Short takes: the art of field notes

A nice piece by Betsy Mason on Wired‘s Wired Science blog on the under-appreciated value of hand-drawn illustrations in nature studies in the digital age — Beautiful Data: The Art of Science Field Notes. It set me to thinking about the value of “artful” field notes outside of nature studies (where there is a strong tradition of artist-scientists, including the venerable work of Darwin and Audubon). In the “softer” sciences (humanities, social sciences and their hybrids), less value has been placed on the art of field notes. In my own work as an ethnomusicologist, the sketches, diagrams, and doodles that accompany my written observations of a musical event often provide insights that might otherwise fall through the cracks of a strictly left brain operation, focused on accuracy and completeness.

Harvard’s collection of scientists’ field notes (boingboing.net)

Written by Jeffrey Callen

July 12, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Posted in Ethnography, Field Notes, Methodology, Research

Tagged with Betsy Mason, Ethnography, Field Notes, Illustration, Research, Wired

Deciphering Culture