Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Internet. Telnet, iChat, and Teamview softwares enable you to log onto other
computers, allowing you to use their programs and data. I have used iChat's
“share my screen” and “share remote screen” options to work on my col-
leagues' desktop (with their permission). I have also used Teamview to present
my preliminary findings with my East Coast colleagues, while presenting the
same findings to my West Coast team members. I use the software to connect
my computer with their computers through the Internet. My East Coast team
used an LCD projector to display my computer screen on the West Coast. In
an earlier study, we used a program that allowed students in the district (and
potentially throughout the world) to view a science experiment—a chart of the
temperature of a pond (at three depths) throughout the day. They could view
the data without manipulating the program settings. These programs enable
ethnographers to exchange databases, including interviews about the experi-
ment and temperature records.
Digital Photograph File Sharing
Digital photographs can be stored on the Web, using Picasa or Snapshot.
Ethnographers often take pictures on site and then store them on the Web. They
invite community members and program staff members as well as participants
to join the site to access the photographs. This is done to ensure that permis-
sion is granted to use specific photographs, provide reciprocity for the time
used to interview community members, and to share with ethnographic team
members in separate locations. Many of these file-sharing sites also have the
capacity to edit the photos, make brief slide shows, and print pictures. This can
be particularly helpful when ethnographers are visiting the site and want to
access them for recall purposes, for projective technique work, and/or to pro-
vide gifts of selected photographs. I often use these sites to share photographs
with my team members to help generate novel insights and hypotheses about
what we have observed during the day, confirm or at least rule out rival
hypotheses, and create a visual form of inter-rater reliability.
Blog
A blog, derived from “Web log,” is a running commentary about a person,
project, or topic. Ethnographers use blogs for many reasons, including a per-
sonal journal (to help them document their own feelings and biases as they
conduct fieldwork), an ethnographic team tool (to document and share obser-
vations and insights on a projected site), and a tool to elicit participant or com-
munity member views about their culture and specific events. I use many blogs
