ABSTRACT
Consider one day. What is your day like and how does it unfold? Who is involved in your day, what might you do, and where might you go? Why? Is this day like any other, or exceptional? How so? Also, consider the day as a snapshot in time and space: What is the frame or boundary of your snapshot? For instance, does considering your day start with a routine (e.g., awakening, getting dressed, breakfast, etc.), or does it start with establishing a context (e.g., a place, a room, a house, a city, a region, or global context)? Pondering these questions begins to sketch out a day and requires that you also consider how you go about investigating a day. That is, what counts as noteworthy in your day: is it the routes, routines and movements you make, the settings, or the social relations you encounter and embody? On what basis do these “things” count; that is, why do they matter? In addition, how could you go about documenting your day: a blog, journal or diary, fieldnotes, photos, or videos? As an opening exercise, considering one day and how it is ordered evokes the complexities of a case. A seemingly simple line of inquiry opens into a kaleidoscope of questions of what counts and what to record, descriptions of how the case operates, and analysis of why it matters.
