Further Research

If I were to use my visual ethnography as part of a very large project, such as an undergraduate thesis, I think it could be fruitful to compare the urban transportation systems of Dublin with those of another city that it differs from in some clear way. Comparing the systems and the feelings city residents have about them could produce an interesting project about what it means to be a resident moving about a global city. It would also allow me to ask questions such as:

Do urban residents feel that their quality of life improves as transportation systems improve, or do they ever prefer earlier systems for reasons of nostalgia or otherwise? (This could be supplemented with research about how quickly new transportation systems become popularly used, and for how long people have to get used to them before they start to replace the prior system.)

What are some of the differences between cities in which residents walk or use public transit and cities in which residents each drive individual or family cars? (This would continue to explore the idea that all different kinds of people ride public transportation--what effect does it have on interaction among residents when they do not?)

For any of these questions and the others that would become possible in a comparative research project, it would become much more necessary to interview the people using the public transportation. For my project, I have been focusing largely on the visual and for that reason I could never conclude something about how residents feel- I have to, rather, deduce what I can from the visible ways they interact and use public transit. An undergraduate thesis or other large research project could definitely use the visual ethnography I have been building, but would most likely require some additional methodologies.