Paparazzi Ethnography

12/6: I just cannot say more wonderful things about London, what a fabulous town. As much as I was required to complete a proposal for a deadline, turn in a few academic applications, work on a revised article due tomorrow (yikes!), I still managed to get out and travel on my way to various spots, hopping in on the goings on, at Christmas time especially, with so many lights and happy revelers.

The days were quite standard from the beginning. Waking up, heading down for English Breakfast (₤ 10), grabbing my computer and heading to the lounge, working while peering out through the window at the representative city scape.

I cannot recall now when it was, perhaps the second day, but by 2PM, I had intended to travel over to 61 New Cavendish Street in order to participate in the IFEG quarterly meeting.

I am on the committee of Information For Energy Group or IFEG. The Group is part of the Institute for Energy here in London, and I believe I have written in detail on this very blog about IE during my last visit.

At any rate, we typically organize a variety of seminars and workshops having to do with information about, well, primarily oil and gas developments, and in particular, how access to information may take place, through various libraries at petroleum companies, on the internet, and the like.

And the Committee members are sincere. What a pleasure to be in their company. Emily Heath, IFEG Secretary was as sparkling as ever. Catherine Cosgrove, the ever present librarian was in good form, as was Greville Williams, IHS Asset manager. 

The meetings are quite formal actually. We have an agenda with “minutes” from the previous meeting that have to be discussed and approved. Then, of course, we move on to larger issues of the day, what visits and seminars IFEG plans to organize. On March 14, for example, there will be a visit to the Isle of Grain Liquefied Natural Gas terminal and in June a visit to the Dungeness B nuclear power station. I will certainly be in London for those visits.

We also had a lively discussion about virtual and seminar networks and the IFEG membership. In fact, now that I recall, I joined one of the break out groups for having a seminar on “Energy Blogging”. So we shall see where that takes us and I plan to report back soon on the IFEG members.

Well, I had the opportunity of once again visiting the offices of the global energy consultancy firm, UGR (pseudonym), and to discuss the possibility of spending time with them working on Arctic gas developments. Boy, was I surprised at the kind of data they have access to and are capable of building a pricing structure around. Indeed. One of the issues we discussed in fact, was confidentiality surrounding dissemination and sharing of data, and even the possibility of establishing standards for future UGR-academic relationships. Overall, I was pleased with the meeting, very much so.

It looks like I will have to get up and get on an airplane for Norway. Well, that was London. I expect to return shortly, for a number of visits that could not happen this time, including a scheduled meeting with a Statoil higher up, through a connection in Norway. But what a great town!

12/5: London Diptych: Organizational and Serendipitous Forms.

Earlier this year, in April, I had the opportunity to visit an energy consulting firm, UGR (pseudonym). Upon entering the building, my attention was arrested by the personal image of the front desk person, dressed as she was in a smart hair-bun, posturepedic grace, and so on. But evidently, I was mistaken.

When I arrived today, I saw nearly the same image of the person, and realized that the front desk attire is a constant expression of the outward form of the building itself, its assertion of identity to the passersby.

Earlier in the year, at the same time the first image was taken, I met with Arctic landscape photographist and travelry specialist, Nick Cobbing, at Nordic Bakery, located in Golden Square, approx. 7 minutes walk from Oxford Street station. Here is a map of how to get there from the tube station:

By chance, we decided to meet once again, today in December, in the afternoon. And as serendipity would have us, we found ourselves in the same seating arrangement as when we chatted previously, in April.

12/3: Just blew into the Central Park Hotel, near Paddington Station opposite Hyde Park. London looks fabulous, great weather, the same as Berkeley actually, a little damp, crisp with a slight breeze. Let us hope that it holds up over the next several days.

Arriving at Heathrow could not have been simpler. I usually take the tube, but at the bottom of the escalator, after passport control and just before baggage claim, salespersons were calling out tickets to Paddington aboard the direct train connection, for ₤ 52 first class round trip,  + another ₤ 5 for taxi from Paddington to the hotel — 25 minutes later– and here I am with a latte, already getting together a final draft of the National Science revision proposal sent back to Maria Stoilkova at U. Florida, who is waiting for me to complete the final touches.