The Boston Diaries
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Tag Archives: work
Day 87: Washington Square
Editing, editing, editing. Finally finished and submitted our paper on Obama’s 2012 Facebook campaign. Such a great feeling of completion whenever a paper is sent off for review. (Even better when it’s accepted.)
Day 82: Coffee and curriculum development
Yet another great discovery a stone’s throw away from home – Flour Bakery, on the corner of Rutland Street and Washington Street. Excellent food, surrounded by interesting art. Developing a curriculum design that links student engagement with local community affairs … Continue reading
Day 73: Downtown, Financial District & Government Center
A walk through downtown Boston, doing part of the Freedom Trail through the Financial District, Government Center and up to the Christmas market at Faneuil Hall, where I found melomakarona and spanakopita at Steve’s! Followed by late lunch at Jacob … Continue reading
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Tagged Downtown, Faneuil Hall, fieldwork, Financial District, food, Freedom Trail, Government Center, work
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Day 72: North End
Walk and lunch at the North End (Little Italy), followed by coffee & work at the Equal Exchange Cafe, whose combination of contemporary urban/industrial ambience, comfort / tables / wifi / plugs, ethical fairtrade products, great music and awesome coffee … Continue reading
Day 60: Two months down, two to go
“Making the most” of a place is not only what you get to see or whom you meet, but also how that place or experience – the act of listening and observing – changes you; and to what extent those … Continue reading
Day 56: Diversity, segregation and engagement
Catching up with a backlog of emails, projects and readings, and building up the conceptual framework on the pathways between urban diversity, segregation, engagement and co-existence. “In the face of greater individualisation, privatism, inequality and ethnic and cultural diversity, there … Continue reading
The net from which you can’t escape
“The home reproduces social stereotypes and socially constructed notions and practices about your body, your gender, your sexuality, familial hierarchies, the relationship between the public and the private, which altogether form a net from which you can’t escape” Myrto Kiourti … Continue reading
Day 48: New office
First day in my new at the brand new HQ of the Engagement Game Lab, working on the paper on Obama’s Facebook campaign, checking out funding opportunities for the Cities global research and catching up with GPSG work.
Day 47: The Kennedy Tapes
I’ve read several great books in the last few months/years but I can’t remember the last time I was so gripped by a book that I lost sleep because I couldn’t put it down. It reads like it’s written by … Continue reading
Guest Lecture: Civic Engagement in the Era of Digital Storytelling
On Wednesday, November 13th, I gave a guest lecture to the Interactive Communication graduate students at Emerson College. The talk was entitled ‘Civic Engagement in the Era of Digital Storytelling‘. Picking up from the first part of the workshop, which … Continue reading
Guest lecture: Managing Choice
On Monday, November 4th, I gave my first guest lecture at Emerson College. It was a double bill, with a matinée from 4-6pm and an evening performance from 6-8pm, as this is a large freshman cohort. The title of my … Continue reading
Day 24: Engagement Game Lab, Emerson Library
Briefing at the Engagement Game Lab, followed by a visit to the new offices, followed by another productive evening transcribing and coding interviews in the library.
Day 22: editing
Nine hours in the library, editing the paper on Facebook’s personalisation algorithm and its impact on user satisfaction. After spending exactly an hour and a half on disentangling one single comparative statistic (and why the comparison is not valid), I … Continue reading
Day 21: Chinatown, Downtown, Emerson Library
Walking through Chinatown I noticed that in contrast to other downtown neighbourhoods which feature very little evidence of the upcoming mayoral election – it is quite a politicized community (interestingly there are more signs here for John Connolly than in … Continue reading
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Tagged Chinatown, community art, Downtown, Emerson, libraries, Mayoral election, MBTA, public art, work
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Day 19: Bagel and work
…at the Pavement Coffee House, Boylston St.
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Tagged Back Bay, Boylston St, coffee, food, Pavement Coffee House, work
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Day 18: At the edge of the present
Saturday evening in downtown Boston, spending the evening transcribing interviews for the project on public space, urban/civic culture and the role of the citizen in Athens. “When you walk through a city and you feel a wave of emotions … Continue reading
Day 17: Kendall Square
At Kendall Square, Cambridge. Endlessly transcribing interviews, pondering the role of architecture in urban public space and having a great latte at Voltage Coffee & Art, currently exhibiting art by Caroline Board and Kate Castelli (‘What is left unsaid’). Incredibly … Continue reading
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Tagged art, coffee, exhibition, food, Kendall Square, MIT, Voltage, work
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Day 14: Back in town
Back in town. Funding bid on media literacy and civic learning submitted after months of preparations. Celebrated with a jazz CDs shopping spree at Newbury Comics. Particularly intrigued by The JFK Quintet: New Jazz Frontiers from Washington (1961 recording, “inspired … Continue reading
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Tagged Back Bay, Boston Public Library, coffee, Copley Square, jazz, libraries, Newbury St, shopping, Starbucks, work
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Day 8: Emerson College
Observing innovative pedagogy on crowd-sourcing, community participation and digital engagement – at Emerson College.
Day 7: Emerson College
Working on civic learning and urban youth empowerment at Emerson College, with Dr Paul Mihailidis.