28.11.10

{ MINDMAP }

This is the mindmap so far, it still needs a lot of work though.

Proposal feedback

your reserach proposal is in a much better shape but you need to still work out some bits like:

- in justification you have removed the heads given. you need to put your explanation under each head. right now its ok but when you write the other way you would get to understand it and justify it better

- also your second question needs to be re-framed. not really clear what you are trying to achieve through it.

{ REVISED PROPOSAL }

Topic or Focus and working title	Examining how people in Delhi react to benches in public spaces.
Justification (Why this topic or focus? What is the purpose of your research for you and for a wider audience? Why is it useful?)	Relationship to theory While attempting to observe people in a mall as part of an exercise. I found a lot could be inferred from how people were behaving, reacting to the space and the people around them, by looking at people on a single bench. I was interested in studying aspects of human behavior and the bench greatly appealed to the observer in me. The bench in an object made for sitting on, it is primarily used in public spaces, as such, it becomes a space within a public space where people pause, often react to their environment. I want to understand this space to gain a unique perspective on behavior in public spaces of people in Delhi. Relevance to you practice The research will help me understand behaviors, postures, build narrative, and develop the characters that I will use in my story development in my degree project. Relevance to the external environment The research may be useful for city planners and architects designing for public spaces in Delhi, It may help writers, journalists, filmmakers and the like, to help make a comment on Delhi’s people in public places. It may help advertisers and market researchers identify a gap in the functioning on the space, or in the audience’s behavior. It may help the government formulate better seating policy for seating in Delhi’s spaces, one that would be accommodating to Delhi’s vast cultural classes.
What questions and methods you will use to answer them?	Sub questions and method used to answer them: 1. What is a bench? 2. How do people react to a bench in a public space? 3. How do people’s behaviors change in different public spaces on a bench? (1) Contextual Review (2) Observation, Questionaire (3) Observation, Questionaire
Which main areas of literature do you intend to review and which specific key sources have you already identified?	Key sources: Papers identified (1) Eric Paulos & Elizabeth Goodman, The Familiar stranger: Anxiety, Comfort and Play in Public spaces. Vienna, Austria, 2004. (2) W. H. Whyte, The social life of small urban spaces. Washington D.C.: Conservation Foundation, 1980. (3) Caroline Holland, Andrew Clark, Jeanne Katz & Sheila M. Peace, Social interactions in urban public places. Aylesbury, UK, 2007. (4) Amanda Williams & Paul Dourish, Imagining the city: the cultural dimensions of urban computing. University of California, Irvine, 2006. Books identified (1) Jean Baudrillard, [1986] 1988, America, The Bath Press, Great Britain. (2) Paul Cobley & Litza Jansz, Richard Appignanesi(ed.), 1997, Introduction to Semiotics. Biddles Ltd., Guildford and king’s Lynn, Great Britain.
Data Analysis How do you intend to analyse findings?	(1) Semiotic Analysis (2) Finding repeating patterns in observations across spaces and times of the day, and drawing inferences from them. Noting postures and positions that people draw themselves in on a bench. (3) Cross referencing behavioral patterns seen across different public spaces, then drawing inferences that are dependent on the space around them. Noting patterns in how people draw themselves on benches with different environments drawn behind them.

{ DISCUSSION 6 }

Discussion with Ramneek ma'am

I discussed my findings till that point from my observation study

- Your findings seem to be heading in the right direction, make the chart identifying the similarities and differences in each place
- Refine your proposal justification by putting them under the 3 questions given in the format

{ REVISED PROPOSAL }

Name: Rishabh Arora

Topic or Focus and working title: Examining how people in Delhi react to a bench in public spaces.

Justification: the bench in an object made for sitting on, it is primarily used in public spaces, as such, it becomes a space within a public space where people pause, often react to their environment. I want to understand this space to gain a unique perspective on behavior in public spaces of people in Delhi.

The research will help me understand behaviors, postures, build narrative, and develop the characters that I will use in my story development in my degree project. The research may be useful for city planners and architects designing for public spaces in Delhi, It may help writers, journalists, filmmakers and the like, to help make a comment on Delhi’s people in public places.

