In-between practice: working in the ‘thirdspace’ of sensory and multimodal methodology

Abstract

This article discusses how emergent sensory and multimodal methodologies can work in interaction to produce innovative social enquiry. A juxtaposition of two research projects -an ethnography of corridors and a mixed methods study of multimodal authoring and 'reading' practices -opened up this encounter. Sensory ethnography within social research methods aims to create empathetic, experiential ways of knowing participants' and researchers' worlds. The linguistic field of multimodality offers a rather different framework for research attending to the visual, material and acoustic textures of participants' interactions. While both these approaches address the multidimensional character of social worlds, the 'sensory turn' centres the sensuous, bodied person -participant, researcher and audience/reader -as the 'place' for intimate, affective forms of knowing. In contrast, multimodal knowledge production is premised on multiple analytic gaps -between modes and media, participants and materials, recording and representation. Eliciting the tensions between sensorial closeness and modal distances offers a new space for reflexive research practice and multiple ways of knowing social worlds.

Making sense of visual management through affordance theory

“…Meanings are made in situ through the full spectrum of sensory phenomena with which actors engage -from what can be seen with the eye to what can be heard, touched, smelled, tasted -but also reverberate within webs of signifiers beyond the immediacy of unfolding interactions. (Hurdley and Dicks 2011) Hurdley and Dick's idea of a 'web of signifiers' connotes a concept previously used within psychology, which may provide some insight into the operation of coordinated work using visual devices -the notion of affordance. If we study many of the examples provided by the literature, we see that what is common is the notion that the visual objects and artefacts under study all communicate some course of action to users, whether by constraining action through use of a visual control or by creating a signal or indicator for an actor to respond to.…”

‘We have different routes for different reasons’: Exploring the purpose of walks for carers of people with dementia

“…the research interrogates how carers feel about their neighbourhoods, where they spend their time, and how they are supported locally. Aligned with recent trends in the social sciences to access the multi-sensory elements of the research environment (Hurdley & Dicks, 2011;Knoblauch & Tuma, 2011;Pink, 2015Pink, , 2011Ward, Campbell, & Keady, 2014), the current study employs a mix of social network mapping, walking interviews, and participant-driven photography. The project adheres to Canadian Tri-Council guidelines (Canada Public Works and Government Services, 2005) and has ethics approval from the University of Ottawa.…”

Building Urban Narratives: Collaborative Site-Seeing and Envisioning in the MR Tent

“…Hurdley and Dicks (2011) talk about the 'sensory turn' that 'centres the sensuous, bodied person […] as the "place" for intimate, affective forms of knowing ' (p. 277). This sensory turn with its focus on the material and sensorial settings in which practices unfold is grounded in phenomenology and it in particular builds on the writings of Tim Ingold who argued: 'Looking, listening and touching, therefore, are not separate activities, they are just different facets of the same activity: that of the whole organism in its environment' (Ingold, 2000, p. 261).…”