Ned Castle // Ethnographer. Videographer. Interviewer.
Methods // Ethnographic Inquiry. Interviews. Focus Groups. Observational Research.
A series of 12 technical assistance videos drawn from ethnographic-style interviews with key individuals behind the concept, design, and rollout of an employer sponsored small-dollar loan program called, Income Advance.
Objectives / Documentation of Technical Knowledge, Program Recruitment, Technical Assistance Tutorials
Client / Rhino Foods Foundation
Stories on the Road to Proficiency was an ethnographically framed research project to explore, document, and foster ongoing conversation around the transition to proficiency based learning currently underway in schools across Vermont. The project yielded multiple media formats including a research documentary, school specific profiles, and dialogue support materials.
Research Partner / Vermont Folklife Center
Client / UP for Learning
A series of 12 video conversations with Certified Research Chef, Dale Conoscenti, drawn from ethnographic interviews and observational video documentation of Dale’s product development expertise, R&D processes, and philosophies on the Art & Science of food.
Runtimes ranging from 4-9 minutes were transcribed and adapted for written blog content to accompany the videos.
Objectives / Technical Knowledge Expertise, Customer Acquisition, SEO Optimization
Client / Rhino Foods
A series of short conversation prompt videos drawn from an ethnographic-style focus group conversation exploring key themes and learnings around personalized learning in Vermont.
Client / Bay and Paul Foundations
A ‘vox pop’ interview mashup with Rhino Foods employees exploring their relationship to resilience and lived experience with it in their personal lives and at Rhino. Vox populi, commonly known as vox pops, are typically short insight interviews that target a specific question or experience within a defined group or the general public.
Objectives / Cultivating in-house company culture
Client / Rhino Foods Foundation
An ethnographic research study to asses the challenges facing Vermont-based New American (e.g. refugees, immigrants, and asylees) artists- and to identify opportunities for institutional action by Vermont’s social service and cultural organizations.
Research Team / Michele Bailey, Gregory Sharrow, PhD
Role / Interviewer, Qualitative Analysis, Report Author
Funded by / Vermont Arts Council
In-home ethnographic interviews, observational research, and “shop-alongs” to explore customer relationships to the consumption and purchasing for in-house market research by a major U.S. based deli meat manufacturer.
Research Team / Shelley Sather (Lead), Bad Babysitter Productions, Jon McNeill
Role / Video-Ethnography, Portland, OR Market
Ethnographic interviews and focus group documentation to deepen internal understanding of the experience and impact of a leadership training program for Vermont educators.
Objectives / Participant feedback for in-house program design analysis
Client / Center for Creative Learning
A series of short conversation prompt videos drawn from an ethnographic-style focus group conversation exploring key themes and learnings around personalized learning in Vermont.
Client / Bay and Paul Foundations
Ethnographic interviews and observational research with student and educator users of the project-based learning and skills assessment platform, LiFT. Interview content and observational user documentation used for in-house design and use-ability feedback, as well as in external product messaging.
Objective / Student User Experience, Educator/Administrator Needs
Client / LiFT
UP for Learning and its collaborators provide a road map for building meaningful working partnerships between youth and adults – enabling them to take on the challenges and opportunities of improving their own schools across Vermont.
This film is a culmination of a statewide research effort to document and understand public school change and what’s possible when students and teachers work together to take “the game” out of education, and bring it back to real life.
Produced with / Vermont Folklife Center
Client / Bay and Paul Foundations
A ‘vox pop’ interview mashup with Rhino Foods employees exploring their relationship to belonging and lived experience with it in their personal lives and at Rhino. Vox populi, commonly known as vox pops, are typically short insight interviews that target a specific question or experience within a defined group or the general public.
Objectives / Cultivating in-house company culture
Client / Rhino Foods Foundation
Learning About Learning is a longitudinal ethnography of UP for Learning’s M3: Mindset, Metacognition and Motivation high school initiative. The research tracked the program through the course of a school year- from educator and student training to the design and implementation of youth-adult partnership programs in schools around Vermont.
Produced with / Vermont Folklife Center
Client / Bay and Paul Foundations
Hazen Pilots M3 is a longitudinal ethnography of UP for Learning’s M3: Mindset, Metacognition and Motivation high school initiative at a Hazen Union School in Hardwick, VT. The research tracked the program through the course of a school year- from student-led faculty trainings to the design and implementation of an advisory curriculum at the school.
Produced with / Vermont Folklife Center
Client / Bay and Paul Foundations
