Category Archives: Reflections

by | April 3, 2016 · 10:18 pm

Week 10-12

Week 10-12 Individual Reflection:

In the past few weeks, we finalized the outcomes of our project with Cathy, our community partner. We assigned leads for different parts of our project, though we will still be working together for some of the tasks, especially the tasks that require us to be at Williams Lake for, such as GIS, and making recommendations for management of the climbing wall at the Williams Lake Community Forest. It has been a challenge in our group to keep communication with each other if group members are unable to do work on the project in the last few weeks, but there has been improvement now.
With the Williams Lake trip coming up in less than a month, we have also been working on a rough timeline for our week at Williams Lake, and starting to coordinate meetings with our stakeholders at Williams Lake.
As our project tasks have expanded now, our research methods will also be conducting literature reviews, and relevant past reports online such as the Whistler Community Forest Management Plan.

Challenges we may encounter before/during our field work:
1) After consulting with stakeholders, finding an agreement that everyone agrees on. If we’re not meeting with everyone at the same time, for example, the rancher and the biking club, we will need to satisfy both parties with an agreement, hopefully during the short time frame we are there. If not, it will be hard to contact both parties before our final report is due.
2) Setting up times with all the people we need to meet with
3)Challenges with GIS, and getting help with the GIS
4)Not having the local knowledge to be able to problem solve for issues related to the community forest

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by | · 7:02 pm

Week 12 Reflection

Weeks are flying by and we are getting closer and closer to our departure for Williams Lake. It feels like we have done a lot and yet at the same time not enough, and we are realizing now that a bulk of our work will have to be done when we are on site.

For our last week of class, we will attempt to call some more of our stakeholders to solidify more of our doubts and at the same time also plan for our trip while we are there. Considering the time constraints, we are attempting to plan an effective schedule, splitting up tasks to interview and find a way to gather and share information with each other. Our meetings have been more productive, with clear splitting up of tasks. After a couple of tough conversations, I think we finally found a work dynamic that is efficient and suitable for our group, which is always a good news.

I’m still personally really worried that we may not deliver the expectations of our partner, there is a lot to be done and we have very little time in between our visit and submission of the project. At the same time, I do believe that the way the project is going, it will be a dynamic report which will continuously evolve as more information come together, and that’s a relief to know that there is always room for improvement and that nothing is final. I have also started to appreciate more the trust that has been given to us, a group of undergraduate students, in the decision making of our community partner. The realization creates both a sense of pride and humility at the same time.

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Filed under Ernielly Leo, Reflections

by | March 22, 2016 · 11:26 pm

The Struggle is Real

I’ve decided to take on the theme of both Humans of Vancouver and First World Problems by looking at things that come up daily in student conversations as we navigate the demands of the different aspects of our lives; personal, social, and “future” development. I wanted to see our commonly accepted and normalized statement from a different perspective and really trying to understand the motivation behind the things we say daily. Why do we say certain things, what are the unseen forces that is pressuring us, how do we connect with each other and create community through these “first world complaints”

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“My usual aesthetic isn’t working with these cherry blossoms”

Coming back from a study session, realizing that the first day of Spring is here, N had to take a picture of the cherry blossoms blooming around the neighbourhood. However, this picture is not looking too cute with his usual Instagram aesthetics. Not only is Instagram a sharing tool or a form of self expression but it has become a way to signal social worth and self validation- is this hipster enough? will this post make me cool?

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“Man, I should’ve gotten dominos as well”

M came back from a job interview after a long week of paper writing and midterm cramming. She had finally gotten an interview for the many applications that she has submitted. After a long day, M went to buy some treats for her ‘treat yourself night’ and soon after realized that the treat is incomplete. The conversations on mental health and wellbeing is something that has recently gotten a lot of attention. The discussion rose alongside the increasing pressure to be productive, to be getting jobs and getting As, to learn to be a holistic adult.

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“This WiFi hates me right now”

Rainy weekend, cozy cafe vibes, supposed productive study dates, and the sound of clicking keyboards. In balancing the holy trinity of social, academic, and wellbeing, cafe study sessions seemed to be the ideal spot for all three to converge.

