Ethnography Results: Week 8

Performed with Jaideep

Ethnography Results: Week 7

Performed in Part with Jaideep

Ethnography Results: Week 6

(03/22/11)
Goal:

This week,me and Jaideep decided to log into Second Life(SL) at the same time and see what would happen. Until now, we were logging on respectively, or had the two of us on one account. Jaideep took notes of his conversations, as well as I.  

Methods of Study:

• Teleport to Newbie Island, Help Island, Ethnographia, French location (don't recall the exact name)
• Observe people and their actions.
• Try to initiate conversation with people and judge their tone.
• See who is willing to initiate conversation first.

Locations and Communities:

I logged into Second Life(SL), and first went to Newbie Island. Upon trying to teleport there, the application told me there were currently too many users in that area and to try later. That's when I decided to go to Help Island, which is another place where newcomers start their SL experience. I also briefly went to Ethnographia hoping to find people there, but there was no one at the time. Much of the same observations from last week were the same. You could easily distinguish the newcomers from the old timers based on the way they were dressed and their actions. Jaideep interviewed some people, but I wasn't as successful in initiating conversation. I remember greeting this one avatar, and as soon as I had done so, the person's status showed as "away". After finishing his data gathering, Jaideep logged off, and left me online. That's when I decided to go to other places.


Knowing that there were many world settings created in SL, I began to wonder if going to different regions would result in any language barriers. I went to the Eiffel Tower area in France and tried to talk to some avatars, but they would step away from me. I then went to another French location, and that's when I met this avatar who was alone sculpting. Eager to gather data, I approached her and started conversing. Some of the conversation can be found below.

 

[21:37] Agchi (agchi): hey what's up?

[21:37] Avatar girl: hi

[21:38] Agchi (agchi): what are you doing?

[21:39] Agchi (agchi): speak english?

[21:39] Avatar girl: this are pieces for doing a statue

[21:39] Agchi (agchi): cool

 [21:39] Avatar girl: where are you from ?

[21:40] Agchi (agchi): from the US, from Texas actually, how about you?

[21:41] Avatar girl: mexico

[21:41] Agchi (agchi): what is this place?

[21:42] Avatar girl: a sandbox

[21:42] Avatar girl: place for build

 [21:42] Avatar girl: new here ?

[21:43] Agchi (agchi): yes, just joined about a month ago

[21:43] Agchi (agchi): how about you

[21:43] Avatar girl: 3 years in sl

[21:44] Agchi (agchi): why did you join btw?

[21:45] Avatar girl: dont remember

[21:45] Agchi (agchi): have you made good friends in your three years?

[21:45] Avatar girl: nop, lol

 [21:45] Avatar girl: i stoped playin for around 2 years

[21:46] Avatar girl: all my old friends are no longer here

[21:46] Agchi (agchi): so what keeps you here i guess? the fun?

[21:46] Agchi (agchi): the places?

 [21:47] Avatar girl: yes

[21:47] Avatar girl: really fun

[21:48] Agchi (agchi): is there a place that you really like that i should check out?!

 [21:50] Avatar girl: i love arab places

[21:50] Avatar girl: and the ones with universe view

[21:51] Agchi (agchi): interesting? what do arab places have that is different. Is is the music (RAI)?

[21:52] Avatar girl: yes

 [21:53] Agchi (agchi): so what are you building? sculpture of you?

[21:53] Avatar girl: not me

[21:55] Avatar girl: just a girl

[21:55] Agchi (agchi): cool. Do u like being able to be creative in SL !?

[21:56] Avatar girl: naa

[21:56] Avatar girl: im just bored

[21:56] Avatar girl: i learned to build a few days ago

[21:56] Avatar girl: and is not that hard

[22:01] Agchi (agchi): how many languages do you know?

[22:01] Avatar girl: english, spanish french

Screenshot-French Location:

Figure 1

Figure 2

I sat next to her while she was building her sculpture. Figure 1 and 2 show some of the progress. Unfortunately, I did not stay to see her finish her sculpture. It was getting late.

Experience:

Once again this was a fun experience. I got to meet another experienced SL user and gain insight from  her experience. I think this enlightened me about some of the opinions I may have about some people. SL levels the playing field when it comes to our societal differences. At one point she asked me what I did in real life, and I told here I was a student in college. That's when she revealed to me that she was currently unemployed, and she also told me about how it was difficult finding employment in Mexico. This news was surprising to me, because by looking at her, you wouldn't guess that was her situation. In hindsight, SL does not reveal one's social and economic situation. If anything, SL allows you to carry on interesting conversations, and really get to know people behind our prejudices.  