What questions and methods will you use to answer them? :

1. What is a bench?

2. What are the reasons why people react to a bench in a public space?

3. How do people’s behaviors change in different public spaces on a bench?

(1) Contextual Review

(2) Observation, Questionaire

(3) Observation, Questionaire

{ DISCUSSION 5 }

Discussion with Ramneek ma'am

- Begin analyzing the data collected from your observations, look at the things common in all the four places, then note all the things that are exclusive to each place

- Focus down your research towards one single direction

Feedback on proposal

- Examining how people in Delhi react to ~~and on~~ a bench in public spaces.

- "The bench is an object, relatively western to our culture, a colonial absorption" What’s the basis of this assumption? Or is this what you want to research on?

- "They offer a pin hole into Delhi’s current society, and that is what I’m attempting to discover through my research" Is this the focus of your research? Are you trying to understand Delhi’s current society? Or examining how people in Delhi react to a bench?

Please understand that you have to answer Why this topic or focus?

- "Since I am a communication designer/visual researcher, my research will clearly give me a different point of view. One that will allow me to understand visual cues, body postures and gestures, which is something I believe, is important in conducting this research" You are expected to justify: What is the purpose of your research for you and for a wider audience? How is your research useful to others?

- "What Cultural, Societal, Social issues are in play?" Isn’t societal and social the same? What about the play of environment/ space? Based on the topic or focus, you should be asking: What is a bench? How do people react differently to a bench in different public spaces in Delhi?

- "3. How is a bench visualized in different media? What are the conventions and stereotypes in the imagery" This question is not related to your topic ‘examining how people in Delhi react to a bench!’

{ REVISED PROPOSAL }

Topic or Focus and working title	Examining how people in Delhi react to and on a bench in public spaces.
Justification (Why this topic or focus? What is the purpose of your research for you and for a wider audience? Why is it useful?)	The bench is an object, relatively western to our culture, a colonial absorption. Place it in Delhi’s public spaces, and there are people from different cultures and social backgrounds ready to sit on it. When they do sit on it. (or obviously don’t) they are reacting to the people, the space around them. When they interact with this environment they give clues of their cultural makeup, their fears, and aspirations. They offer a pin hole into Delhi’s current society, and that is what I’m attempting to discover through my research. Since I am a communication designer/visual researcher, my research will clearly give me a different point of view. One that will allow me to understand visual cues, body postures and gestures, which is something I believe, is important in conducting this research.
What questions and methods you will use to answer them?	Sub questions and method used to answer them: 1. How do people behave on a bench? What Cultural, Societal, Social issues are in play? (observation of benches in different public spaces in the city) 2. How do people react to a bench as an object? What are its connotations? (testing, with questionnaires involving visual interpretation) 3. How is a bench visualized in different media? What are the conventions and stereotypes in the imagery? (Contextual review, i.e. literature, internet, media sources)
Which main areas of literature do you intend to review and which specific key sources have you already identified?	Key sources: Papers identified The social life of small urban spaces, William H. White The Familiar stranger: Anxiety, Comfort and Play in Public spaces Imagining the city: the cultural dimensions of urban computing Books identified America – Baudrillard Ethnographic Observations: An Overarching Lack of Trust Introduction to Semiotics Any other sources Internet search www.youtube.com www.benchism.org.uk
Data Analysis How do you intend to analyse findings?	Analysis of observation, finding repeating patterns in behavior. (Ethnographic Analysis) Semiotic Analysis of the bench as an object within Delhi space, and in visualizations in the media.
A time-line of the activities to be undertaken.	4 days review of public places in Delhi containing benches 7 days of observation of the spaces 2 days of conducting interviews 5 days of analyzing data 5-7 days documenting research

{ DISCUSSION 4 }

Discussion with Ramneek Ma'am

- Send me the revised proposal as per the new format
- You should consider also covering Select City Walk for you Closed Commercial Space since it's more established as compared to DLF Promenade and the audience you will find there will be different
- You have to define your bench properly

A Bench is..
- A place for sitting
- Mostly used for public spaces
- Made primarily of Wood, Metal, Marble or Cement
- Multiple people can sit on it How many? 3 or more people
- Not easily movable, relatively stable position
- The object is produced separately and is not part of another object (i.e. not the walls of a planter, not a staircase, not part of the flooring features)
- The seating space is normally rectangular, or something close to it (i.e. not circular)

{ OBSERVATION }

Here is some of the observed data:

{ OBSERVATION PLAN }

I now have to go and document observations of people's behaviour in public spaces, but I obviously can't go to every public place in this vast city, so I identified the major categories of public spaces, and chose one place in Delhi that to my opinion best exemplified each category. They are as follows:

Category Place
Open Commercial Space Connaught Place
Closed Commercial Space DLF Promenade Mall and Ambience Mall
Place of Leisure Lodi Garden
Waiting Space New Delhi Railway Station

I would attempt to cover different times of the day at each place (where ever it seemed logical and possible).