Jobs, papers, exams to cram for, a million quizzes due, months of not seeing this friend or that.

Cafe keeps you hip, cafe makes you work..

until the internet decides to ruin your productive plan and all hell breaks loose

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Filed under Ernielly Leo, Reflections

by | March 21, 2016 · 10:00 pm

Theme: Sustainability

For the weekly activity, we were asked to take three pictures during the week around a theme.
I took a picture of a cherry blossom tree, as trees are a perceived notion of sustainability.
I next took a picture of Common Energy’s waste audit, as we were sorting out garbage from the previous day from the Nest (student union building), to identify commonly missorted items for future education purposes, and to see if there has been improvement from previous years.
Lastly, I took a picture of a Mugshare mug, a program that the Campaigns team of Common Energy has been running at a few cafes at UBC as a reusable to-go mug sharing program.
In total, it’s a progression from perceived sustainability, sustainability in action, and a product of sustainability.

sustain 3 sustainsustain2

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by | · 12:18 am

Weekly Activity 10

Processes

These photographs portray the day-to-day routines of three individuals labouring in their trade in the storefronts of Vancouver’s Chinatown. Taken at a distance in black and white, they attempt to evoke a sense of melancholy and frailty. Although these photographs capture portraits of individuals, by extension of having these three photos grouped together, they produce a story of a people – a culture. In each of these photos is a moment of stasis: the mid-afternoon lull of a work day, the unchanged motions of tradition practiced for generations, and an insignificant moment in each of their lives. Yet, this apparent stillness is in the midst of powerful changes. The pressures of economic forces threaten the livelihoods of these daily cultural routines while modern cafés, restaurants, boutiques, and condos are encroaching upon their limited spaces. And as this generation ages, their traditions and culture are increasingly being abandoned by the youth. These photographs archive a step in the process of change.

Taken on March 19, 2016

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by | March 11, 2016 · 9:04 am

Moving Along and Moving Forward

Slowly but surely…

These couple of weeks have been a time of reshaping for our team. We spoke to people and we spoke to each other; it really has been a lesson on communication and transparency in ways that we didn’t foresee in the beginning of this project.

Research Progress:

We had set up a meeting with Dr. Loch Brown to discuss potential methodology that we may use in our research and we also expressed our concerns about some of the expectations given to us. This conversation helped us shape our priorities and how we can effectively fulfill this project based on our capabilities. We had to narrow some things down and propose alternatives to our partner so it was a good conversation to have before we spoke to Ken Day, the community forest manager. The conversation with Ken cleared up a lot of confusion that we have as a group and we are finally able to proceed with a clear vision of what our research will contribute to. We were also able to speak truthfully in regards to our concerns and what we are capable/ not capable of doing and the response was really positive.

We were given a lot of contact information by Cathy and we have been dividing the responsibility in communicating with our stakeholders. Some interesting insights were provided, especially regarding road access and residential needs which we think could help us suggest list of recommendations, especially in terms of communication.

Group progress:

Again, communication is key. Such a cheesy topic but it has never been more true to me especially with this group project. While we have divided task in terms of the research itself, our group updates on blogs etc have remained pretty voluntary and we have not been communicating well in terms of task division. Some members ended up working more and feeling frustrated that there was no communications in terms of who will be doing things and whether or not someone can do something. I was really glad however that we are in a place where we can have these uncomfortable conversation and that we can move forward from it. I feel like after addressing the elephant in the room, we are more at ease with each other and are able to complement each other better in terms of our group contribution.
Basically these three weeks have been eventful for our team and our research, it now has a new shape and we now have a clear direction to move towards!

