The research and writing process is going very well for Samantha and I. We discuss our research daily and are constantly searching for ways to improve upon what we have. We continually visit our research site searching for new bits of information that could add to our project in any way possible. The amount of new information we are consantly gathering is very extensive, and though some of it will not be used, we have put ourselves in a great position to choose what we think benefits the project the most. As far as where we are with the process of research and writing, we have a good amount of information off of research and are continuing to gather more daily; however, the “writing” process is different for us. The “writing” process for us is by making and editing our videos. We are working on our WA4 and trying to produce a very good video over our first interview. This is sort of a test for us because we will be able to learn from this first video about our mistakes and how we can make better videos in the future (including our final ethnography). So our “writing” process is going well as we are still learning and trying to create the best video possible. Overall, I have to say that we are right where we need to be. We have a good amount of research information (which continues to grow), and we are working on our videos or “writing” constantly. My questions to Dr. Carter are.. Does this sound good? Are we doing what we need to be doing? Are we where we need to be?
Table of Contents:
*New additions to the Table of Contents are bolded:
Fieldnotes:
1. Fieldnotes #1:
It is a list of information on all of the different forms of communication and reading in the game of basketball. This is what my initial code book is based off of.
2. Fieldnotes #2:
This is a set of fieldnotes I conducted over a scrimmage, that I observed the basketball players participating in. There is a lot of good “in game” information involved.
3. Fieldnotes #3
It is a set of fieldnotes that I and Samantha conducted together over a particular practice. This is probably our most extensive set of fieldnotes. This provides us with “in practice” information.
4. Fieldnotes #4
This is a set of fieldnotes that Samantha and I conducted on Monday during the Texas A&M-Commerce basketball game against DBU. Shows game time situations and reading and gives us good insight into an actual game performance.
Writing Assignments:
1. WA1:
This assignment is written using Deborah Brandt’s article as a guideline. It is heavy on the idea of sponsorship and literacy. Those two ideas are very important for our project and this WA will prove to be invaluable.
2. WA2:
This assignment surrounds the idea of finding literacy in a community of Commerce. I chose the basketball team and found a lot of good information that will help us to define literacy in the basketball community.
3. WA3:
This assignment is an overview of what all I hope to accomplish with this project. It is my research proposal and in my eyes will be used as a checklist to make sure that everything I want this project to be, will match up to my proposal.
4. WA4:
It is in the process of being made and edited. It is a video over our first interview. (Player: Andrew Davis)
Interviews:
1. Coaches:
There have not been any interviews conducted yet but by Thursday we should have some information to post concerning our newly conducted interviews.
2. Players:
Andrew Davis:
Samantha conducted an interview with me about the different types of reading in a game and also about my history of literacy in the sport. The interview starts out discussing my younger experiences and finishes discussing more about the present.
Archives:
1. Pictures:
I have collected an assortment of various pictures from my fieldsite. The majorities of these pictures were used in my WA2 and will be available in that assignment. Most of the pictures show the opportunity for different kinds of literacy coming out in this community. They will be very important.
Game Photos:
Now that the basketball team is playing games there is a new opportunity for us to gather photos of game time situations. We have attended some of these recently played games and gathered some good game time situational reading.
2. Media Guide:
It is just another archive that I have gathered. It is a book that has the history of the program as well as what is going on in the present. It is very important that we analyze this for literacy and use it to possibly find sponsors.
3. Videos:
Along with game time photos, we have a variety of videos (or excerpts) of game play and plan on using this in our WA4 as well as our final ethnography.
This revised table of contents has some new, great additions to it that have proved to be very beneficial to our project. The first thing that is noted above is the new set of fieldnotes (fieldnotes #4). This is a set of fieldnotes that Samantha conducted during our game against Dallas Baptist University on Monday, November 9th. She took note of a lot of game time information and sited a good amount of player reading and coach reading throughout the game. After the game was over I sat down with Samantha and reviewed the notes. I also added some things that I had noted during the game to give the fieldnotes an insider perspective. Overall, the new set of fieldnotes turned out some good information. I believe that fieldnotes #3 and #4 are most beneficial to us at this point. The next addition is the new WA4 that we have coming. This is going to help us in numerous ways. First, it will provide us with some video experience and we will be able to learn from mistakes or gain insight form our peers on how to make it better. Secondly, It will give us a good video over one of our interviews that we may be able to use (most likely will use) in our final ethnography. The next addition is probably the most important addition to the table of contents. It is our interview that is conducted by Samantha with me as the participant. It is a good interview with insight into the life of a basketball player and how that player develops over the course of his career. There are many questions about my past experience as a basketball player and how I developed as I got older. Not only is it talking about developing as a player, but also the development of my literacy and reading in the game. You can see a change from the beginning of my career to where I am at now, and I think we laid out the interview very well to the point that you should be able to note this happening in the video. Lastly, there are two new additions to the archives category. We have game photos as well as game video. These have both proved to be of great value, as we plan to use a number of these in our WA4. Most of these were gathered at the game against DBU also. You can see a ton of “reading” taking place in the videos and photos we took, and this is good because we now have “evidence” to add to our research. We have added some great new information to each category of our table of contents, which shows that our project is running smoothly and we know where we want to go with it. You can already see that all of this new information has played a huge role in our project, and we are excited to continue to gather more and learn more about this fantastic topic!
Code Book:
*We have added the 1 & 2 code to each of the categories. 1 = If the player who was doing that type of reading was on the same page as the player he was reading. 2 = If the player who was doing that type of reading mis-communicated with his teammate and there was a problem resulting. 2a = If the player missed his teammates clues altogether. Also we have added the N/A code. N/A = There was no reading done at all in that certain situation.
1. Reading players actions: Code: (PA) (PA1) (PA2) (PA2a)
Ex. Shuffling of feet, Body language, Head nods, Hand gestures, etc.
2. Reading players eyes: Code: (RPE) (RPE1) (RPE1) (RPE2a)
Ex. Certain looks, where they are looking on the floor, etc.
3. Verbal Communication: Code: (VC) (VC1) (VC2) (VC2a)
Ex. Play calls, Coach’s instruction, one word descriptions, anything verbal, etc.
4. Reading physical actions: Code: (RPA) (RPA1) (RPA2) (RPA2a)
Ex. Changes in directions, changes in speed, where the ball moves, etc
5. Reading Surroundings: Code: (RS) (RS1) (RS2) (RS2a)
Ex. The scoreboard, the crowd, the coach, the refs, etc.
6. No reading took place at all: Code: (N/A)
Ex. A player may score on his own or do something out of pure instinct rather than by reading players on the floor.
