Marcus Jung

Week 1-2

Much has occurred over the past two weeks for our project. We have formed groups and I really am enjoying working with my colleagues. I feel sometimes that I am holding the team down because I do not have much knowledge from the field of geography, but I hope to find other ways to contribute to the team. Particularly pulling from my experiences in Uganda. I have already noticed many similarities from my field work abroad and the planning right now. For one, trying to find out what our community partner wants felt similar as communication had to be clear on both ends for effective decision and progress to be made. I sense that continuous and consistent communication will be necessary to effectively collaborate with the community. I also feel the same while trying to discover the scope of our project. While in Uganda, we took too much onto our plate, but I feel as though this time we have a more manageable task and more concrete as well: carpool system. It also is a need of the community which is reassuring as noted in the reading on dismantling the ivory tower, it is not about us providing them information or the solutions to their problem, but co-creating knowledge through a mutual benefiting process.

It was nice and somewhat of a relief to know that everyone in our group as well as our community partners were open and flexible as to what project we will be working on. Our general idea so far after the first two weeks of the semester and after one phone call with the partners is to work on the pilot carpool program for some of the residents. We brought this up for two primary reasons: the first being because it was mentioned in the social planning committee suggested ideas, and secondly our group felt that it would be a program that can use the information that last year’s group had collected and compiled in their report regarding public transportation and hopefully avoiding duplication of problems they had encountered last year. Jessica, our contact for the social planning committee, seemed enthusiastic of this project ideas as she mentions that there is a need for this since there is an aging demographic and transportation may be difficult for some of the residents.

As a group, we have reflected on various components of the pilot carpool program that we must consider and will begin doing research on. Here is a list of initial considerations at this stage of the project that we are excited to further explore.

1. Communication: how do the residents communicate in the area? Languages? Literacy levels? Internet access? Other communication barriers or strengths in community that can be used to coordinate carpool?
2. Finances: what are the costs for implementing such a project? Does the social planning council have any funds for this if they wish to implement it?
3. Ability to expand: although this is can be considered more thoroughly at the end of the project, we would like to consider how this carpool system can be expanded into other areas of william’s lake other than the section of the community we will be working in. Having this in mind at the initial phases of the planning process may enable us to tailor the questions so the information gathered can be application to a broader context.
4. Past group: asking the past group members who worked with the planning council on their work and ways to grow from it.
5. Safety: Climate throughout the year will affect carpool plan?
6. Existing Transportation methods: How do the residents mobilize currently? What are the assets of their current transport systems (asset-based community development)? What are some of its current flaws?
7. Skills: What geography skills or insight can we contribute to the social planning committee? GIS? Communication?
8. Social relationships: What is the community dynamics like? Are there tensions within the community that we should be aware of or may stir up with the implementation of such project?

We also talked as a group about this does not seem as much of a research course but a planning and collaboration course. There is nothing bad about this and perhaps the research components will arise further into the semester. However, it has already been great working with community members.

I also have a hunch that we may not be implementing the pilot project. Considering what Madeline eek from the Centre of Community engaged learning said about keeping in mind the scope of our project as well as only having a week in William’s lake, our role in this class may be to simply gather enough information for the planning council so they have the foundation and option to implement this program if they feel it meets the needs of the community. Perhaps if this is a project that we are very passionate about by the end of the semester, we can apply for a grant and continue building on this project.

I began to understand the ethics of approval Jessica for the first time. Jessica said that we would be working on the carpool pilot program with a community near William’s Lake and it is necessary to talk with them early on. I foresee the planning and gathering of information needed for the carpool pilot program may require us to ask residents more personal questions, for example, “what time of day do you normally leave for work” or perhaps “do you have any medical conditions preventing you from using a carpool system”. Although these pieces of information are important for our planning, the residents may be uncomfortable providing such information to us. Hence, we must be conscious of always asking for their consent and explaining to them why this information is being asked for so they understand what is happening. I initially thought that asking for consent was solely to benefit the researcher from liability issues, but perhaps it is also a method or platform of communication for the community members to get engaged and gain ownership of the project as they may have a sense of responsibility for the information provided.

 

Week 4-6

• The forms of participant observations we will take part of will be one that enables us to see the perspective of those who have troubles with transportation with and around Williams Lake.
• I think we will take several interactive approaches: more than simply being a bystander and one that is more interactive with the people
• I think for focus groups, we will not have to use them as it would be more effective to have individual interviews with people we are seeking information from. However, it is hard to know at this moment because we do not know what questions we are hoping to ask. It’s also a bit difficult to see at the moment where the theories relate to the methodologies, but I think it will become clearer once we have a clearer idea of the information we hope to look for. In addition, we hope to get a better grasp of our questions once we figure out who are target group is.
• It has been hard to figure out who we will be working with. Although it feels like slow progress, it is part of the entire process. In school, we are often presented with the problem and have to find the solution. Here, we have to search for where the problem is first. I feel this is similar to any work in the “real world” -> it’s never as simple. Great learning!

