Strip Mall Ethnography
or matters as they pertain to the subjective investigation of space with a focus upon strip malls, mediated by digitization and facilitated by methodologies pseudo-scientificthe artifact
in four parts …
Atlanta, GA
a summation of information as it pertains to: strip malls in Atlanta; anomalous occurences; odd notes of some consequence.
Case Studies
elements investigated in particular and their findings relatively situated.
Compare
elements abridged and presented in comparative manner.
Process
on the thoughts, practices and occurances that informed the production of said artifact.
Exigence
There are several practical and very useful tools available for interacting with urban spaces online. Outside of these clean interfaces that grant us information about our cities lies the rich, complex world of human experience within and with these spaces. Beyond starred ratings, random photos, and directions from A to B, there exist millions of details of space, impression, and activity that go unmentioned.
While it's not the domain of digital media to recreate reality, the affordances of the medium allow us to at least account for many of the details lacking in current online applications. Strip Mall Ethnography serves as a model for what form these details might take in a digital presence and how they might enhance existing applications; inform our understanding of real world spaces; and provoke critical discourse about the ways we engage and represent urban spaces online.
Focus
Much in the way that one might interact with Google Maps uncritically, one might just pop into a strip mall to drop off dry-cleaning, have lunch, or do some shopping. Again, utility trumps complexity.
Strip malls, oft maligned and connoted as dead commercial spaces on highways, are an integral part of the Atlanta city image. Indeed for many southern and western cities, the strip mall, iconic commercial node of the suburbs, fits seamlessly into the urban image.
When viewed through an ethnographic lens, complexities start to emerge. Trends, anomalies, melodies of human movement and commercial practice take the fore. These are by no means dead spaces, but areas rife with activity and spaces central to the lives of many.