Observations

=Observations= = = =Potential questions=
 * Prominent signage (i.e. signs that display establishment names) are in most cases Chinese and English. There are exceptions where the sign is only in Chinese, and smaller signage tended to be Chinese-only as well. Some signs with English had generic translations (e.g. "Korean Restaurant").
 * Almost all advertisements are in English [or completely in Chinese.]
 * There are street signs in both Chinese and English, though the ones hanging beside street lights are in English.
 * There are no Chinese newspapers available on the street.
 * Other Asian cultures can be found, like Vietnamese and Korean cultures.
 * There are a lot of stores that sell imported good [and fake high-end fashion labels.]
 * There were very few restaurants that served non-Asian cuisine.
 * Every store playing music had popular English music, no Chinese music.
 * Edit: In one of the malls, chinese music was playing on the TV which carried through store, but this may be because it was displaying a kareoke product the store was selling.
 * Flyers put up by the public tended to be in Chinese only.
 * Parking meters [and pay phones] have instructions in English only.
 * Some signs (e.g."No Vendors Allowed") were in Chinese and English.
 * China Town should be re-named China [Street] --> The main street had Chinese on the signs but if you went half a block off the main street [Spadina?] then all the street signs returned to English only.
 * Chinese Symbols Graffiti (not usually seen in other parts of Toronto)
 * Signs seemed to be placed lower on lamp posts than usual? <-- probably not a really creditable fact but just something I noticed!
 * Density of people increased in the heart of China Town and then dispersed as it ended on either end
 * The density of signs in Chinese drops dramatically past Cecil St. (to the north) and Sullivan St. (to the south). There's not much of a gradient; once you cross those streets, there are almost no signs in Chinese.
 * About 4 in 5 restaurants displayed LLBO on their signs
 * Significant presence of sidewalk shopping. Large areas of the sidewalk were filled with hanging clothes, shoes and groceries.
 * Both sides of the road were identical in theme. Both sides had restaurants, banks, malls and sidewalk shopping.
 * Every bicycle rack was occupied
 * How does a person outside the Chinese culture experience the neighbourhood? Do they feel comfortable or alienated?
 * How do Chinese immigrants feel about the neighbourhood? Does the area provide them with the comforts of their homeland, or do they feel like their culture is forced into a ghetto?
 * Malls: there were many shut down and abandoned stores. If this is a tourist area, would they not try to upkeep the area?
 * Does the neighbourhood accurately reflect Chinese culture? Is the area a microcosm of the Chinese experience, or is there something missing?
 * Is "Chinatown" a misnomer? Does the name accurately reflect the diversity of the neighbourhood?

=Correspondence= Hey Greg,

Our group took a trip to Chinatown yesterday, taking pictures and making note of anything remotely interesting in the area. We've started a long list of observations (http://cct335-team9.wikispaces.com/Observations), though I'm only going to go through a couple of highlights here.

We noted that many aspects of the area are targeted towards non-Chinese speaking people, like English signage, music, and newspapers. One way we could tackle the mapping project is by examining how an outsider experiences the neighbourhood, making note of what concessions the area makes for non-Chinese people, and what aspects of the Chinese culture the neighbourhood allows them to experience.

We also noted that most of the area catered to immigrants. There were several stores that sold imported goods, and every restaurant served Asian cuisine. We could focus on whether Chinatown accurately reflects Chinese culture or if it's just a "theme park" exaggerated version of Chinese culture that North Americans expect.

Given how much information we gathered, we're not entirely sure how we want to tackle this mapping project and what we want to focus on. Do you think that either of these approaches would work? Or you have any suggestions for how else we might document Chinatown?

Thanks in advance.

Randy --- Hi Randy,

I think the signage/graphic communication angle will be pretty easy to document and that should probably be central to any investigation. Perhaps you have that be the primary focus and then have secondary and tertiary layers of information outlining the observations noted in your second and third paragraphs. Maybe the first layer could be photos and annotations and you could use other tools to articulate the other sub-investigations (i.e. drawing regions, set up categories of icons for observations, shooting video, etc.). Regardless, it seems like you have MORE than enough going on, I would just refine your mission down to a few tasks and then be quite thorough in executing them. I would go through your observations and start to make a b-list of ones that are harder to work with (i.e. what music is playing inside stores) and then determine what is strongest as a research question and easiest to map.

Of your potential questions it might be:

Is "Chinatown" a misnomer? Does the name accurately reflect the diversity of the neighbourhood? (MAJOR QUESTION) Does the neighbourhood accurately reflect Chinese culture? and How does a person outside the Chinese culture experience the neighbourhood? (SUB QUESTIONS)

Does this help?

Great work in pulling this all together, you seem on track to deliver a nuanced project.

Greg

Other stuff

 * The information that we find for our topic should be placed mostly on the map, not the writeup.
 * Our suggested questions might be vague, hard-to-quantify. We need to think of something more concrete.
 * We could cover the history of the area and how it came to be.