 

Week 7-8

• It’s been incredibly busy with other schoolwork. Busy to the point where it has been hard to focus on our project. Can’t believe that it is already March and it still feels like we have so much left to do. Perhaps this is the nature of any research in the field, especially with community partners. It feels like the same progress pace as in Uganda; slower than expected and navigating through uncertainty. I believe we just need to push on through and do what we can step by step, continuously reassess to take in and progress as much as we can.
• Some interviews we are considering will be with the people who are currently having troubles with transportation. Our group has planned on working with the adolescents and so we may ask them some questions regarding their experiences with the transportation within and outside the community of Williams Lake.
• In some sense, I think we have been preparing for the interviews throughout the past few months by making connections with multiple community partners. We have gained valuable information from them through informal interview, but these individual can refer and connect us to other community members that may be helpful in the grant proposal.
• Also hard to stay focused on the goal halfway through because of everything else that has been happening with school, applications etc. Makes me consider how hard it is to juggle everything going into to work world and having to manage so many different things at once.
• Feeling that I don’t have a significant role on the team. Two other members doing lots of work and sometimes I don’t know what I should be doing because everyone else has done such a fine job. I brought this up with the team and other members have felt the same. We agreed to try to delegate the tasks a bit more so we know what we each have to do and shall see how it helps.
• So impressed by the communication of other members when talking to the community partners. It makes me think of how much I need to improve in my communication to make things flow better for others to understand. I think when I don’t warm up in the morning, it influence how I am the entire day.
• I don’t think surveys will be that effective because we will most likely be getting insight from youth and have been told that they are not as eager to fill them out. Understandable because of the age demographic, the lack of internet as well as people do not tend to like to do surveys.

Week 9

• This week we had a guest lecturer named Craig come in and talk about the triangulation of research in the context of the housing in Burnaby. It was incredibly helpful to learn the value of taking multiple approaches in gathering information rather than just sticking to one as each one has its individual strengths. For example, census data collection can give you broad ideas of the context that you will be working with, but focus groups would allow you to have a much better understanding of the stories by the individuals oftentimes experiencing the theories you are investigating. Interviews and focus groups provide the stories behind the numbers.

• However, this also made me realize the importance and power of research collection and production because he has done research in the neighbourhood that I grew up and what he was saying disturbed me. I felt in a sense helpless to the transformations that are occurring in the Maywood area and worried that my childhood area is breaking. Through this experience, it is a bit clearer to me how sensitive these topics that we are researching can be and how precautions and respectful I must always remind myself of being.

• In terms of our project, we have a clearer idea of what we will be doing. Many of the resources for a bus service is within Williams Lake (ie bus, funding etc) but the people who have it do not know how best to use it best and to prove that there is a need for it.   This is a perfect way to frame our research that will be of benefit to the community members. Thus, we decided to our final submission in the form of a grant proposal.

• In terms of myself, it has been very stressful trying to balance other academics and this project. I feel that I am slacking and my teammates are doing much of the work. Perhaps it was because we weren’t delegating roles, or my teammates are very hardworking themselves. All in all, I know that I need to be allocating more time to this project as we only have a month and a half until our departure!

Week 10 

• It is very nice being able to visualize the work that we may be doing at Williams Lake.  It took quite a while to figure out who are partners would be as well as our research project, but now that it is much clearer, we can go into depth with our work.  We are beginning to figure out what we want to ask for our interview and focus group questions and by doing so, we are able to refine our research and our thinking coming into this project.  It’s also great to be doing this as part of a team as I feel our discussions are where we all feel the most involved and great times come up.
• I’ve realized through this semester that communication with other partners is what scares me.  I’ve been perplexed by this for a while as I did not think I was the reserved type, but I realized that it is when I cannot make a full connection with the person I am communicating with.  When I cannot see the individual or I am splitting my attention to many people at once, it’s hard to read the scenario and respond appropriately.  Because I cannot read the scenario as well (ie through the phone), I do not know how much information to be providing or in what way I should be saying it which makes me nervous.  This nervousness in tern makes me worried about what to say and it’s a cycle.  I think the solution to this is about practice as I’ve seen our communicator become increasingly better at communicating with other community partners throughout the semester.  This is definitely something that I hope to improve on.
• Navigating through uncertainty is difficult by itself, but it is even more difficult when working through it with other things to worry about.  These community partners work through this everyday on top of their family issues, relationships, personal health etc.  It gives me a taste of the working world and the uncertainties and difficulties that arise with it.  That in the “real world”, problems won’t be always given to you to solve, but that you need to first FIND the problem to be solved, which can take a long time by itself.  However, I am very glad to be able to get a taste of this so it is not as big of a shock after I graduate, to which I have to thank this course as well as the idea of community engaged learning.  I hope to continue integrating my coursework and volunteering with coursework so that I may be able to continue easing my transition into the workplace through the accumulating of such experience.
• This week has been a bit more relaxed schedule wise (more time to work as a group), but this has made me a bit more relaxed as well when I should be working harder.  It reminds me about my time in athletics where it is so easy to play at the level of your weaker opponent when you think it is going to be an easy when.  This experience teaches me to continue working hard, even if you know you may have it easier on you at certain times because if you don’t, it’s so easy to get stuck in a rut and lose the outcome you thought you could have easily gotten.  I need to remember to remind myself to work hard regardless of the external situation because I can only control myself and since I can control myself, I need to make the most of it.

Alternative Methods – Sustainability

For this week’s assignment, we were asked to take pictures of things that we find to explore the use of alternative methods of retrieving information.  We were asked to take a picture of three things in a common theme.  I chose the theme of sustainability and tried to portray it through the ways that the community tries to be more sustainable.  Perhaps it is the small things that our community does that will amalgamate into a more sustainable future.  Nevertheless, it is intriguing to be able to capture a moment in time the ways in which our community is attempting to be sustainable and to be able to compare it to methods we take in the future.