In Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, Georges Perec, talks about practices and examples of looking at the streets and town in detail. Through these closer observations, Perec looks to find a system, a rhythm within the streets. The verb Perec used often to describe his action is “decipher”, which I found interesting as it shows he is not only looking but he is reflecting and translating his observation into additional information; like a process of decoding the behavior of the streets. A common theme between the reading and my study is finding a site’s circuit. Many questions that were raised in the reading parallel with the question I had for my investigation of Harrods Food Hall. Why do the buses go from this place to that? Who chooses the routes, and by what criteria? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? Are they in a hurry or moving slowly? These are some of the questions I asked myself as well while I was doing my investigation at the Food Hall. I collected datas and information through observation and deciphered these statistics to answer the question I had for myself.
Perec, G. (1999) ‘Species of Spaces’ Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. London:Penguin, pp. 50 – 55
Visualisation and Cognition: Drawing Things Together looks into how inscription effectively simplifies dense data and information for them to be easily understood. The inscription approach discussed is similar to what I have experimented with in my research for Methods of Investigation. An example provided in the reading is economic statistics. The economy is, by sight, non-existent but could only be comprehended when the information is put in charts and lists. Description of human fossils is another example discussed as it was originally through drawing but now they are replaced through mechanical diagrams. Astronomers no longer study photographs of the skies, which are “too rich and confusing” (Latour 1986, p.16), but use a computer and a laser to read and simplify them. Similar to my method of investigation, my research aims to simplify the richness of the site to allow my research subject to show through. My research looks into the consumer flow within the Harrods Food Hall. Instead of using videos to record the movement of the consumers or journaling the number of people coming each way, I transformed the information I collected into an animated map, abstracting the counters and paths into a gridded layout and abstracting the people to dots. The number of consumers has also been reduced, as “redrawing and extracting is necessary to provide a … neat diagram”(Latour 1986, p.15). To keep the authenticity of the research, the ratio of people travelling to and from each direction has stayed the same. However, the result still reflects which area is more crowded and which routes people prefer to use. The “simplified inscriptions… allow harder facts to be produced” (Latour 1986, p.16) and to be easily comprehended with a glance.
Latour, B. (1986) ‘Visualisation and Cognition:Drawing Things Together’, in Kuklick, H. (ed.) Knowledge and Society Studies in the Sociology of Culture Past and Present. Jai Press vol. 6, pp. 1-40.