I would conduct non participatory observation and my medium for data collection would be Sketching.

Pros of Sketching

- It is less obtrusive as compared to photography and video, if people notice the camera they may not show their true behaviour
- people will less often take offense to being sketched
- one can document more than just the visual, one can attempt to capture the mood of the surroundings, note the observed behaviour, mention smells, sounds, time, etc.
- some places have restrictions to photography and video
- setting up cameras will waste time

Cons of Sketching

- A lot information is not captured such as colour and unnoticed details
- Does not have photographic accuracy and is more subjective content

{ DELHI }

people-and-population.html

Delhi History

The city of Delhi has a fascinating and glorious history. The rise and fall of many empires has left a mark on the city. Delhi traces it’s history back to Mahabharat. The Mahabahrat was an epic story of war fought between two estranged cousins for the city of Indraprastha. Mughals took control of Delhi and ruled in order from Qutab-ub-din to Khiljis, Tughlags. The British in 1803 AD gained control of Delhi. Although many shifts in rule has occurred in Delhi’s history many of the remnants of the glorious past still stands today. Ancient Delhi dates back to 800 BC and King Dihlu. Delhi’s name comes from the word Dhillika. There has been seven medieval cities in Delhi giving it an edgy fascinating history.

The city of Delhi carries a long glorious history. The earliest relics date way back to the Maurya Period estimated to be 300 BC. Near Srinivaspuri the inscription of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was found. Emperor Kuma’s famous Iron pillar by the Qutub Minar is part of Delhi’s history. Modern parts of Delhi area contains the remnants of seven ancient cities. The Quila Rai Pithora which was a seven gated for is considered to be onf oe the first cities of Delhi in ancient times. Siri established by Alauddin Khilji in the year of 1303. Tughlugabad, Jahanpanah, Kotla Firoz Shah, Purana Qila, and Dinpanah are some of the other ancient relic cities of Delhi. The last remnant of ancient cities in Delhi is the Shahjahanabad. Shahjahanabad was built by Shah Jahan containing inside the Lal Qila as well as the Chandni Chowk. Shah Jahan’s reign was at the same time it was the capital of the Mughal Empire. There is archaeological evidence that Indraprast existed in Delhi until the 19th century. The city of Delhi truly has a long glorious history.

Source: http://www.delhi.org.in/delhi-history.html

These articles don't directly talk about Delhi but relate to some issues that include Delhi's people

The price of democratic feudalism

Last Sunday when I wrote about the Indian media’s reverence for Sonia Gandhi and her family, I had not foreseen that an event would shortly prove me right. That event was the judgment on the Bhopal gas tragedy that came soon after my column appeared and incensed public opinion because it amounted to no more than a gentle reprimand for those who had been responsible for the deaths of more than 25,000 people.

It was so shameful a verdict that our news channels went out of their way to hunt down those responsible for the tragedy and the terrible miscarriage of justice. We heard from pilots who flew Warren Andersen out of Bhopal in a government aircraft, drivers who drove him around, officials who shifted blame and retired officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation who said the Government of India ordered them to let Andersen off the hook. When the Congress Party’s spokesmen were called to answer, they happily blamed Arjun Singh who was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh at the time but nobody dared blame Rajiv Gandhi. Surely as Prime Minister he was more responsible for letting Andersen go? Surely it would have been impossible for Arjun Singh to let him flee the country without the Prime Minister’s permission?

When I tweeted about this I got some support but not a lot because it is not just the media that reveres and forgives our democratically elected royal family but a vast majority of Indians too. As a country we have accepted democratic feudalism as our preferred political system. So why should it surprise us that something as horrible as the Bhopal gas tragedy should happen and justice not be done for a quarter of a century? What does democratic feudalism have to do with what happened in Bhopal? Let me explain.

