Scholarship

scholarship : Knowledge resulting from study and research in a particular field.

It's always interesting to look at how information is gained, but the key really isn't in finding out information - it's in putting that information to work. The idea of information dissemination is especially key in health and health promotion. People can know about health risks (and that knowledge is important) but until they can (and do) something about it, there is no difference in their outcome.

This idea is especially important for our group. If we're looking at access to care by women in the Netherlands, that care needs to be accessible. Women can have knowledge about what they should be doing, but if there aren't culturally appropriate clinics available, then quality care isn't possible. Taking it back a step, if women don't have culturally appropriate information, then they can't know.

I feel like the most useful way for us to present our information would be on a pamphlet or info sheet, giving statistics and useful practices. This could be a quick way to illustrate what is being done.

Reflecting on our project- I feel like it's going to take two focuses. Emily, as an anthropologist, is really interested in the differences of knowledge about health, and how the cultural practices of our focus groups interact with and affect health and health knowledge. This would best be researched by surveys. My interests lie more in how health care can assimilate and respect the differing beliefs, while still maintaining the integrity of the care. This would be best researched with interviews with professionals. What is being done? Is it effective? What are they thinking about doing in the future? How can a healthy society be formed when there are so many factors that go into creating health in general.

I think that these two focuses will combine well together to create a good overall picture of health care and knowledge in Amsterdam. Obviously, there's way too much information to present and learn it all, but maybe we can use our interests to focus our question.

Group Presentations: Focus on Ethics

Communication/Media Group:
Question: How do media (social, industry, usage) and technology (news, interpersonal, development) relate to each other and to society?
Methods: Research: history, other studies. Expert interviews for an insider perspective. Surveys: primary interactions and habits. Interviews: digging deeper on perceptions. -- Case study
Ethical Issues: not taking names or identifiable information >>> exemption status

With keeping information gathered from people general, they should be able to keep this out of ethical issues. And really, as long as the questions aren't asking about porn usage, it's not really going to be ethically compromising. (Although, doing a comparative study of porn usage would be interesting, if almost impossible to research.)

Tourists v. Natives in Amsterdam Group
Question: How do tourists and natives differ within the tourism industry and within themselves and their own communities?
Methods: Observation: appearance, speaking, accents, behaviours, interaction with natives, tourists, space. Interviews: casual conversations (accents and conceptions about Amsterdam). Participation: participate in tourist/native activities and experience both sides.
Ethical issues: Minimal risk: Informed consent with the casual conversations, and pictures, relying on observation (which is non-invasive - sort-of.)

This should probably be less than Minimal Risk, because questions aren't going to be too invasive. There aren't really ethical issues.

Architecture Group:
Question: How do people interact with space? How does the design of a structure influence the individuals who visit that location? Is there a central them based on location that transcends the time it was made? How does the content and layout of a shopping center reflect the "personalities" of the neighborhood and it's shoppers? How does this form a culture center in the city?
Methods: Direct observation of a site as active public venue, background into the history of the location. Research on events hosted by the city at this center. Finding differences in content of one shop in 2 different shopping centers in 2 different malls.
Ethics: Exempt, risk in asking questions about SE background, no names, low risk

Branding Culture Group:
Question: How does branding happen in Amsterdam? How do stores in Amsterdam attract customers? How does does Dutch Fashion influence gender roles and identity? How are women portrayed in advertising in Amsterdam?
Methods: Visit stores, observe, and talk to people. Research fashion, analyze photographs, taking pictures of ads, analyzing ads, surveys about advertising
Ethics: Exemption - asking permission to look around, asking permission to take photographs, anonymous survey, language barriers, access