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by | March 10, 2016 · 11:13 pm

Weeks 7-9: Project is Taking Shape

Individual Reflection

I think our group has made a lot of progress in the last few weeks by solidifying our theoretical framework, talking to stakeholders, and clarifying what will be expected of our project. The highlights were talking to Ken Day, the manager of the Alex Fraser Research Forest and in charge of managing the Williams Lake Community Forest, as well as Loch Brown, the head of Environment and Sustainability in Geography. Our meeting with Loch Brown helped prepare us for talking to Ken, as we were uncertain about  what we are able to take on for some aspects of our project. Loch’s suggestions about participant mapping, tradeoff analysis and focusing on the relationship between agriculture and recreational trails as part of our research.
It was great to talk to Ken as he is in charge of managing the Williams Lake Community Forest, and had a lot of information on the issues of the forest, as well as what the Alex Fraser Research Forest would find useful. Some of the project seemed much more complex over e-mail than when we discussed on skype the issue, and what would be expected for us to produce that could be helpful. This discussion of going through exactly what we need to tackle should have happened earlier than now, but had been delayed for almost a month. It is difficult to accommodate everyone’s schedules to have a phone call when it is a larger group. However, we only had two of us during our meeting with Ken, and in some ways, it was simpler that way. The phonecalls with our contacts have been going well, and is giving us a much better picture of the issues in the forest with respect to road use and trails. People have been very open and informative. We also had found a video from the news on the issues residents are having with a road in the Forest, which gave us a much better understanding of the issues at hand.

A challenge in this project is make sure that everyone is on the same page, with so many people (and more people that we have yet to talk to). Another challenge of this project is not being able to be on the grounds at Williams Lake until the end of the term, as a lot of our project needs to be done there, and would be very helpful to visit the Williams Lake Community Forest.

Working as a Group
We have divided our stakeholders (Williams Lake Community Forest Standing Committee and Board members among our group members to contact and set up phone calls, and then our group gets together to call the stakeholders. We have found this to be much more efficient, and easier to organize. During the phonecall, while we all speak at times and ask questions, the person who has been the main contact mostly speaks for the group. We have formulated a list of questions that we ask each person, with a few additional questions tailored to their expertise. Another group member takes notes, which we have filed into a Meeting Minutes folder. I am glad that our group is working well together, and is open to talking about concerns of working as a group.

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by | February 11, 2016 · 9:07 pm

Updates before the break!

Reading break is almost here which is a sure sign that we are going to be getting down and doing a lot of grunt work soon! I’m really excited so far, as it seems like we have been meeting with more people, having more conversations, and getting a clearer picture as to where this project is going. We met with Cathy, identified some stakeholders, and are getting in contact with them. We are also looking at maps and are getting different perspectives introduced to us during lecture times.

I’m really enjoying the diversity each class brings and how each one seems to weave itself into the bigger goal for us right now, which is the project, yet at the same time manages to inspire and make me think about a lot of issues that have been in my mind at some point.

I really liked May’s talk on participant observation and the assignment that followed because it allowed me to first, notice my own bias, but then to also look for things that I would have missed if I hadn’t consciously looked for it. I was able to analyze my workplace; the interactions, the relationships, the gestures, power dynamics, and so much more that I never stopped to think about. I felt like a lot of issues we talked about in terms of its pros and cons, as well as the following activity on focus group really brought back the idea on positionally that we discussed a couple of weeks earlier. It made me realize the complexities that come into someone’s position, the possible conflict between the personal and professional, and the constraints that people might be in that will limit how much someone can say about a certain issue. It also helps me to step back and remove my very reactive judgements on people or situations, a bad habit that I will need to keep in check while doing a lot of the community based research that we’re doing with the project.

To close the week nicely, I was really glad that Joey had come in and spoke about mapping and technology literacy in such an inspiring way. I had always been very insecure with my less than savvy technology skills and I had been worried that I will bring the group down as the only person who hasn’t done any GIS ever. While realistically, I can’t expect to be an expert over reading break, I now know that there are plenty of ways to learn and that there are so many opportunities to utilize these tools for good. It reminded me to work harder, and to seek further because there are a lot of things available out there, both in terms of information and support, as long as I am willing to look for it and to keep trying.

