scholarly journals Mass Observation (1937-2017) and Life Writing: an Introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. MO1-MO15
Author(s):  
T.G. Ashplant
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Research Project ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Innovative Research ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
The University ◽  
Life Writings

Mass Observation (MO) was formed in Britain in 1937 as an innovative research project, to develop new methods for accurately gauging public opinion, thereby contributing to a more democratic form of politics and public policy formation. The archive of its first phase (1937-49) was transferred to the University of Sussex in 1970. In 1981 it was revived as the Mass Observation Project (MOP), which continues to the present. The documentation which MO and MOP together generated includes a significant body of life writings. The purpose of this cluster of articles is to introduce the ways in which the interaction between the aims and approaches of MO's founders and its later MOP refounders, and the responses of its contributors, produced specific forms of life writing; and to explore aspects of the 'afterlife' of these texts – their contextualisation, publication, and interpretation. This introduction situates the original, multifaceted and idiosyncratic, MO project within wider political and cultural trends of the 1930s, and then examines MO's methods, which aimed at 'the observation by everyone of everyone, including themselves'.

Life Writing and Domestic Papers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret J. M. Ezell
Keyword(s):  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Margaret Cavendish ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
John Evelyn ◽  
Life Writings

Perhaps because of the turbulent and unsettled times, many men and women recorded their experiences in forms of life writing, including memoirs, diaries, autobiographies and biographies, meditations, and narratives of events. Among the most prolific publishers of life writings were the early Quakers, who published their accounts to offer comfort to others. Other texts such as those by John Evelyn, Margaret Cavendish, and Robert Boyle recorded events and impressions, as well as creating personal narratives.

scholarly journals 'Subjecive Cameras': Authorship, Form, and Interpretation of Mass Observation Life Writings

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. MO16-MO44
Author(s):  
T.G. Ashplant
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Life Writings

The Mass Observation Archive contains a wealth of different forms of life writing created between 1937 and the mid-1950s, and again from 1981 to the present. This life writing, by contributors with differing intentions and levels of commitment, is fragmentary, dispersed across the archive, and takes varied forms. To make full use of the richness of this writing, it is necessary to know who the authors were, how their texts were generated, what forms of life writing resulted, and how they may be interpreted. This contextualising overview first outlines the specific and distinctive forms of life writing which MO initiated and encouraged; the social profile of their authors, and their self-perceptions of their identities; the writers' motivations; and their relationship to the Archive. It then explores some of the ways in which scholars have used and interpreted this rich material, both as a resource for investigating specific topics, and as a collection of life writings open to comparative analysis as narratives of self-construction and records of biographical trajectories.

MOBIS-COVID19/06: Results as of 11/05/2020

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Molloy ◽  
Christopher Tchervenkov ◽  
Thomas Schatzmann ◽  
Beaumont Schoeman ◽  
Beat Hintermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Daily Mobility ◽  
The University ◽  
At Home

To slow down the spread of the Coronavirus, the population has been instructed to stay<br>at home if possible. This measure consequently has a major impact on our daily mobility<br>behaviour. But who is being affected, and how? The MOBIS-COVID-19 research project,<br>an initiative of ETH Zurich and the University of Basel, is a continuation of the original<br>MOBIS study. The aim of the project is to get a picture of how the crisis is affecting<br>mobility and everyday life in Switzerland.

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