schaffer_interview_questions


 * Interview Questions: Troy Compost Activist**

I am imagining myself interviewing people in the group and I realize that I know these people quite well! They cut my hair, I bake cakes for them, we drink gin together and some of us sleep under the same roof. I feel—and I may be wrong about this!—like I can ask them questions with a degree of familiarity. So it’s an odd set of questions. I do want to get these interviews started soon, though, so…

Furthermore, I learned how to interview as a science journalist. That’s a very easy job. Ask your subject to explain their work, say what you like about their work to remind them of the things they need to say to get the quotes that make their science look good. I am still getting used to ethnographic interviewing, and am unclear on the boundaries of good taste in this practice.

1. How did you get involved in Troy Compost? 2. What other activist work have you been involved in? 3. What is your most salient social identity in Troy compost? 4. How have you felt about your involvement in Troy Compost so far? Be honest!

5. How did you first learn about compost? 6. Are you a good composter? 7. What sorts of guidelines do you use in your own composting practice? 8. Do you compost at home? 9. Can you describe your home waste system? 10.What does it feel like to throw away a banana peel in this system? 11.Can you describe your //ideal// home waste system? 12.What do you do with compost?

13.What neighborhood do you live in? 14.Are you trying to start a composting project for your neighborhood? 15.What are your hopes for such a project? 16.How do you think it will go? 17.Close your eyes, imagine yourself walking to your neighborhood compost pile and depositing waste. What does that feel like, smell like? Who do you see along the way? 18.What do you think the neighborhood pile will do with its compost? 19.What //should// it do?

20.What are your hopes for a municipal composting system in Troy? 21.What do you think will come about from the current efforts? 22.Why the discrepancy? 23.When you imagine yourself in an ideal composting system, what do you do with the food scraps you produce? How does the discard process feel?

24.What is the problem with waste? 25.Who is responsible for the waste problem? 26.What is the best way to fix it? 27.Who is best suited to fix it? 28.What bodies of knowledge are best applied to the waste problem? 29.What sorts of resources need to be applied to the waste problem? 30.How can you fix it?

31.Whose job is it to take care of waste? 32.How does one care for waste? 33.How does a community, or a government take care of waste?

34.What is Troy Compost? 35.Are there other organizations like Troy Compost? 36.Why is Troy Compost suited to make decisions about waste? 37.Who else should be involved in making decisions about waste? 38.Why aren’t they involved? 39.What do you think they think about these efforts? 40.Should they care? 41.How do you think we can broaden involvement? 42.What are the dangers of not broadening involvement? 43.What are the dangers of broadening involvement?

44.Why advocate for composting?