Use of electronic media in a participant observation study

Abstract

I wake up at 6:15 am, roll out of bed, and flip on my personal computer. Fieldwork is never more than a few steps away, thanks to my access to Zytek's electronic mail system. I dial into the network and spend the next 30 minutes sending out messages to set up meetings. I am planning another trip to Detroit in two weeks and send a message to the area sales manager I met last week in order to get permission to attend a two day event for a major customer. I send additional messages to set up an interview and get my name put on a distribution list, download new mail to my PC, and start printing it. After breakfast, I return to find 17 pages of mail — announcements and agendas for four meetings, a five page memo with the minutes from yesterday's pricing committee meeting, a five page memo requesting input from marketing groups for a software product, and a response from a marketing manager to my request to have lunch next Wednesday. I look through my mail for ten minutes and then head out the door. It's 7:35 am.