Petite Étude
Pick a question
You don't need all of them. You need one.
A tiny research project is four things: a question you care about, a way of noticing, a record, and an end date. It runs for a while, and then it stops. It does not have to be useful — it is better if it is not.
Filter by the kind of attention a question asks for, or by how long you want to give it. Open one to read it properly, then start it. If none of them is your question, write your own at the bottom.
Fieldwork
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Same Block, Every Day
What changes on a street that doesn't change?
Walk the same block once a day. Log one thing that is different.
30 days · photographs and notes
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Desire Paths
Where do people refuse to walk where they were told?
Map the worn shortcuts across grass and gravel in your neighbourhood. Photograph each one.
4 weeks · photographs and notes
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Every Door on One Street
How many decisions are there in a row of doors?
Photograph every door on one street. Colour, handle, height, what's stuck to it. One street, all of it.
3 weeks · photographs
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Five Plants
What is growing where I walk, and what is it called?
Learn the names of five plants you pass regularly. One at a time. Photograph each.
3 weeks · photographs and notes
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One Old Street, One Detail a Day
What have I walked past ten thousand times?
Pick one street in the oldest part of your town. Each day, photograph one detail you've never actually looked at.
30 days · photographs and notes
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The Oldest Date
What is the oldest thing my neighbourhood admits to?
Find the oldest date visible on any surface near you — a lintel, a plaque, a manhole cover. Then find the second oldest.
30 days · photographs
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The Same Plant, Every Morning
What does one plant do while I'm not looking?
Go to the same garden in the morning. Photograph or sketch the same plant. Say nothing about it.
6 weeks · photographs