#mm2015

Mobile Methods (November, 2015)

Our first booklet “Mobile Methods” was compiled and published in November 2015.  Most of the articles are written in Japanese.  Please search this site with a tag -- #mm2015 -- for abstracts in English.  “Mobile Methods” project is launched in April 2015, as a project course at Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University. 

This project aims to explore the notions and practices of "mobile methods" from geographical and socio-cultural approaches.  Granted that we are “always on the move,” we attempt to understand the ways in which various objects/incidents move in our day-to-day activities, and thus define and redefine our relationships therein.

* Printing/binding of the booklet (148pages) was funded by Academic Exchange Grants 2015 (Keio Research Institute at SFC).

Table of Contents

Personal manifesto towards the practice of mobilities research. (Kana Ohashi)

Understanding “reflection-in-action” through multifaceted data. (Natsuki Tokuyama)

Re-drawing the campus. (Hajime Ishikawa)

Learning at home: An ethnographic study of an amateur “cosplayer”. (Rie Matsuura)

Typography and critical design: Speculative design scenario from the mobilities studies. (Yuta Murao)

Mobility and Urbanism: Toward the Intermediate-speed Masterplanning of Future Kamakura city. (Tomoya Ohta)

The looseness of significant ties: On reclaiming our “common” places. (Fumitoshi Kato)

Tactical design: Intervention into the cityscape. (Daijiro Mizuno, Naoto Yoshioka, Hidenori Okamoto, Ryo Nagara, Yuka Yoshii, Rebecca Rébillé and Hiromi Kimoto)

We separate to meet again. (Fumitoshi Kato, Riki Sasano, Risa Yabora, Yudai Yamazaki, Kenjiro Umezawa, Chiharu Konoshita, Mari Tsuchiya, Ryo Inoue, Erika Hiyama and Rie Matsuura)

The looseness of significant ties: On reclaiming our “common” places.

 「ゆるさ」があれば

Fumitoshi Kato

加藤文俊

In an attempt to observe and explore the ways in which individuals react to spontaneous “cook-out” situations, we launched the “Curry Caravan” project in March 2012.  Since then, we visited more than 50 cities/towns in Japan, and cooked curry in various public spaces.  “Curry Caravan” consists of a series of small-scale, do-able experiments that can be immediately tested in public spaces.  To begin with, we selected curry as a “token” to connect people together, since curry (curry and rice) has been one of the most popular and favored dishes among Japanese food.

Resonating with the thrust of an old folk tale “Stone Soup,” our approach is to invite local residents into the process of cooking, each adding various ingredients.   The process is quite simple, in that we place large cooking pots in public spaces, such as parking lots, parks, or backyards, and start cooking.  Local residents in the vicinity, including passer-byes, may come out, stop-by, observe and ask questions.  This setting itself creates a place for talking, cooking and eating with others.

Onda (2008) suggests that, traditionally, there were “common” places between “public” and “private” places (Figure above, based on Onda, 2008).  A “common” place belongs to no one, and at the same time, it can be used and shared by everyone.  Through the modernization/urbanization processes, most of the places were divided into either “private” or “public” places.  Whereas most of the “public” places are controlled and managed under the jurisdiction of public sectors (local governmental agencies), many of the “private” places are, by default, closed for public, owned and managed privately. A joint process of cooking is a way to creatively and loosely blur the distinction between “public” and “private,” and thereby promote one’s ideas about “togetherness.”  Though spontaneous, ad hoc and temporal, “Curry Caravan” plays an important role in reclaiming our “common” places.

When we reflect upon the nature of our social relationships, being with someone or being on-site (at the time of the event) is becoming more and more important.  It points to the idea of “design of sharing,” and that is realized through raising our consciousness about our problems at hand.  “Curry Caravan” is an attempt to promote a sense of belonging to the community, and the nature of human relationships within.

References

恩田守雄（2008）『共助の地域づくり：「公共社会学」の視点』（学文社）

Understanding “reflection-in-action” through multifaceted data

複数のデジタルメディアを使った「行為の中の省察」のための記録方法の検討

Natsuki Tokuyama

徳山夏生

This study aims to explore “reflective practice” (Schön,1983) of an art student, and to propose a qualitative research method based on ideas from “Mobilities” (Urry, 2015).

Being engaged in a creative activity, the life of an art student is not confined to a single place.  She always cares about her on-going project, while moving back and forth between her home and university or workplace.  We expect that her experiences and changes that can be observed in various places may, in turn, influence the organization of the project itself.  It is difficult to examine all the influencing factors but it is possible to observe and collect multifaceted data.  Though the data will be complex, it will give a better account of the details of the life of the art student.

We try to deal with different situations in day-to-day activities and take actions, sometimes based on our intuition.  It is difficult to understand our underlying knowledge because it tends to become tacit and automatic.  We can say that our knowledge is revealed in our actions.  The present study reexamines research methods to explore our knowledge in-action.

Combining various modes of communication, I collected a set of data through observing, interviewing, shooting a documentary video, and keeping a diary.  Throughout, I will attempt to understand the “reflection-in-action” of the art student based on the multifaceted data.

