29/5
Last night, I was making a poster in light of attending a munch today, and asked the organiser if I could distribute them, and they said that I could give them out personally, and in addition to this I also created a sign-up sheet for the interested participants to respond to with the following criteria, and turned the form into a QR code to be put on a flyer.
The sign up sheet has it’s own pros and cons with people who may not be willing to commit to 7 months upfront, but I guess I’ll have to weigh the response rates with what I need for the project.
Today will be a good chance to test whether people might be willing to commit to the project, and also get various inputs on it, hopefully. When talking to a friend yesterday, and he asked me about my project and his immediate response was, “That sounds like therapy” and I had to explain to him what the difference is, with safe space being a place where people are able to express themselves without discrimination, harassment etc., and there are no organisations in the UK, which focus on kink and kink-related issues so this is a space to do that, and through this conversation I realised that a person might be confused about what I am trying to achieve, as opposed to what I am trying to achieve, and I felt that it was important to see what a complete outsider would think!
So today, I am quite excited about the munch and meeting people and getting informal feedback from the community. At the university, there’s a group for subcultures and I did get in touch with them to maybe look at possible ventures and connections.
30/5
I think the munch was pretty exciting and overwhelming because I saw a lot of people when I walked in, and as I was getting my drink I was talking to the barkeep and he said that pretty much the entire area is for the munch, and that that’s what their daily routine looks like, and I got my drink and went over, I saw a few familiar faces from the previous munch I had attended and it was nice to people. As a general observation I noticed a lot of people who’re into STEM, or just very well-educated in general. Overall, I talked a few people handed out a leaflet to the organiser and left some at the pub too, I feel like there has to be more places I can put these up at, to get participants/volunteers.
Another thing that I personally felt was that I’m very new to the scene here, and I may not be completely accepted, especially when I am coming in and say that I am doing research which might take people aback since it is a vulnerable and marginalised community, and I am relatively new to the scene in London, building the trust is a vital component in this process.
I have gotten some input into which munches I could go to and talk to people, and the two suggested ones are age-play and pet-play, so I might check them out. All of these emotions really brought me to truly introspect how my ‘How can..’ Question comes across to stakeholders, and I think mentioning that people are shamed for their kinks, and we need to solve it, might not sound very pleasant or appealing to the stakeholders, so I am in the process of re-framing my question.
Another thing I had come across is Klub Verboten’s social, Tears for Beers which is quite popular since this club has exclusive membership, based on vetting and vibe, and tears for beers is their munch which is open for all. One look into their website, gave me the impression that they’re trying to create a ‘safe space’ in terms of clubbing and play areas. I did mail them about my project to see if I could gain entry to observe the people, the process, the crowd and everything in between. Hoping to receive a positive response from them, and I am also looking into going to the munch soon.
2/6
Yesterday, while catching up with a friend she had mentioned she and her partner were interested in participating in my project, if I were willing to take Indian residents, and I told her she could sign-up, and her partner is pretty active on some online groups. I had to modify the form to be able to suit people who’re signing up from various places. Doing online interventions would also be pretty interesting to see how we can convert tools and emotions, and also willing participants can participate offline later, if required.I can’t access my online groups on discord since I lost my codes and can’t access it. Having a diverse group would be helpful in getting different insights into the practices etc.
Developing the project management strategy and timeline proved to be hectic, and as I was drafting and left my weekends free to unwind and relax, I noticed if I add up the activities as it is is, it adds up to 14 days, which is a sprint and since the future is unpredictable and I did use a mixture of agile and scrum methodology to do 2 interventions a month, and leave 2-3 days for adjustments anywhere in between, this allows me to plan multiple interventions during the break, while leaving room for changes (it may not be too flexible but we can work around it). Methodology to manage activities on a daily basis would be Pomodoro technique of 40-15, and detailed schedules will be planned on the weekends to accommodate for various schedules and plans, as well as collaborations. (The 4 columns under each day are to be filled in with various activities, collaborations, or events to be attended or done as and when they arise to ensure flexibility)
Today as I was evaluating my project in preparation for Dragon’s Den, I noticed that what my essential goal or what my tools enable one to do is enable self-exploration and provide a place and framework of support to do, so maybe I should rephrase the question in this way, which seems more positive, reassuring and welcoming, and I think it also links to my uncertainty about ‘the negative implication’ of my question to a few stakeholders. These are some uncertainties I hope to address in my tutorial and receive constructive feedback.
Overall, I think in the past week, I have evolved from a ‘negative sounding question’ to considering to change it to something more positive as well as creating a management strategy to effectively manage work and personal life. Interacting with stakeholders in my journey makes me feel welcome and seen and looking forward to more!