Sensory Ethnography
Tori
Tori ended up picking the biggest grater and
began to grate without examining the cheese beforehand. The placement of her
hand was wrapped around the side instead of using the handle at the top and
made use of the whole grater. She felt un-easy grating the whole thing pausing
as she grated down the block. The smell and motion of doing the activity almost
instantly made her feel hungry, wanting to eat the last bit of the cheese that’s
left behind after grating. The feel of the cheese in her hand didn’t mind her
but the fear of her hand slipping and catching her fingers or hand on the
grater was something that played at the back of her head.
Mark
The triangular grater was Marks pick as the
ergonomic design of the handle on top drew him in. It was easy on his hand
unlike holding around the middle with the jagged metal. The feeling of holding
the cheese and grater became uncomfortable often when grating as the
repositioning of his hands regularly was displayed. With the vision of the
cheese on how much he had grated it was easy to tell when it was time to turn
the piece of cheese around to make it easier to grate again and by doing so he
was able to continue until almost nothing was left.
Sam
Sam also felt that the triangular grater was the
best to use as it wasn’t too big and uncomfortable or too small that it would
be annoying to grate the cheese. As the cheese was grated she mentioned that
the smaller the block would become she could smell the scent of it more
becoming increasingly hungry. If the smell was different and not as satisfying
she said that the enjoyment of grating would be a different experience possibly
less pleasurable. The texture of the
cheese wasn’t something she enjoyed feeling but the overall scent would overrule
that sensory experience.
Ruby
Ruby chose the flat grater with the long handle as she felt
it was nice to hold onto molding to your hand. It was light and flat on the
bottom making it easy for her to rest it on something while grating. The texture
of the grater isn’t as harsh as the others which made her feel better about
grating to a small amount. The feeling of the cheese didn’t bother her but made
grating slightly hard as her fingers slipped gradually. The smell of the cheese
didn’t appeal to her as much as she would only want to eat part of it if she
was in the mood.
Ruby grating cheese
Brent
Brent immediately picked the large grater as it
had more surface area to grate and easier to hold. The texture of the grater
didn’t mind him and felt like it was useful as his had was positioned diagonal
down the top of the grater. The scent of the cheese was something he felt was
normal from working in a kitchen, it didn’t give him a bigger urge to taste the
cheese he had grated or at the end of the block. The feeling of the cheese
helped him rotate the block to a new side where he could continue.
The overall sensory experience from this experiment that I
found was the different sized graters depended on the person. Texture, weight,
and the shape of the grater is what they unknowingly thought about when choosing.
Scent from the cheese isn’t always strong but knowing that you’re grating the
cheese and the slight scent played a part in thinking about eating the last
part of the block. Where people stopped grating is how much they felt like they
wanted to eat of the cheese.
