revisiting orientation island

i ventured back to orientation island, or at least the public version of the island. this island was crawling with people, most of which looked like they have been playing the game for a while. Alot of people approached me asking me if I had any questions about the game. Some where nice and helpful, some had a hidden agenda in their questions. I was asked to teleport to unknown locations by certian people, and other people were hitting on me. It was a little off putting to say the least. The other interesting thing about these people is that none of them had normal appearances, all were dressed in outrageous clothing or had very unusual skins. There was one individual who kept following me around in a helicopter. He was unresonsive to questions of what he was acutally doing in a helicopter. The funniest thing about being on the public orientation island is that for all the people i saw, none of them llloked like they actually had a purpose of being there. I only saw 3 people who looked like they had just started playing the game. Alot of the people at the top of the hill on the island all knew each other and where having a conversation about some party that had happened in real life. It was interesting to see them all gathered there to talk about something that happened in real life in a virtual world. It was an unusual spot as well to talk with friends, as everyone was able to listen and view their conversations. most of the conversations on the island were dealing with sex, and i would rather not get into the details of some of those conversations. Alot of people where also spending time editing their appearances as well, most of the female avatars on the island where dressed in gothic clothing.

INTERVIEW READINGS

Questions should be worded so that respondents cannot simply answer yes or no, but must expound on the topic. n-depth interviews involve not only asking questions, but the systematic recording and documenting of responses coupled with intense probing for deeper meaning and understanding of the responses. Thus, in-depth interviewing often requires repeated interview sessions with the target audience under study. Unlike focus group interviews, in-depth interviews occur with one individual at a time to provide a more involving experience. The actual interview consists of three main parts. The first part involves introducing yourself and the study. It is critical that you establish a good rapport with the respondent. You also should put the respondent at ease. Your main responsibility is to listen and observe as you guide the respondent through a conversation until all of the important issues on the interview guide are explored. This, of course, is one of the most difficult aspects of the in-depth interviewing process. However, there are some strategies that have been used by researchers to improve the quality of the in-depth interview experience for both the researcher and the respondent. I belive that the hardest part about interviewing in second life is that you are not face to face with the person, and in essence loose alot of the important parts of an interview. When interviewing someone in a situation like Second Life, its impossible to tell if the person is giving you truthful answers, because you cannot read body language, or hear the sounds and pitch of the voices. Because of this, you must be able to analyzle indepth the interview and try to interpert the best you can with out the added benefits of interviewing someone face to face.

Class Notes October 15

Ontology
How do we know things- experience, an authority figure tells you, read about them, social norms, Religion and faith. Travel of experience, know about other cultures, weather. Science is a big one, experements back up ideas and prove certian ideas.
Ways of Knowing
Quantitative-positivist paradigm
-researcher has to be objective
-fixed reality
-predictions that will generalize to other situations
Qualitative
-we can't experience world directly, so we dont knwo for sure what world is.
-Constructivist paradigm
-reality socially constructed by participants
ever changing
know our research is subjective

Class Notes October 1 2007

Direct oberservation is when the actual researcher is doing the observation in the fact that they are the ones going to different locations, talking to people getting involved with the reasearch. Participant observation i belive is when the researcher sends people out ahead of time to certian locations to ask the questions and makke the observations for the researcher. The researcher then talks to the participants and gathers the information based on their experience from the participants. In a way the researcher is still doing direct observation, however in participant observation, he is sending people out to ask the questions then they gather the information.

life as a women part 1

This was my first adventure in second life as a girl. I actually was chaning genders the same time Perry was and some how we ending up choosing the same outfit. I had mine first he is just a copy cat. The first place i went as my new self was back to the burning man island because when i was logging on, a message came up saying that the burning man fesitivals were gonig on, however when i got back to the island, there it was deserted. I was dissapointed because I would have liked to have seen some people enjoing such a neat looking island. From the burining man island i found a really neat island called Billabong Bar, it was an Austrailian island which was very large. I found a really neat looking metallic horse that was gigantic. Billabong island was also really interesting because there were actually quite a bit of people around. My favorite part was actually my first real long encounter with someone else outside the ithaca class. I met this girl who was really done up in a sci fi outfit down by a beach and she was actually testing some light sabre software that she had been working on. She was actually really friendly and said that she normally doesnt dress like a trekkie, but the outfit helped show of the demonstration. She then gave me a demonstration with the lightsabre and i must say i was very impressed. the movement and soundeffects where top notch for a program that tends to lag alot on my computer. It was nice to actually break the "long conversation" barrier in Second life because most people i have met are not very talkative, and this person was very friendly and we talked for about 10 minutes. This gender chaning aspect actually helps the process of meeting new people, because more people are inclined to talk to a good looking avatar women than a creppy looking avatar male personality. We will see what happens in the coming days.

Computer Mediated Communication

Computer Mediated Communication is anyform of conversation that occurs over the computer medium. In Scott Cambell's article, he discusses different studies on computer mediated communication. Cambell divides computer communication into the "talking voice" and the "writing voice". Talking voice messages tended to be interactive, include personal information, and cite sources informally when referring to literature. Messages posted in the writing voice were less interactive, provided more background information, and cited sources formally. Characterization of the two styles as talking and writing is supported by research on the differences between
orality and literacy.In Soukoup's article he discusses computer mediated communication as the term ‘third place’ is referenced
in discussions of the merits of CMC, but in these discussions rarely do
authors critically evaluate the appropriateness of this term in these unique
communication environments.

More Library Observations

I went back to the library today, and actually sat in one place this time. As for different observations pretty much was the same as far as big obervations. The same girls were still at the computer stations not really working on the computers. They had a bunch of windows open, but mostly it was facebook. Any of the guys on the computers had fantasy football pages up instead of work. There were alot of people today looking for computers which made me laugh because I would watch people walk around the library looking for computers and would stand and watch people on facebook and fantasyfootball, and then walk away in disgust. Alot of people were spread out all over tables again with all the possessions that they own. I think people get the mindset when they go to the library that they can get alot of work done, which is usually the case but what ends up happening is you bring all this stuff with you and get distracted, and most of the time procrastinate. I find I do more work in my room than when i go to the library, because i get so easily destracted by my phone, and am always wanting to check things online. I can do all these things and be distracted from the comfort of my room. People just approach the library with the mindset that if you enter the library you are automatically going to do more work than if you stayed in the room. I find both places to be destracting in their own rights, and doing work is something you must focus on no matter where you are which is usually really hard for people to do.