[Last modified: November, 23 2024 03:45 PM]
During our discussion about collaborative observation, what struck me most was how differently we each imagined approaching the task of studying people listening to music on headphones in public. While we all agreed that focusing on non-verbal and non-textual elements was key, what stood out to us varied quite a bit.
Some of us talked about observing the body: small movements like tapping feet, subtle nods, or even how someone’s shoulders relaxed or tensed depending on the music they might be listening to. Others were more drawn to the objects themselves (e.g. headphones) and what they might say about the listener. Are big, over-ear headphones a way to signal isolation, or are they just practical for better sound? And what about earbuds that almost disappear? Someone pointed out that those choices might have as much to do with the physical experience of carrying them as any symbolic meaning.
For me, I was drawn to the atmosphere headphones create—not just for the listener but for the space around them. How does a person’s private music world shape their interaction with their surroundings? I thought about the tube, where the sound of trains screeching and conversations mix, and wondered how much people use music to block that out versus to enhance their commute. It’s tricky because these private sensory experiences are hard to access—we can only infer through gestures or guess based on how they move through the space.
Another challenge we talked about was how much we project our own assumptions onto others. I sometimes wonder if someone’s tapping foot means they’re enjoying a song, if they are anxious or perhaps have an attention disorder. And how do we account for the ethics of observing people in their private, yet publicly visible, routines?
We left the discussion thinking about how to balance observation with interpretation, and how headphones seem to sit right at the edge of the personal and the public, making them an interesting focal point for investigating embodied and sensory experiences in shared spaces.