Gated community interview

I've had 3 interviews for my gated community research as of yesterday. Interview is stressful to arrange, conduct and record but gives me much satisfaction in knowing more people and discover live knowledge. There were two things to note for yesterday's interviews.

1. Use of new technology

I bought a tablet computer before the interview after much hesitation. I was worried that the expensive device would be only used as a gadget to play with. However, yesterday's interview well proved its utility.

First, I didn't need to print out all the reading materials to read during my way to the interview place. I could read them with the tablet without having to carry heavy printouts. Second, I didn't need to print out plans for the interviewee to explain for me. The interviewee could explain his plan seeing the tablet screen and draw on it using stylus pen. The drawing was instantly saved in the tablet. The only shortcoming was the relatively small size of the screen (8").

2. Impact of the interview

My two previous interviews didn't affect the interviewees a lot because the subject of the interview was either a past event or general strategy. It was different this time. The subject of yesterday was about the reconstruction plan of an apartment complex. I pointed out the possibility of post-construction gating by residents and this had evidently not been considered by any participant of the project. I was worried and excited at the same time by the possibility of the impact of my interview for the course of the project although the chance of impact seemed to be slim. With this reason, interviews with the homeowners shouldn't be conducted because they may react a lot stronger for the possibility of gating.
   

Digging deep into internet for research

Today internet is a well recognized research tool. It provides us formal information such as news and journal articles in an instant. What I have overlooked until today was its role as a provider of informal information.

For example, my case study of a gated apartment complex near Seoul was greatly facilitated by the internet. It provided me answers to the initial questions following to my field trip which were not covered by existing formal information. Residents of the gated apartment complex have exchanged voices on gating in internet forums. The forums effectively store remarks of verbal nature by residents and their leaders which would have been soon forgotten in the pre-internet era. The main answers I extracted from the forums are as follows.