Nicola Ross University of Strathclyde Meaningful meanderings: using mobile methods to research young people’s everyday lives

Content Overview of the (Extra)ordinary Lives project Overview of the (Extra)ordinary Lives project Mobile methods Mobile methods –‘Guided’ walks –Car journey interactions Sharing intimate narratives: the productivity of motion, commotion and distraction Sharing intimate narratives: the productivity of motion, commotion and distraction

(Extra)ordinary lives: project overview Longitudinal, participatory research with 8 young people in care Longitudinal, participatory research with 8 young people in care Using visual and mobile methods Using visual and mobile methods Young people develop own multi-media accounts and representations Young people develop own multi-media accounts and representations Researchers conducting an ethnography of this process Researchers conducting an ethnography of this process

Working collaboratively with new technologies during project sessions Working collaboratively with new technologies during project sessions Between session contacts: ‘guided’ journeys, conversations in a range of settings. Between session contacts: ‘guided’ journeys, conversations in a range of settings. Multi-media project sessions and out-of-session contacts

Mobile research methods Mobilities paradigm in social sciences Mobilities paradigm in social sciences Mobile Research Methods: Mobile Research Methods: –Embodied, multi-sensory research experiences –Place-making practices and placed encounters: a ‘constitutive coingredience’ of people and places (Casey, 2001) –Shared, experiential journeys generating meaningful understandings of everyday lives –Placed and place-making interactions, rooted in young people’s everyday locales

‘Guided’ walks Shared, experiential journeys in locales of significance to young people Shared, experiential journeys in locales of significance to young people Conveyed young people’s intimate knowledge of their localities and locally based social relations Conveyed young people’s intimate knowledge of their localities and locally based social relations Research encounters ‘rooted’ in the everyday, yet opening avenues for memories and imagined futures Research encounters ‘rooted’ in the everyday, yet opening avenues for memories and imagined futures Conversations meandered, unhurried sharing of narratives Conversations meandered, unhurried sharing of narratives Rhythm of the walk offered engagements and disengagements, a mass of encounters, diversions and disruptions Rhythm of the walk offered engagements and disengagements, a mass of encounters, diversions and disruptions

Car journey interactions Regular routine journeys, one-to-one contact time, growing familiarity, strengthening relations between young person and researcher Regular routine journeys, one-to-one contact time, growing familiarity, strengthening relations between young person and researcher Young people making audio recordings of in-car interactions capturing journey soundscapes and conversations Young people making audio recordings of in-car interactions capturing journey soundscapes and conversations Revealed young people’s local geographies as mundane talk of driving/passengering was interspersed with intimate and mundane Revealed young people’s local geographies as mundane talk of driving/passengering was interspersed with intimate and mundane

Car journey interaction: moving between the mundane and meaningful Audio extract from car journey interaction taking place as a young person (aged 10) and researcher travel together on one of their regular journeys home from a fieldwork session.

Mobile methods and the sharing of intimate narratives Mobile methods ‘rooted’ in everyday lives, dynamic, open interactions Mobile methods ‘rooted’ in everyday lives, dynamic, open interactions Space for narratives to be shared was opened up, closed down, diverted, and revisited Space for narratives to be shared was opened up, closed down, diverted, and revisited Motion, commotion and distraction were productive in the sharing of intimate narratives Motion, commotion and distraction were productive in the sharing of intimate narratives

Further Information For more information about the (Extra)ordinary Lives research project, see Qualiti, Cardiff School of Social Sciences