Saturday, Sept. 4 may have marked the last day of my gathering surveys throughout Wards 7 and 8 in Washington, D.C., and I’m reflecting on the overall experience. For me, it’s been noteworthy because all together, the survey events added up to the most time I’ve spent “east of the river” in Washington.
Our goal was to ask ward residents questions about whether they use the Internet, what they do online, and what local media they trust. I was surprised at how willing many people were to answer our surveys, especially during a day going door to door at the Barry Farm housing projects. At all of our other survey locations, we were giving away bottles of water as an incentive for people to stop and take surveys. But going door to door, we had nothing to give.
If a stranger came to my door to give me a survey, I might not always be so welcoming. But most of the people I approached were happy to do so. One woman became an unexpected evangelist for the Public Media Corps and our surveys — not only did she fill one out, but she asked her friends sitting nearby to fill them out too. Then we ran into her later at a bus stop near Barry Farm, and she grabbed yet another friend and goaded him into filling out a survey. I jokingly said we need to get her a Public Media Corps shirt. She took me more seriously than I expected and said sure, she’d wear a shirt and come with us to a basketball tournament at Barry Farm to help with surveys. We were planning to go to the tournament but got rained out that week, which is too bad — I wish we could have gone.
What else stood out at these events? No doubt the go-go music. Gospel go-go, old-school go-go, go-go beats fused with the theme songs to Dora the Explorer and Elmo’s World — more go-go than I’ve ever heard. I like that D.C. has a distinct style of music to call its own — just one sign of the neighborhood pride that was often on display wherever we went. With our surveying at an end, I’ll be spending more time at my Ward 1 high school, but I’m glad I had the chance to meet so many people east of the river.