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Filed under Ernielly Leo, Reflections

by | February 10, 2016 · 11:56 pm

Weeks 4-6

Week 4: Participant Observation
This week’s focus of participant observation also tied together the ideas of positionality and community-based learning we explored in previous weeks. With May as our guest lecturer, I was introduced how becoming a participant in the research I’m conducting can provide another layer of information that is different from looking from the outside. More importantly, as May suggested, it allows us to develop relationships with the people we are trying to understand and the story we are trying to tell about them. However, I anticipate that even then, the story we can tell from experience in participant observation is only reshaped by our own assumptions and biases. Yet, stories are often and necessarily subjective.

In our own research, we have just heard back from one of the board members who has kindly volunteered to take us out into the community forest during our visit. This gives us the opportunity to have a more visceral understanding of the forest and see the different infrastructures and environment within the forest that help facilitate the needs of its different users. Our mental map of the forest thus far from looking at maps has been limited. By exploring the forest during our visit with a guidance knowledgeable board member, we will be able to describe a more detailed and informative story of how the community forest is being used and experienced by its community in our research. We might consider using photographs and field notes to help us record our observations.

Week 5: Focusing on Focus Groups
In her article, “The Methodological Potential of Focus Groups in Population Geography”, Emily Skop highlights how focus groups can be alternative methods of conducting research and gathering data information from people. She presents different advantages and challenges of conducting focus groups. Our activity in class also illustrated some difficulties that may come with answering research questions with a focus group.

In the class activity, our roles were all different but related to our subject matter. However, with my own role being more distant from the subject, I was unable to contribute as much to the discussion when it became more personal. I could only ask more questions and help continue the conversation but could not provide additional insights. While in more general subjects, different types of people may help generate more discussion, but in emotionally charged subjects, Skop argues that segmentation is important in increasing intimacy and security among the participants. Segmenting different types of people may have also gave people who felt they have less power compared to people who have more authority to feel relatable to the other participants who are like themselves. In our group activity, our moderator did a great job facilitating discussion and writing down key themes that were brought up by the group. While the moderator doesn’t need expertise skills to guide a focus group, it felt important that the moderator was able to encourage and empower all participants.

In my group’s project, we have not confirmed whether conducting a focus group will be productive to our research. As our different community stakeholders all have very different roles and values regarding the community forest, a focus group may be great to encourage general discussion but the setting of a focus group may not allow people to articulate conflicts that occur with each other effectively. The focus group will also inherently have power dynamic that may cause some participants to feel insecurities.

Week 6: Data Visualization
I really enjoyed seeing Joey’s portfolio of his different skills and projects and felt very inspired by the end of his presentation. His projects and the video by Ira Glass, gave me motivation to want to continue working on different mediums and interests I am passionate about. Joey spoke to our sentiments as geography students with a vast amount of interests and skills and related to our fears and concerns of our potential future careers. He encouraged us by showing us how in all his projects, he was able to bring in his curiosity in geography and present compelling visualizations of his research. It was great to have him introduce to us so many different resources where we are able to learn to understand data and technology better. I never thought of how coding or programming could be so important in data visualization and was surprised by how Joey incorporated his expertise together in such compelling ways. I am encouraged to continue working towards building my skills and a portfolio and learning from my own progression.

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by | February 9, 2016 · 10:38 pm

Weeks 4-6

I can’t believe it’s already week 6!
We met with Cathy, our community partner for a brief meeting during week 4. Meeting Cathy was really beneficial, as she gave us a much better idea of the situation of the Williams Lake Community Forest, and specifically, and brief backgrounds on who is involved. It was also a great chance to ask Cathy more questions, and explain our timeline as well. Creating an access management plan is a much more open project than I thought, as it will depend on what information we gather, and how we want to format our report, maps, and perhaps interactive website.

