Analyzing a Place Worksheet

Project #1 Worksheet                                                          

Your Place: ______________The SRC__________________

What are the intended functions of the place?                       

To work out, socialize, study, grab a healthy snack

What overt messages does the place send (i.e., openly communicated through signs)?

Here is a place where you can come workout. There is access to an abundance of equipment among other perks.

What covert messages does the place send (i.e., hidden messages)?

You can do other things here than workout. Socialize, eat.

Have previous users left traces behind in the place?

Sweat, dirty equipment. Rags from cleaning their equipment. Food trash. Body odor. Certain settings on equipment. Fans on or off in certain areas.

Has the place been re-appropriated (i.e., beyond its original functions)?

Yes, now houses computers in the gym. Is a meeting place for some groups. Is now a major means of socializing because of the pool.

What social or cultural customs did you observe (i.e., rules governing appropriate behavior)?

There is a policy for using the equipment and obvious etiquette like cleaning the equipment after you use it and throwing away your trash and putting your dirty rags in the dirty bin after using it

Who has access to the place?  Are there insiders and outsiders?

Students. Staff and alumni who obtain a membership

Who owns the place?

ASU

What is the place’s value (i.e., monetary or otherwise)?

Place for students and more to workout. Paid for with tuition and membership fees.

Are there official representations of the place (i.e., online, in promotional materials)?  Do they accurately capture the place as you experienced it?

Online representations. Very accurate, except doesn’t describe the food bar.

Is the place in transition, a changing place?

Very much so, construction is being done.

What conflicts or tensions are there in the place?

The construction makes certain areas of the gym close early or open late sometimes.

What is the place’s history?  Do you see evidence of the past there in the present?

Been open for many many years, In very good condition. Technology up to date. Not much evidence from the past.

How does this place differentiate itself from other places?  What other places is it similar to, but how is it different from those places?

Special equipment. Many options. Personal trainers available. Classes and equipment available to buy. Other gyms are similar like vista gym, but the SRC has better air conditioning and much more equipment.

What questions do you have about your place?

Cost of everything for college students and non college students such as staff and alumni? What is the cleaning schedule? How much do employees get paid?

Key Features / Profiles (taken from the Norton Field Guide (Goggin and Bullock) Chapter 16, pages 165-166)

An interesting subject.  What is unusual about your place?  Alternatively, is there something ordinary about it that you can show in an intriguing way?

Unusual is the numerous racquetball courts, not at most gyms. Ordinary is the cardio, but all the second floor is cardio, as opposed to there being variety up there.

Any necessary background.  What background information will you need to include about the place in order to situate readers?

What the gym looks like. What the point of it is. Who goes there and why. How much it costs them to go.

An interesting angle.  Rather than trying to tell readers everything about the place, what angle(s) might you use?

An angle of  member, such as an alum.

A firsthand account.  Did you interact with people in the place or participate in some way?  What experiences did you have there that you can write about using “I”?  (Yes, first person point of view is encouraged, especially for this paper.)

I workout at this gym on a normal basis. Firat hand experience with the cardio equipment.

Engaging details.  What specific information must you include in your description of the place?  What potential does your place have for the use of sensory images, figurative language, dialogue, anecdotes, and showing rather than telling?  What do you want the dominant impression to be?

Must include all physicality of the place and who attends it. Potential for sensory images, dialogue, and showing rather than telling. I want the impression to be that the SRC is more than just a gym. It’s a place for people to go to make themselves feel better, either by working out, the healthy food, or socializing, even getting some sun at the pool.

Generating Ideas and Text (taken from the Norton Field Guide (Goggin and Bullock) Chapter 16, pages 168-169)

Explore what you already know about your subject.  Why do you find this place interesting?  What did you already know about it?

It’s interesting because so many different types of people go there. Some for similar or different reasons. It’s interesting because I want to make myself feel better by going there and wanted to see if I could observe how others felt.

If you’re planning to interview someone, prepare questions.  What would you like to ask someone in the place in order to better understand it?

Why do you go there? What do you think about others that do? How do you feel about the equipment, is it satisfactory? Do you think that everything is useful, or that there are excessive amounts of some equipment and too little of others?

Do additional research.  Does your place have an online component?  How else might you gather additional research?

There is an online information page and an information desk at the SRC itself.

Analyze your findings.  What patterns, images, or recurring ideas or phrases did you use to describe your place?  What contrasts or discrepancies do you see?

Lots of people in shape and lots out of shape. All images of gym equipment and people working out. A place for working out, socializing, and healthy eating is major phrase.

Come up with an angle.  What is most memorable about your subject?  What most interests you?  What will interest your audience?

Most memorable is the people that attend the gym and there possible reasons. That is what interests me. How I described these people will interest my audience.