not project any “Bowdoin” solutions directly on to the city of Portland because of how much these two communities differ despite geographic proximity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Mental maps<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_6565\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Person 1:<\/strong> Woman, 31, works 3 part-time jobs, has lived in Portland for most of her life and now lives in the West End. Suggests a bike sharing similar to the one in Copenhagen for Portland.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6566\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Person 2<\/strong>: Man, 56, spends 2 out of 12 months a year in Portland for many of the past years (actually lives in Mass, but I cam going to consider him my commuter), works in energy and telecom consulting, lives in the East End when he is here, did not really have a smart city suggestions but did express many concerns about the homeless population in Portland.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6567\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Person 3<\/strong>: Women, 23, student at SMCC, works in manufacturing, has lived in Portland for nearly 3 years (came to Portland from Rwanda), suggests better announcement of stops on bus to let riders know where there are (perhaps give the bus GPS and a map on the bus can let riders know exactly where they are currently).<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6568\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Person\u00a0<\/strong>4<\/strong>: Man, 31, works at Bowdoin College, has lived in Portland for 2 and a half years, lives at the intersection of Parkside, the West End, and the Arts District, and suggests that Wi-Fi should be accessible to the entire city (not necessarily free, but easily accessible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Full Ethnography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speckled Ax Caf\u00e9 is located on Congress Street not far from the Maine State Theatre and also near the MECA campus. Went on Sunday October 19, 2014<\/p>\n

1:00 \u2013 Almost everyone on the caf\u00e9 is on a computer or reading. I am here with Alex and Rachel. There is a couple talking quietly in the front. And also two 30ish looking women on their macbooks (with yellow and orange cases) talking to each other every once in a while. A hipster looking young man is reading intensely and another hipster young woman is switching from reading and typing on her macbook.<\/p>\n

1:05 \u2013 Another hipster looking young man is sitting along and reading and wearing yellow converses. Some other people have come in and are getting coffee to go.<\/p>\n

1:10 \u2013 The young women on the macbooks have stopped talking and are now both on their computers. Every in this caf\u00e9 who has a computer has a macbook.<\/p>\n

1:15 \u2013 The only sounds are of the occasional people walking in to get coffee to go, the sound of the espresso and coffee machines, and the mood music (mostly indie) playing in the caf\u00e9. The song I have recognized so far is a Beach House song. An older couple (~50) walked in as well. The young man reading intensely gets up to leave and Alex and I move to take his spot because it is a better seat.<\/p>\n

1:20 \u2013 Alex asks to put her charger in an outlet near the 30ish women on the yellow and orange covered macbooks. They just talked about semesters so I suspect they are college students actually and just look much older than I thought. I also just noticed there are a few people sitting outside as well (even though its 50 degrees out today)<\/p>\n

1:25 \u2013 5 people all wearing flannels and knitted hats just walked in. They could not look more Portland. None of them are wearing sneakers, and all have neutral colored shoes. One of them asked the barista of the chocolate is dairy free.<\/p>\n

1:30 \u2013 A new barista with really long hair has started working and he is making drinks for a couple of 30ish looking people in sweatshirts, Levi\u2019s, and vans.<\/p>\n

1:35 – A rock song is playing but otherwise it is very peaceful and quiet.<\/p>\n

1:40 \u2013 A woman cam in by herself and is not sitting at a small table waiting for her coffee. She is wearing black boots and jeans and a navy jacket and also looks Hispanic and might be one of the first non-white people to come into the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

1:45 \u2013 The young couple that was sitting in the front finally get up to leave. Another indie rock song plays that I don\u2019t know but this one is especially grungy.<\/p>\n

1:50 \u2013 I notice that the people who were outside have left and the store across the street says Vinyl and Vintage in big letters in its store window.<\/p>\n

1:55 \u2013 A 40ish looking couple holding a Reny\u2019s bag gets a coffee to go. An old man sits at the place in the front that was empty.<\/p>\n

2:00 \u2013 I go to the bathroom in the back and there seems to be a lot of people trying to get coffee in the caf\u00e9 now.<\/p>\n

2:05 \u2013 A mellow rock songs has been playing for minutes now and the hipster looking girl who was reading and on her computer near us gets up and leaves. A man in a life is good shirt jeans and a black hat sits next to us at the table and is drawing or writing something on the pad<\/p>\n

2:10 \u2013 The man next to me gets his coffee from the barista with the long hair. A young women with big glasses and nice boots come in to get a coffee to go and is accompanied by a man with a beard and a gray sweater.<\/p>\n

2:15 \u2013 The potentially Hispanic woman is still sitting crouched a table looking at her phone and young woman with backpack walks in. She says there are no open tables and immediately turns around and walks out.<\/p>\n

2:20 \u2013 The women with the orange and yellow macbooks get up to leave and put on Patagonia jackets. The manager of the caf\u00e9 opens the door to let some air in and it gets a lot colder in the caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

2:25 \u2013 A young man in hiking boots, a sweater, and wearing headphones walks in to order a coffee. Almost everyone at the caf\u00e9 is reading except for one couple that are talking quietly at one of the small tables. The man who was reading at the bar gets up to leave and the man with the headphones takes his spot.<\/p>\n

2:30 \u2013 The Gaslight Anthem\u2019s song \u201cOld White Lincoln\u201d plays and no one is talking except for the one couple. A couple walks in wearing blue and black patagonias and orders coffee.<\/p>\n

2:35 \u2013 I decide to ask the woman sitting in the front on her computer if she would be willing to draw a map.<\/p>\n

3:00 \u2013 I sit down again and very few of the other people in the caf\u00e9 have left except for the couple that were talking at the small table.<\/p>\n

3:05 – semi-charmed kind of life is playing. the guys with the headphones gets up to leave. I wonder how much money the caf\u00e9 makes because people usually buy on drink then get up and leave after an hour.<\/p>\n

3:10 \u2013 The blue Patagonia couple are still talking nearby. The music has become much less indie and more 90s and early 2000s throwbacks instead.<\/p>\n

3:15 \u2013 The managers friends walk in and they talk near the ordering bar for a while. They eventually leave. Everyone is reading or on a computer except for the one couple talking.<\/p>\n

3:20 \u2013 The patagonia blue couple continue chatting in the corner at the table where yellow and orange macbooks once were. The man is wearing the blue Patagonia and the woman is wearing a black coat that might not actually be a Patagonia I realize. Also they talk about studying so I wonder if they are in college. They also decide to leave finally.<\/p>\n

3:25 \u2013 A man in a nice button down shirts and glasses comes in and orders a coffee. He chats with the barista as he makes the coffee.<\/p>\n

3:30 \u2013 we (the three researchers) all leave.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflection on Mental Maps and Caf\u00e9 Ethnography Gathering the mental maps and conducting the caf\u00e9 ethnography mostly confirm many of the suspicions I had about the ways some residents of Portland use caf\u00e9s and view the city. What I found most rewarding were the suggestions for smart technologies I prompted the mental mappers to give … Continue reading Post 6: Wi-Fi and Transportation Needs as Expressed by Residents of Portland<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-post-6-individual-analysis-of-ethnography-mental-maps"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p50q0U-fD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/digital-computational-studies-2430-fall-2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}