Reference

Urry, J（2007）Mobilities. Polity Press.　吉原直樹,伊藤嘉高=訳（2015）『モビリティーズ：移動の社会学』(作品社）

Typography and Critical Design: Speculative Design Scenario from the Mobilities Studies

クリティカル・デザインとしてのタイポグラフィ──デザインのための仮想的な未来シナリオとジョン・アーリ『モビリティーズ』の接点

Yuta Murao

村尾雄太

This research aims to create alternative typography using speculative method found in critical design. As the previous practice, Wim Crouwel “New Alphabet” is noticeable case. Based on various experimental typography works typified by Wim Crouwel, this research explores alternative means of permanent information archive. In this paper, the author considers cross-point between speculative future scenarios of permanent archive and Mobilities Studies(Urry, 2007).

This research explores two potential means of information archive. One is to create physical data archive. Currently, much of information we have are stored digitally. While the preservation stability of digital media is far shorter than that of paper (100-500 years), neither of them survive long enough. Through material research it was revealed that the stone monuments, clay tablets and animal bones survive longer. To this end, I came up with a typeface for engraving those materials with laser cutters. The typeface is designed for its users to record as much information as possible i.e., designed to be small and legible. This design has resulted as a typeface that is easy to read for many people and usable for personal fabrication.

Another research domain is to create non-material based medium. Intangible archive had been practiced a prior to the birth of written words. While it may be considered primitive, oral-culture (a culture without written words) has many cultural characteristics in information storage as memorable data. People of the past used ritual as a means of information storage. Therefore my idea is to design currently archive method that use vocal and gestural expressions. Referring to a work by Walter J. Ong (Orality and Literacy), this research aims to develop a combination of tangible and intangible data archival and means of storage for the far future to critically examine the nature of data in the internet-based society.

Reference

Ong, Walter J (1982) Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word. Routledge.

Personal manifesto towards the practice of mobilities research

モビリティーズ研究の実践に向けた個人的マニフェスト

Kana Ohashi

大橋香奈

I have no absolute “home” after having moved 19 times in my life. People call those who don’t stay in one place and keep moving like me, “rootless wanderer”. The term “rootless wanderer” takes floating grass as an analogy, which is never used in a positive way. Conversely, people think that ”putting down the roots” is a desirable (or ordinary) way of living. I, who have felt inferior in a society in which “sedentarism”-based concept of values has been predominant, aim to overcome that feeling by researching on “mobilities”.

This paper is, as it were, my personal manifesto towards the practice of my doctoral research. I have organized the current ideas on what premises, on which previous researches, on which theme, on what research methods should I put research into practice in order to show the significance and value of “mobilities”. One of the most important objectives of mobilities research is to examine how social relations necessiate the intermittent and intersecting movements of people, objects, information and images across distance (Urry, 2007). I would like to think about it through researching on “transnational living world” of foreigners who moved to Japan.

This research especially focuses on intermittent and intersecting movements of people, objects, information and images across distance, which maintain social relations of “family” in the transnational living world. To accomplish this purpose, I am engaged in inventing and practicing a new “mobile method” by combining various qualitative research methods including existing mobile methods. This paper exemplifies some key points of this work-in-progress challenge.

On Mobilities and the Artist's Gaze

Joyce Lam

ジョイス・ラム

There is an increasing number of art projects that focuses on the history and culture of the local area in Japan. However, even though these art projects place emphasis on the process of creating the artwork, previous literature focus on the impacts on the local people and are inadequate in examining the process of making the artwork or the viewpoint of the artists. This research sets out with the hypothesis that artists have their own set of perception of incidents and events that occur during the process of making place-specific works of art, which affect the style and artwork of the artist himself, and that it also help them to gain a deeper understanding of the local place.

Linking the ideas of mobilities (Urry, 2007), the tourist's gaze (Urry, 2011) and Socially Engaged Art (Helguera, 2015) and using qualitative research methods based on interviews and fieldwork, this study explores the notion of the artist's gaze when they go to a new place to make place-specific works of art.

Bibliography

Helguera, Pablo. Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook. Japanese version: Film Art Inc., 2015. Print.

 Nakashima, Masahiro. Community Involvement and Quality of Life with Setouchi International Art Festival. Hiroshima Journal of International Studies Volume 18 2012.

Urry, John. Mobilities. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007. Print.

We separate to meet again

爽やかな解散

Fumitoshi Kato, Riki Sasano, Risa Yabora, Yudai Yamazaki, Kenjiro Umezawa, Chiharu Konoshita, Mari Tsuchiya, Ryo Inoue, Erika Hiyama and Rie Matsuura

加藤文俊研究室

Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces.  It capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, ultimately creating good public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well being.  (ref. Project for Public Spaces)

In understanding the notions and practices of place-making activities, we tend to focus on the ways in which we gather, get to know someone, and make connections.  In contrast, when we acknowledge that most of our place-making activities are on-going and dynamic processes, we need to shift our focus to the act of separations and reunions.  There, our attempt is to speculate upon our design strategies and communication behavior to smoothly withdraw from the site, and to maintain the relationships thereafter.  We assume that a successful separation will lead to the sustainability of the place itself, and thus identical places may emerge repeatedly.  Based on the understanding that we are always “on the move (Urry, 2007),” the present study aims to focus on the techniques and attitudes toward organization of our communication and place-making activities.

As an initial phase of the study, students (in groups of three) conducted a series of ethnographic/qualitative research on mobile businesses (e.g., street performers, street musicians, moving stalls, food trucks, etc.).

We separate to meet again.  We alternate “hello” and “goodbye” repeatedly.  It creates a moment at which we become aware that we are “always on the move.”

Reference

Urry, J (2007）Mobilities. Polity Press.

Web: http://vanotica.net/wsma/