Colleen and I went downtown to the Lusty Lady (we didn’t go inside, just walked around the area and observed) Sunday morning, which is admittedly not the best time to see anything of interest. I thought it was rather amusing that there were more people taking pictures of the place than actually going in it. We only saw one person go in (a man that looked mid-twenties of standard stature and somewhat wider than standard girth). I didn’t see his face. There were three people who took pictures of the place (including myself), who were all female and about 20-30 years old. There wasn’t too much leg traffic in the area, although there were at least two people with leather coats (yes, I know, random detail). I only mention it because the first man I saw in a black leather coat was also wearing a black leather beret and a pair of black sunglasses walking with a woman dressed in black (you see their backs in the picture). The man was quite interesting because he was talking animatedly to the woman with much waving of hands. There was also a young black man with a very very fluffy white coat. Most of the other people we saw were middle aged and dressed in casual wear. There was a Muslim woman, at least two black males, at least one Asian (Chinese), and several Caucasians. Most people seemed to be in a good mood –it was sunny and it was a Sunday. There isn’t really a back to the Lusty Lady, more like steps going down to another street level. We walked there. There were even less people. Someone had been there earlier and had strewn many sunflower seeds on the ground for at least 10 paces on the sidewalk. Also, there was a somewhat amusing factory producing smoke with a picture of a serene aquatic environment. Oh, and there seemed to be some construction going on right next to the Lusty Lady.
I think that this method of data collecting would be quite useful in Amsterdam, especially as a way of getting a feel for the area beforehand. Additionally, as Zeisel mentioned in his paper, “an investigator who wants to know how strictly hospital attendants follow fire-safety rules will learn more from counting the fire exits blocked by stretchers than from interviewing attendants, who may want to paint a rosier picture than actually exists.” It is often useful to determine from observation things which might be less available from simple conversation.
Also, as a side note, after reading Lynch’s paper, I find myself rather amused by my notes. I seemed to not notice many buildings except the one we had come for and a building with a big colorful painting on it. All my observations are of people…and seeds on the ground.
This picture is of the Lusty Lady:
This is the back of the man with the black leather coat and beret.
This is the factory
These last two pictures are of the people taking pictures of the Lusty Lady
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