July 3rd, 2020

Building a desk | Zoom on desktop

Observations Thoughts
  1. Background: Carpeted floor, tall leafy plant behind him, lamp on the right side, door to balcony in between plant and lamp; “My Type” by Saweetie playing 
  2. Subject (he/him): Sitting on right side of the screen; wearing grey shirt, blue shorts, back Adidas socks
  3. In view: Parts of the desk laid out on the floor; also visible on the floor: hammer, screwdriver, manual (open)
  4. He holds a white cylindrical piece / leg of desk [1a.]; looks confused 
  5. Rummages through a ziploc bag of metallic screws; makes jingly noise
  6. Unpackages a different, flatter white part [2a.]; Positions the two parts perpendicular to one another, while screwing the flatter piece on top. Sets aside. 
  7. Intensively refers back to manual; Looks back at the two pieces he’s attached together, holding it in his left hand and places it into an insert of a larger white rectangular piece [3.]
  8. Does the same to the other cylindrical leg [1b.] and flatter white piece [2b.] and also attaches it symmetrically on the other side of the white rectangle [3.]
  9. Picks up the left part of the rectangle [3.]. The attached part [1b.+2b.] on the other side falls down.
  10. Both attached pieces are not connected to rectangle at the moment 
  11. Takes the two parts [1b.+2b./1a.+2a.] and places them upside down on the floor (flat side on the ground) and now attempts to attach white rectangle [3.] on top of both pieces
  12. The three pieces, still unconnected, wobble in place as he holds it with one hand and bends over to refer back to the manual 
  13. Screws the left side part and the rectangle 
  14. Screws the right side and the rectangle 
  15. The last few turns of the screw are more forceful to ensure tightness
  16. Table isn’t wobbling 
  17. He stands up on the right side of the screen, facing camera holding the manual, flipping through it; head is cut off the screen; still holding the manuel, positions his body to face the table and continues to read
  18. Takes the structure and lays it on its side, on top of a beige colored flat rectangle [4.] (larger than the white rectangle piece); the bottom side of the flat pieces are facing the camera
  19. The connected white structure is laid upside down on top of the beige rectangle 
  20. Goes back to ziploc bag of screws and picks out a couple 
  21. Holds one and reads manual again  
  22. Looks off screen to someone (she/her) asking if he’s seen their hole puncher. He answers “I dont know. Is it not in there?” and motions his head to an area off screen. 
  23. She asks how it’s going. He says “good, i’m just double checking im not missing…” (doesn’t complete his sentence)
  24. Goes back to manual; nods head to himself; expresses a vocal “mmm”
  25. Crouchs along right side of the structure, examining it closer and pushes in metallic screws that he previously picked out 
  26. He does this all around the perimeter of the structure, crawling his way around
  27.  Flips through manual again
  28.  Picks up hammer and issues a single, loud hit where he positioned the screws; in one place, he hits it 3 times; all very loud  
  29. Goes through metallic pieces in ziploc bag again; picks up up and turns it with his fingers 
  30.  Takes screwdriver and a screw and pushes it down in a corner closest to him, while twisting it downwards 
  31.  Spins the structure (still beige rectangle side down) 180 degrees so the farthest side is now the closest side 
  32. Does similar twisting with the screwdriver and screws along that side of the structure 
  33. Uses his right hand to wipe his forehead and push his glasses up his nose; Sits on floor and stares at manuel on left side 
  34. Calls to someone (same person from earlier) off screen “Hey babe, do you want me to add the net right now?” A voice off camera calls back “Sure”.
  35. Reaches for a grey mesh part considerably smaller in size than any other previous part (assume this is the net referred to earlier).
  36. Positions it at the center of the white/beige flat parts and secures it down with metallic parts (some type of screws?). Hammers each of those (3 on each side of the net, 6 total) to final pressure and attachment 
  37.  Calls out again “Hey babe, how tall do you want it?”
  38. Female person enters camera view and crouches down to examine the structure; he explains how the height can be changed and she goes off camera to check something
  39. He stands up now and looks at the flat parts [2a., 2b.] (the highest point of the structure right now) 
  40.  “Do it like 31 [inches]” she calls out
  41. She comes back on camera with a yellow adjustable tool that she holds parallel to one of the cylindrical white parts and measures out a number, vocally saying “31 and a quarter”; does the same to the other side 
  42. While she holds the yellow tool, he adjusts the cylindrical part to where she points to and tightens it at that specified height 
  43. Together they take the opposite sides of the structure and flip it so that the beige rectangle [4.] is facing up and the two flat parts [2a.,2b.] on the ground
  44. It stands firmly in place
  45.  She goes off camera and says she’s going to bring her chair in 
  46. She rolls a dark grey chair into frame facing the camera behind the structure and sits in it ; she notes that the table is too high and uses her yellow tool (still sitting) to remeasure the height
  1. Did he choose this spot in his house because it’s the most spacious? 
  2. He refers to the manual quite a bit; either he’s not accustomed with building desks or this specific model is new to him
    1. I wonder what part of the manual he’s reading 
  3. He finds the crawling around the easiest and most comfortable method of navigating around the structure
    1. Versus standing up, walking, and crouching back down 
  4. There is a separation of tools and parts; the two must be in action with one another in order for them to create something together 
  5. He holds the screwdriver and hammer, expertly; for the tools, at least, he doesn’t need a manual or instructions on how to use them.
    1. Assume he’s used them before.
  6. Though he never says who he’s building the desk for, I assume it is for the other person that we meet during this activity 
    1. Calling her “babe”, we can infer that this is his current romantic partner and they are living together 
  7. I found it difficult to keep track of the desk parts without having a short term to call them by (hence the numbers; a also refers to right side, and b to the left side) 
    1. Also tried to describe the process as if I didn’t know what the final product would look like; Maybe that’s why the wording may be hard to follow/ more confusing 
  8. During the process, his face didn’t seem perplexed or stressed out, despite having to reading the manual many times 
    1. Was he stressed or frustrated, but just didn’t give off the physical/facial cues?
    2. Is he just a calm person?
  9. Why wasn’t the main desk user the one putting it together?
    1. Was he doing it out of favor? Because she doesn’t have time to? Because he has time? Does he just enjoy putting desks together?