Feudalism through the ballot box is similar to real feudalism in that as a system it relies on keeping the majority of the populace poor and illiterate. The good thing about poor and illiterate people is that they can be relied on not to protest even in the face of horrible injustice. Not because they like it that way but because they cannot afford to do anything else. More than 4,000 people were gassed to death by Union Carbide on December 3, 1984 and our political leaders have behaved as if it were just another industrial accident. Worse still, the victims have accepted this in virtual silence. Social activists led a few protest marches but these were sporadic since most victims were too poor to do more than get on with their lives. This would be unthinkable in a country that had real democracy and people who were literate enough to understand that their rights as citizens went beyond voting in elections.

In India, ninety per cent of voters exercise their democratic rights only at election time and then wait for their lives to improve without realising that for real change you need real policies not just a leader who comes from the right family. Today, the roots of democratic feudalism have spread so far and wide that most Indian political parties revolve around personalities and not ideas or ideology. Even apolitical observers cannot fail to notice that nearly every political party from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is the property of some family and always there is an heir waiting in the wings. Among the heirs in waiting the most powerful is Rahul Gandhi because his inheritance is not Punjab or Tamil Nadu but the whole of India. The New York Times pointed out recently that all he has to do is collect his ‘inheritance’ when he decides that its time.

He is nice enough, our Rahul, and has spent the past few years being trained in politics, economics and statecraft. So, a worthy prince but a prince all the same. He will not change the system, no matter what he says, because feudalism of any kind needs poor and illiterate people to survive. Please notice that he has said not one word about the Bhopal verdict and nor has his Mummy. The victims of the tragedy are too desperate and poor to ask for more. It is for you and I who know better to recognise that democratic feudalism is the main reason why India remains mired in medieval problems of poverty and monumental injustice.

Since the verdict I have found myself wondering what India’s reaction would have been if that cloud of poisoned gas had wandered over Lutyen’s Delhi instead of a wretchedly poor slum on the edge of Bhopal. What would India’s reaction have been if among the 25,000 dead were senior members of the Indian government? Would Warren Andersen have been allowed to run away? Would an American company have been allowed to get away with mass murder?

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-price-of-democratic-feudalism/633096/0

Feudal Democracy

Seema Chishti’s story on Ali Sayeed, the Olympian hockey player, being denied a complimentary ticket to the pavilion to watch the India-Pakistan match shows the arrogance, callousness and smallness of our so-called sports organisers. It is only in our country that people, either politicians or their stooges, can have tennis courts and sports stadiums named after their names, even if they cannot distinguish between a tennis and a squash racquet. In America, for example, the biggest tennis stadiums are named after tennis greats Arthur Ashe and Martina Navratilova. But in our country, somehow, politicians think they must manage our national games, even if they know nothing of a swinging ball in cricket or a short penalty in hockey. A recent example outside sport reinforces this aggressively feudal outlook of politicians. A new town hall has been built. Instead of letting it be called “New Town Hall” we have the ugly spectacle of small politicians in the Congress bringing in Mahatma Gandhi’s name (does Gandhiji need a town hall to be remembered?), and the BJP in similar small manner pushing the name of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Can we not become a mature democracy and rid ourselves of this feudal outlook?

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/feudal-democracy/588502/

{ DISCUSSION 3 }

Discussion with Ramneek Ma'am

- Understand the context of the situation for the next week
- Make a Mindmap
- You must refine down your research
- Conduct informal interviews to ask people about benches

Discussion with Kalpana Ma'am

- What spaces matter more?
- What is the purpose of your research

To find Narrative, and content that will aid my Visualization, in my degree project

- What is important to your objective? Diversity? Time of the day?
- You are attempting to look at the Marco from the Micro

Discussion with Sumita Ma'am

- What are peoples attitudes towards benches
- What is the history of the bench in Delhi
- What are your limitations

I can't be on every bench all the time

- Must contain time, look at only 2-3 benches (Not metro since their is a time limit there)

28.11.10

{ MINDMAP }

{ REVISED PROPOSAL }

{ DISCUSSION 6 }

{ REVISED PROPOSAL }

{ DISCUSSION 5 }

{ REVISED PROPOSAL }

{ DISCUSSION 4 }

{ OBSERVATION }

{ OBSERVATION PLAN }

{ DELHI }

{ DISCUSSION 3 }

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