In week 5, my group met with Iain, a student from last year that has knowledge of the bike shops and bike trails. By talking to different people, we’re able to paint a clearer picture of the situation of the Williams Lake Community Forest, though I’m sure we all have slightly different ideas. We are using form of research that is more conversational, which is different to what we are used to with regular academics. I find it really interesting how the role of a geographer of both human and environmental issues coming together is clearly evident in our situation. For example, there are land conflicts between a rancher that has a long family background with the land, recreational trails, and logging. The environmental component came in when we were told about the impacts of climate change on the land use and logging roads, as well as ATVs wrecking streams (un)knowingly. As an environmental geographer, and someone who is passionate about human-environment interactions and relationships, this part of the project has really excited me and motivated me to want to help solve these problems.

From the participant observation guest lecture, I found it connected to the lecture on positionality as we will be seen as outsiders and as students. Our identities for the week will be seen as a group of students. We will be trying to understand the place better, which is done better through participant observation, rather than perhaps watching a video filmed in Williams Lake. From watching the video of the Filipino ceremony, our class noted it was our lack of interaction with the participants made us unable to fully understand what was going on. By being in Williams Lake and talking to the people, I think our projects will greatly benefit, as well as tie in our experience with the project much better. It has been interesting to conduct research for a place 8 hours away, while trying to collect local knowledge.

 

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by | January 21, 2016 · 1:21 pm

On the First Couple of Weeks

I came into the course in the middle of chaos that is the first two weeks of school. In between navigating courses, jumping from admin to admin, cleaning the house post winter break, and hyperventilating from speaking in front of a donor appreciation event, I found myself waltzing into GEOG 379 for my first class ever. Having a presentation on community based experiential learning and the kinds of relationship that these experiences foster became a good reminder of the kind of work that I wish to be doing in the future

The lecture on community based experiential learning reminded me of the International Service Learning program that I did last semester, and this class is a chance to do something locally, for communities closer to home. Remembering how I felt during and after my summer placement turned into motivation for giving this class my best effort. I also feel better about being in this placement then when I had gone for ISL. I had felt very under qualified for the kinds of things that were expected of me in the summer, the same daunting feeling is there for our forest community project at Williams Lake. However I have a great team, who had been more than welcoming to the new kid, and who are all very capable in so many areas. Seeing our group dynamic, there is a natural flow of work with everyone literally doing the most really motivates me to do the best I could to. After our Skype meeting with Cathy and getting a feel of the current situation at Williams Lake, I realize the importance of bringing about our diverse experiences in both the technical and the theoretical aspects to complete this project. In particular, I feel that the need to understand the relationship patterns and the power relations in the next couple of weeks will help us identify the stakeholders we need to talk to and the information we’ll need.

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by | · 12:37 am

Weeks 1-3

Week 1: Introductions
In the first week, I was nervous yet very excited by the idea of beginning a project that may have a real impact on a community and working with a team that would be equally enthusiastic as I was about the opportunity to carry out hands-on field work related to our interests in environment and sustainability. Moving quickly, by the second class, we had already decided upon our community partners and formed teams. While choosing the community partner I wanted to work with, I was aware that although I was interested in working with the Alex Fraser Research Forest I was also limited in experience and knowledge in forest land use management. Despite this feeling, I was determined to take on the challenge and engage in the opportunity to learn from this community partner.

After meeting my Alex Fraser Research Forest team, we were assigned our first task – to visit the False Creek Flats as a team and to get to know each other better. As with most collaborative team work, finding a time where everyone could meet was problematic. Of course, I learned that this also meant that my team members were busy and well involved in their community and interests. At the outset, I saw how important it was for our team to establish a working agreement, a schedule of tasks and effective ways of communication in order to work efficiently with each other.

Week 2: The Researcher’s Role (Positionality and Ethics)
With no previous experience with community-based research, hearing Madeleine’s guest lecture made me more aware of the components of this type of learning and the importance of the responsibility I had as a researcher to my community partner. Madeleine asked us to consider an “asset-based and capacity building approach” which describes a collaboration with community partners that builds upon skills and resources they already have, creating sustainable methods of using these assets and meeting their objectives. Madeline also highlighted the importance of recognizing that our community members are knowledge holders and “co-educators.” With these new considerations, I am even more aware of the need to develop a deeper understanding of the priorities of our community partner and to actively listen, observe and reflect on our engagement with them. During our first meeting with Cathy, our main contact with the community forest, my team members and I felt eager to begin working on ideas but also prepared to have an asset-based approach. We quickly realized from our conversation with Cathy that there were many aspects of the community forest that we needed to first familiarize ourselves with, including the different values of stakeholders, governance structures, and resource allocations. In accordance with Madeline’s lecture, Cathy also emphasized that it was critical for us to first understand the values and objectives of the community through conversations with them.