Ethnography Results: Week 5

(03/10/11)
Goal:

For this week,me and Jaideep felt like exploring new Second Life locations and meet new people.

I had found previously this place called Newbie Island and noticed a lot of new users started their Second Life experience at this location. We decided to go there this week.

Methods of Study:

• Teleport to Newbie Island
• Observe people and their actions.
• Try to initiate conversation with people and judge their tone.
• See who is willing to initiate conversation first.

Locations and Communities:

I logged into Second Life(SL) on Sunday, and noticed quite  a few people at Newbie Island. It was very easy to notice who had recently signed up to Second Life because of the way avatars were dressed. When you first sign up for Second Life, you're given default clothes and a limited set of clothing options. More experienced  players will usually wear fancy type clothes or elaborate costumes. I also could pinpoint who was new to SL by  looking at the way avatars would act. Experienced users can perform elaborate movements like dance, skate, ride on horses, bicycles, etc.. . I noticed this one user whom I am sure was new to SL because he was learning how to fly. That is one of the very first things one learns how to do on SL to get around in the world.

Screenshot-Newbie Island:

Figure 1

Figure 2

 

One thing I am curious to find out is why sometimes when you find groups of avatars in a certain place, you'll find one or two people just standing there doing nothing and just observing the scenery. I understand doing this in real life, however doing this in SL seems like a waste of time to me. Perhaps I may be wrong and they are temporarily away from their computers. When I have tried to initiate conversation with some of these people, I usually don't get answered.  In all fairness, I have been getting into the habit of sitting in certain areas and look around when no one wants to converse with me.

At Newbie Island, I went to a place where there was a somewhat large gathering of avatars. It was quite a scenery. Some people were dancing, some people were conversing, and others were just sitting next to the area. One avatar in particular intrigued me very much. He was shooting his guns randomly towards other avatars, but nothing would happen. This meant you cannot "die" in SL from a gunshot. I decided to ask him why he was doing that. All he told me was: "I am deranged..." . I also asked him if he ever ran out of bullets. He told me that in SL bullets are unlimited.
Later on during my SL session, I met a group of avatars who were taking turns shooting a target which happened to be another avatar who apparently was enjoying getting shot by others.

I met a female avatar who was wearing an Indian type sari. She was near a group of a avatars, and she was giving me a bit of information on why she joined SL. I believe she said that it was originally for a class project. Lo and behold! She transformed into a robot. I was really confused to say the least. Other avatars were also transforming their appearance. I asked her what she had done. That's when she explained to me that she had simply applied a saved folder she had to her avatar to "morph" her appearance. I thought that was a pretty neat trick, and useful for camouflage.

After wondering a bit around the place, a female avatar started talking to me. The area in question is shown in Figure 2. Our conversation lasted quite some time once she was sure I was not some random person trying to mess around with her. She started by explaining how she had two avatars, and that the one I was currently talking to was associated with her oldest account. She has been on SL since 2008 and logs on her account religiously everyday except when she is feeling under the weather. I was curious to know what she did in  real life, and she told me she was a professional working in the Finance area. She explained how SL was a great place to network and meet many people from various walks of life. I was skeptical because I had a hard time envisionning professionals using SL. Apparently I was wrong. One very interesting thing about her is that she has meet SL players in real life(RL). She explained to me what it felt like, and that's when I started realizing the usefulness of Second Life. The people I make friends with in SL may look the exact opposite of what I expected in real life. Most likely, if I were to meet some SL users, in real life first, I may never have approached them due to my biases. SL is a useful application because it levels the playing field for eveyone. Though you get to create your own persona, your character will eventually show once you start conversing with others.

I am usually a reserved person, and not talkative. I have noticed at times that it shows when I talk to people on SL. I'm usually very careful in the way I respond to others in SL, and they sometimes notice I take a while before responding. 

Experience:

I really enjoyed this week. An experienced SL user started talking to me, and once that person felt comfortable enough to continue conversing with me, I was able to learn a lot about their experience in SL and gain useful tools and tips.

Ethnography Results: Week 4

link
NOTE: I tagged along with Jaideep

Ethnography Results: Week 3

(02/21/11)
Goal:

For this week, per instruction by Dr. Hammond, each team member had to write his own blog entry on his/her own research. In my case, I decided to visit more communities, and tried to interact with people. I wanted to find communities that had large gatherings, but as I will explain later on, I believe finding these large communities depends highly on the time of day you play second life. 

