7 ms·

When I was in college I heard a story on NPR about a journalist named the Georgia Rambler. He would journey throughout Georgia on a whim, stopping to talk to st

When I was in college I heard a story on NPR about a journalist named the Georgia Rambler. He would journey throughout Georgia on a whim, stopping to talk to strangers. [0] Being a journalism student in the South at the time, I thought, "Hey, that sounds like a fun experiment." A group of friends and I started an informal club called Map Dart. The premise was to toss a dart at a map, travel to wherever it landed and talk to strangers in the city or town to capture their stories. We received a lot of negative feedback from people who weren't interested in journalism. Mostly, they seemed to predisposed to think that the strangers in rural Georgia and northern Florida would shoe us away from their properties. Some even joked that we would be shot. The truth was something much different. Sure, the trips were initially awkward. We would arrive at a small-town diner, look around, sigh and think, "Okay, who's going to break the ice..." But once we got talking, the strangers were always welcoming. The owners of a tobacco farm and a turpentine factory even showed us around their properties. [1] For me, the experiences of MapDart validate the research in this story. The unpleasantness of interacting with strangers almost always has to do with that initial "ice breaking" moment. It's relatively smooth sailing once the ice is broken. [0] http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/413/georgia-rambler http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/413/g... [1] http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/the-secret-to-growing-older/ http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/the-secret-to-growing-older/

hadoukenio 12y ago
> When I was in college I heard a story on NPR about a journalist named the Georgia Rambler. He would journey throughout Georgia on a whim, stopping to talk to strangers. Australia's SBS television station had a show called Front Up which did exactly this. They would randomly walk through the streets, stop and interview people. Random people, fantastic stories: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF01EAB281F220EC
chadillac 12y ago
Social engineering uses this a lot. It's rare and catches people of guard when a stranger strikes up a conversation and positioning yourself as friendly and attentive about listening and putting the emphasis on the stranger and not yourself can really open a lot of doors. Compliments, reiterating the persons information but leaving it open ended allowing them room to elaborate, etc. People love talking about themselves and they love people that make it easy for them to do. If you haven't already read Dale Carnigie's "How to win friends and influence people" that book literally changed the way I communicate with people.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- mathattack 12y ago
  If you haven't already read Dale Carnigie's "How to win friends and influence people" that book literally changed the way I communicate with people. This is such an under-rated classic. Everyone should read it. I don't know where it fits in the technical or business curriculum, but one less book on accounting/strategy/programming wouldn't hurt, and this book has a lot of power.
  - afarrell 12y ago
    You should also re-read it if you last read it several years ago. A lot of the things in it are habits and it is hard to pick up on several habits all at once.
    - mathattack 12y ago
      Very true. Hard to ingrain anything without review and practice.
graeme 12y ago
Did you learn any principles for how to break the ice non-awkwardly?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- hawkharris 12y ago
  That's a good question. No magic bullets, but I think one principle is to keep it casual. A lot of journalists get so into the mindset of shaping a character in their heads that they forget to experience whatever it is they're doing. E.g. When someone is walking through the buffet in a diner, that's probably not the time to ask, "How old are you? How long have you lived here?" Better to say "These yams look delicious" and see where the conversation leads.
facepalm 12y ago
That sounds like a truly great idea!
snorkel 12y ago
Greeting strangers and making small talk is normal behavior in Georgia. Kind of sad how the north coastal cultures treat friendliness as an abnormal behavior.
jkimmel 12y ago
Tangentially related: the recent "Humans of New York," blog/book [1] and the various other spin offs [2][3] seem to thrive on this same experience. Something about breaking the ice and making human connections seems to strike an inherent chord within many people, despite the difficulty many of us have putting such techniques into practice. [1] - http://www.humansofnewyork.com/ http://www.humansofnewyork.com/ [2] - http://portraitsofboston.com/ http://portraitsofboston.com/ [3] - http://facesoforlando.tumblr.com/ http://facesoforlando.tumblr.com/
- UVB-76 12y ago
  Also tangentially related, the New York Times "One in 8 Million" feature from 2009 adopts a similar principle [1] A different person each week, just telling their story, accompanied by striking black and white photography from Todd Heisler. Simple, yet fascinating. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million...
  - hawkharris 12y ago
    That's one of my all-time favorite multi-media series. So powerful. I think the best segment is the one about a grandfather in NYC: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html#/joseph_cotton http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million...

hadoukenio 12y ago

> When I was in college I heard a story on NPR about a journalist named the Georgia Rambler. He would journey throughout Georgia on a whim, stopping to talk to strangers. Australia's SBS television station had a show called Front Up which did exactly this. They would randomly walk through the streets, stop and interview people. Random people, fantastic stories: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF01EAB281F220EC

chadillac 12y ago

Social engineering uses this a lot. It's rare and catches people of guard when a stranger strikes up a conversation and positioning yourself as friendly and attentive about listening and putting the emphasis on the stranger and not yourself can really open a lot of doors. Compliments, reiterating the persons information but leaving it open ended allowing them room to elaborate, etc. People love talking about themselves and they love people that make it easy for them to do. If you haven't already read Dale Carnigie's "How to win friends and influence people" that book literally changed the way I communicate with people.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
mathattack 12y ago
If you haven't already read Dale Carnigie's "How to win friends and influence people" that book literally changed the way I communicate with people. This is such an under-rated classic. Everyone should read it. I don't know where it fits in the technical or business curriculum, but one less book on accounting/strategy/programming wouldn't hurt, and this book has a lot of power.
- afarrell 12y ago
  You should also re-read it if you last read it several years ago. A lot of the things in it are habits and it is hard to pick up on several habits all at once.
  - mathattack 12y ago
    Very true. Hard to ingrain anything without review and practice.

graeme 12y ago

Did you learn any principles for how to break the ice non-awkwardly?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
hawkharris 12y ago
That's a good question. No magic bullets, but I think one principle is to keep it casual. A lot of journalists get so into the mindset of shaping a character in their heads that they forget to experience whatever it is they're doing. E.g. When someone is walking through the buffet in a diner, that's probably not the time to ask, "How old are you? How long have you lived here?" Better to say "These yams look delicious" and see where the conversation leads.

facepalm 12y ago

That sounds like a truly great idea!

snorkel 12y ago

Greeting strangers and making small talk is normal behavior in Georgia. Kind of sad how the north coastal cultures treat friendliness as an abnormal behavior.

jkimmel 12y ago

Tangentially related: the recent "Humans of New York," blog/book [1] and the various other spin offs [2][3] seem to thrive on this same experience. Something about breaking the ice and making human connections seems to strike an inherent chord within many people, despite the difficulty many of us have putting such techniques into practice. [1] - http://www.humansofnewyork.com/ http://www.humansofnewyork.com/ [2] - http://portraitsofboston.com/ http://portraitsofboston.com/ [3] - http://facesoforlando.tumblr.com/ http://facesoforlando.tumblr.com/

UVB-76 12y ago
Also tangentially related, the New York Times "One in 8 Million" feature from 2009 adopts a similar principle [1] A different person each week, just telling their story, accompanied by striking black and white photography from Todd Heisler. Simple, yet fascinating. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million...
- hawkharris 12y ago
  That's one of my all-time favorite multi-media series. So powerful. I think the best segment is the one about a grandfather in NYC: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html#/joseph_cotton http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million...