Daily Life, Public Places, and Media2026

  What I read In this reading, I went through William H. Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Unlike many other sociology or urban studies texts we read in class, this book does not focus heavily on abstract theories or large-scale explanations. Instead, it is based on direct observation of how people actually behave in public spaces such as plazas, sidewalks, and small urban open areas. What stood out to me is that Whyte’s approach is very empirical. He does not start with a fixed theory and then try to prove it. Instead, he watches how people use space and then gradually builds his ideas from what he observes. The book includes a lot of visual material and small behavioral patterns, such as how people choose seating positions, how long they stay in certain areas, and how they interact with others in public settings. My impression: interesting or difficult? I wouldn’t say the book is difficult in a traditional academic sense. The language is quite simple compared to theo...

Summary of the reading In the lecture, we talked about how everyday life in small cities is shaped by the physical environment and the way spaces are organized. The main idea is pretty simple: where you live actually changes how you interact with other people on a daily basis. One point was that in smaller cities, people are more likely to run into the same faces again and again. Because the number of shared places is limited—like local markets, bus stops, or neighborhood streets—you don’t really stay anonymous for long. Even if you don’t know someone personally, you start to recognize them after seeing them repeatedly. Another idea is that daily life in small cities tends to feel more repetitive. Distances are shorter, so people usually move between similar places every day, like home, school, or nearby shops. Because of that, social interactions are also more “embedded” in routine life instead of happening in separate spaces. Interesting observations and reflections One thing I found...

Summary of House 1 In the lecture, we discussed the video House 1, which examines how technology reshapes time, privacy, and everyday family life. The central argument of the video is that while digital technologies make domestic life more convenient, they also gradually transform the home from a private “backstage” space into a constantly connected “front stage.” One key point raised is the changing nature of privacy inside the home. Traditionally, the home is considered a private space where individuals can fully relax without external observation. However, in House 1, the increasing use of smart devices and networked systems makes domestic life more traceable and data-driven. Everyday behaviors such as sleep patterns, device usage, and household routines can be collected and stored through digital infrastructures. In this sense, the boundary between private and public becomes increasingly blurred. Another important argument is the fragmentation of time caused by technology. Although...

 When I first heard that we would be translating two Wikipedia articles, I honestly did not think much about it. Wikipedia is something I use all the time. Whenever I need quick information about a person, place, or topic, it is usually one of the first websites I visit. Because I have used it for so many years, I think I unconsciously started treating the information there as something that simply exists. After doing the translation project, I realized that this is not really true. What surprised me most was how much work exists behind information that people read in just a few minutes. While translating the articles, I kept stopping to check meanings, compare sentences, and think about how to make the information understandable in another language. There were moments when a sentence looked simple, but I spent several minutes deciding how to translate it naturally. It made me realize that the information we read online is the result of many small decisions made by people we never ...

 Before participating in the Wikipedia editing project, I rarely thought about how information on Wikipedia is created. Like many people, I used it almost every day when looking for quick information, but I usually treated it as something that already existed rather than something that had to be constantly maintained by contributors. This project changed the way I think about online knowledge and the people who create it. One thing that surprised me was how difficult it can be to add even a small amount of information. I originally assumed that editing Wikipedia was simply a matter of writing what I knew. However, I quickly realized that every statement needs evidence and reliable sources. Even when I felt certain that information was correct, I still had to find sources that met Wikipedia’s standards. This made me realize how much invisible work goes into creating information that people can trust. The project also made me think about how knowledge is never completely neutral. Whi...

 This week, I watched Part 4 of The 1900 House. In this part, the documentary showed more of what life was like outside the home. It talked about newspapers, advertisements, jobs, social class, and the everyday struggles of ordinary people. Through diaries and historical records, it became easier to imagine what life actually felt like for people living around 1900 rather than just learning facts about the period. What stayed in my mind most was not the lack of technology, but the amount of uncertainty people had to live with. Many workers had difficult jobs and there was very little support if they became unemployed or sick. While watching, I kept thinking about how stressful that must have been. Today people also worry about money and employment, but there are at least more systems in place to help. In 1900, losing a job could have affected an entire family. I was also surprised by the advertisements shown in the newspapers. Before this documentary, I always associated consumer c...