Methods of Study:

• Teleport to different locations - college campuses, libraries, coffee shops, clubs, beaches etc.
• Observe people and their actions.
• Try to initiate conversation with people and judge their tone.
• Notice what music and visuals are playing at different places and what relation it has with the environment of that particular place.

Locations and Communities:

Last week, I was playing second life with my team member Jaideep, but this week I played second life alone. Since Dr. Hammond had asked me if there were any classes held on the Texas A&M second life campus, I decided to go back to Texas A&M and tried to see if any classes were held. I went at night, so there were not any classes, however I was able to take screen-shots of announcement boards.

Screenshot-Texas A&M bulletin board:

As can be seen by the boards, not a lot seems to be happening on the second life campus. I was able to go to the classes, but did not see any meeting times scheduled. From there, I decided to go to Tom Bukowski's house (A.K.A. Tom Boellstorff). Mr. Boellstorff has done some research on second life, and I was curious to know if he was at the home he set up on purpose to conduct interviews, and studies. The name of the location where he "lives" is called Ethnographia.

Screenshot - Ethnographia:



Since I did not find anyone at home, I decided to fly around the house to look at the scenery. Lo and behold, I discovered the FCA(first church of atheism) building. Having heard a bit about this community from the CHI classmate doing research on the reddit community, I decided to check it out. As soon as you land near the building, you get greeted with a card that was interesting to read. I plan to bring bring the things I read to class. No one was there though, but I wonder if, and when they actually meet.

Screenshot - FCA(first church of atheism) :

Afterwards, I thought I'd try coffee shops like Starbucks and Starstruck but did not find people. I did notice how one Starbucks coffee shop was very different from another. The music also would be different.
I then went to a place where new second life users go. There I met a new user who I interacted with. She was new to second life, and told me she had joined because of her friend. An interesting thing I noticed, is that when both of us would start typing to each other, the other would stop typing. The same thing happens in the real world when someone tries to talk at the same time as someone else, but then you stop to let the other person talk first.   

Screenshot - Starbucks and Starstruck

A bit of my conversation with the new second life user can be found below. I changed his/her name for privacy.

[21:56] Kat : Hi. I am new too..
[21:56] me: that's cool:) I'm really overwhelmed by all there is to learn about
[21:57] Kat: very overwhelming.. haven't seen anyone.. you're the first i've seen here.
[21:58] Kat:I need to read on more about it.. don't know what to do
[21:59] me:I have another friend who recently joined also so I may ask him to give me crash course... so anyways is there a reason for joining second life?
[22:00] Kat: friend told me about it. he suggested I would li9ke it.. here i am .. clueless :)
[22:02] me: I actually joined SL as part of a class project- I basically have a few weeks to write a report on my findings about SL
[22:05] Kat: That's cool. I hope to get better with the game. It's after 12 now, hope to see you again. It was nice talking to you.
[22:06] me: Cool - nice talking to you- If you want feel free to add me as a friend- I'll try to go to more places in the coming weeks.
[22:07] Kat:Ok, Thanks a lot.. Tell me how it goes.
[22:07] me: CIAO!
[22:07] Kat: C-ya!

Experience:

The overall experience was good, but I wish I had met more people. The chief reason for that is that I was playing second life at night. Jaideep plans to play second life during the day, so most likely more users will be online, and he'll be able to interact with more people. For next week, I plan to also log onto second life during the day.

Ethnography: Week 2 Results

Posted on Jaideep Balekar's blog
Ethnography: Week 2 Results

Brainstorm: Potential Ethnographic Studies

Comments
Joe Cabrera
Cindy Skach

Discussion

Idea 1

Taking into consideration busy schedules, I have thought of a more localized study(i.e. on campus). After all the Aggie family is big enough and diverse. I propose making a list of student organizations by an area of focus for example academia, and attending their meetings, and observing the way their meetings are organized. (I wonder if a CS major could blend in a liberal arts student organization?)

Idea 2

We could observe customers at the checkout counter in a store like Walmart, and Tagert, and observe how many people use physical money, and how many use credit/debit cards. Is there a generational gap?

Idea 3

Redbox vs Blockbuster vs Hastings vs Local library, etc...: Is there such thing as a typical Redbox or Blockbuster customer?

Idea 4

We could observe at any given time in campus computer labs how many people have facebook pages open on their compuuter, and how much time do they spend?