Field Obersvation Group

In order to visit our site and get a feel of what the initial perspective of what folklore means to the students of the Ball State. Our Group Went to Elliott Hall, which is home to one of the most popular Ghost stories on the campus.
Elliott Hall the Building
When First sitting and looking directly at Elliott, our group discussed the feeling the building itself gave off. Elliott was designed to look like an older building on the eastern cost of the United States. by making look old and the fact that the build is in fact one of the oldest dorms makes it a beautiful building that has an old mystical feel too it. that feeling alone makes believe that by looks alone Elliott hall could really be haunted.
as a part of our group field observation we talked with a few people to see what their thoughts were on the building.
L.M. a female student were talked with believes whole heartily that Elliott's ghost story is true and that ghost are really all around us. she has never had an encounter with the ghost, but from what she heard the ghost is friendly and only plays with the people in the dorm. when she first found out that she was going to live in the haunted hall she was a little scared, and could not sleep on the first night of her arrival.
A.M. a female student that we talked with is undecided on if she believes in ghost or not. she although need no prompting to start talking about the ghost that resided with in the hall. she also told us of a story that a friend of a friend experienced with the ghost.
J.S. a male student that we talked with does not believe in ghost at all. he has had contact with other ghost stories in past, before he entered Ball State as a student and has never believed that the stories are real. he thinks that ghost stories do not play a part in any part of life.

Ethics

                Ethics is a part of our everyday life, it what we us in order to understand social dynamics with in family and friends. Ethics is also what we use as professionals, so that the public is never exploited. Like all professions visual anthropology has its own code of ethics, which are put in place so that the subjects of film and photographs are never exploited based on the views of the subject. Codes of ethics also help to give a guide line to the anthropologists to follow, so anthropologists are better  aware of what is excepted of them and what is truly the wrong way to show a social group/person/ or other subject.

In the Article “State of the Ethics in Visual Anthropology” it discusses the importance of gathering as a group of professionals in order to reflect on the past years research, and how that years research, film, and photographs were used in an ethical way. The Society of Visual Anthropology holds the “roundtable” each year. At each roundtable is somewhat forced participation by anthropologists to share their concerns about the research that they have been working on, and how follows the ethical rules established by the SVA. It is also to show the audience of the meeting the ethics that anthropologists face concerning their research and how sometimes there is not a clear line to draw in the sand, when it comes to what is ethical and what could not be considered ethical. While dealing with human subjects one must be careful not to assume that by taking a photograph and using in a research project or research article that the research is a favor to the subjects and that the subject will be pleased with the work as much as the anthropologist is with the work. As Shown in the Article “State of the Ethics in Visual Anthropology, Thinking he was doing them a favor, Marion e-mailed this image from the 2004 Yankee Classic in Boston, Massachusetts, only to wake up the next morning to learn that his image was on the front page as illustration for the headlines “Assault Claim Divides Dancers”1. The image is of the two dancers dancing a competition, Marion believed that the image would be used in such a way that it would highlight the dancing of the couple, but the image was used to highlight the social dynamics of the couple in a negative light. This is an example of not totally using the ethical code, Marion trying to do something that was to be a good jester did not mean for the image to be used in a negative way, but without consulting with the couple he set the dancers up for more scrutiny. By Marion delivering an image to an unethical source, because of this unfortunate accident and others like it. is the reason that the American Anthropology Association, and the Society of Visual Anthropology have come up with specific codes of ethics to act like a guide line.

The Code of ethics by the American Anthropology Association and the Society of Visual Anthropology is positioned to help Anthropologists, in their research practices, and in the teaching aspects of research. The mission Statement of The AAA Code of ethics is to “advance all aspects of anthropological research and to foster dissemination of anthropological knowledge through publications, teaching, public education, and application. An important part of that mission is to educate AAA members about ethical obligations and challenges involved in the generation, dissemination, and utilization of anthropological knowledge”2. Do to this Statement is why there have been put place ethical boards in order to judge and review the work of others in all aspects of research wither it is in the research article of a cultural anthropologist, or the ethnographic film made by a visual anthropologist.  

Cited sources

1 "State of the Ethics in Visual Anthropology", Sara Perry and Jonathan S. Marion. 2010, 

   American Anthropology Association. 

2 "Code of Ethics of The American Anthropology Association", American AnthropologyAssociation.

    1998    

    

Field Notes: Iistening Observation

Time: 1:30pm-1:45pm
Date: September Thursday the 15, 2011
Location: Student Center: Tally Dinning area
I listened to the interactions and the sounds around me while eating lunch in the side area of the room. in this i was in the center booth at the back of the room. in the area there are four televisions. only one of the TV's was not muted. that television was playing Sports Center. I however was not paying much attention to the new cast, I heard two stories one on the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, and a story featuring the Kings opening training season (where team that may be). 
Two Girls setting to the left of me are talking in a normal volume, and can be over heard. not wishing to invade their privet conversation. I will generalizes what they were talking about. The girl closet to me is talking about a relationship problem that she and her boyfriend are having. the other girl is commenting on the character of the boyfriend. saying that she is not surprised that he is doing the thing that is causing the problem. they continue the conversation on this topic for about 5min.
mean while in the background:
there are chairs being push in and pulled out from tables.
trays placed down on the tables
the sound of objects sliding from one side of the tray to another.
other conversation that i can not clearly make out
laughing
a person in the corner listening to music to loudly on headphones
sliding trash going into the trash can
The two girls change the subject of their conversation to a class that they are taking together. the one away from me did not study for a quiz and did not do will at all on a test. the other vaguely talks about the quiz, she moves the conversation onto the apparel of the teachers clothing choices. he apparently wares 80's like sweaters and blue jeans with nice shoes.