This week’s activities also underlined the importance of self-reflection in this course and in our research. Prior to this course, I had not thought about of how my positionality and former experiences might affect my biases and how others may perceive me. I will continue to keep this in mind and reflect on what this might mean for my research. As suggested by Madeleine, I have also established goals and hopes for my learning in this course. As part of my personal growth, I would like to improve my writing skills and develop a personal and mature voice in my writing through my blog posts and weekly activities. I also hope that through this course I will develop research skills and understand the process of applying academic theoretical frameworks and data to the usefulness of real issues in a community. Additionally, I hope that in my research and experience, I will improve upon my professional skills and knowledge in effective communication and resource management.

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by | · 12:36 am

Individual Reflection: Weeks 1-3

As we get into the core of Geography 379B many aspects of the next few months are starting to reveal themselves as possible sources of inquiry, research and challenge. The four group members will need to work closely and carefully with one another to maintain a clear path through our research. However, most importantly, I will have to, and have already begun to, dedicate critical attention to each part of our process. At this point there are a few key parts of the course and our research that seem to be particularly relevant. These include maintaining a strong grasp on my position within our larger research project and my position within our research group. I will also need to think critically about our groups working habits and communication skills. The most crucial aspect of our process however, will be the actual research question and our ability to deduce accurately our own skills and how to apply them to the creation of an access management plan for the Williams Lake Community Forest.
After class on Thursday I will be able to understand more about how we will go about collecting secondary information for our project. While the majority of our information will be gathered directly from our stakeholders and be from primary sources, we will potentially need to create maps of our management plan and gather sufficient data to do so, which would not be direct. Additionally, to get a firm grasp on the background of Williams Lake and the Williams Lake Community Forest we will need to use a variety of secondary documents and academic articles. Again, after class on Thursday I will be able to assess how to do this well, more astutely.

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by | January 20, 2016 · 3:58 pm

Reflection

January 15, 2015
False Creek Flats
I found it very interesting how reading about the False Creek flats changed my experience walking through False Creek in the way I was able to look at the area differently. Though some of the streets were familiar to me, it felt like I was getting to know the area much better, but also felt a bit like a tourist. I think visiting Williams Lake will have a similar feel of the combination of experiencing a place differently because of the preexisting knowledge. By working with a community partner for the term, I will have a much deeper understanding of Williams Lake by the time of the visit. While I was on exchange in Scotland last term, I was experiencing many different places for the first time without much background knowledge on it, which shaped my experience of the place on mainly first impressions, and the feel from walking through the streets. For Williams Lake, it will be both experiencing a place for the first time, and seeing how it compares and differs with how Williams Lake currently exists in my mind.

Experiential Learning
When Madeleine from UBC’s Centre for Community Engaged Learning came as a guest lecture to talk about experiential learning, I really realized how this class is the type of class I have been looking for. I really enjoy more hands-on learning that ends in results. I have only experienced this outside of the class through co-op terms, volunteering etc., but I wanted to take part in a class where I will be able to do environmental work in the “real world”, rather than  simply writing an essay and a final exam for a class.

First Meeting with our Community Partner
After our first skype meeting with Cathy from the Alex Fraser Research Forest, I am very excited about our future involvement with the Community Forest Management Plan. One of our tasks will be working on an access plan, and helping the AFRF prioritize different stakeholder interests, such as recreation and economic activities. From the weekly activity on positionality, I realized that my group’s individual experiences and environmental will come into play when prioritizing interests, and we will need to make sure we are making recommendations objectively based on the situation at Williams Lake, and what would best benefit them.

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