5 pages of avatars

if i had to group these 5 pages of avatars they would fall under

nonhuman- this would classify the animals, non human species avatars

gothic humans- alot of these avatars are gothic in appearance, making these avatars unique to themselves.

2D /cartoons-there are some avatars that are cartoony, 2 demensional that lack alot of detail as compared to the other ones.

normal male- these are male avatars that are normal in appearance

normal female- these are female avatars that are normal in appearance

Avatar Analysis

the three catagories i would use to describe these avatars would be, robotic/alien, human reality, and human fantasy.

the robotic alien would classify the predator, the avatar with the see-through head, the copper robot, and the fish like avatar that floats. These avatars are non human in appearance, and are best classified as robots, or alien in appearance

Human reality avatars would be, the avatar resting in the chair, the playboy bunny, and bradford russell. these avatars are the closest to looking human in a normal reality.

human fantasy, these avatars would be the female avatar with the bizzare hair, the purple and yellow avatar, the rainbow avatar, the gasmask avatar, and the angel avatar. these avatars are human in appearance, however they all have an aspect of fantasy, weither it be wings, hair, or skin color, these avatars are human with alot of imagination behind them.

Interview Practice Part 3 FRIDAY RESPONSES

When looking back over the group data, there are some new patterns that emerge from all the data. Its eaiser to see these new patterns with more data because it gives you a larger sample size, meaning you have more data to look for and this allows for a bigger chance to have patterns that emerge from the data.
Some of the new patterns that emerged from the group data are people who believe second life is a strange place. These people that called second life a strange place usually have been playing the game for only a week or two according to their creation dates. These people had not yet really experenced what second life is, and when you first encounter second life, it does seem like a very strange place. All these different kinds of people, some human some not, people flying around, it would seem like a very strange place to someone that has never been there before. The most poplular answer and most reoccuring pattern where the people that refered to second life as a giant networking tool, such as a giant chat room where you can meet other people. This I belive is the most literal answer you could give to the question of what you think second life could be. There were alot of these answers because I think that not matter if your in a virtual world, people tend to give the most basic and literal answer to a question, because they want to say what they believe the interviewe wants to hear. This is a reoccuring pattern in all interiews, is that the person being asked the questions will respond with the most litteral and correct answer, because they believe thats the answer everyone wants to hear. Another pattern that emerged where the amount of women who answered questions. For most people women are easier to approach and answer questions, because they will usually give you more staright forward answers and tell the truth, as in guys in these kinds of programs usually are not as helpfull and will not take the questions seriously. These patterns all go back to the basic answer of being a virtual networking place, a giant 3D chat room. It seems like 90% of the answers in the class touched upon one aspect of second life being a chat room in one way or another. This by far was the most popular pattern found in all the answers. As far as varying differences in the results go, the main reason is, most of the people in the class were very direct with the questions, and in response got very short direct answers from the people they were asking. The longer answers, the people built up to the acutal question, and started a conversation with these people, allowing for a more detailed answer to the question. Being direct with people will work, but for more detailed questions and answers its better to strike up a conversation with a person, and build up to the acutal question, you will usually get a much more detailed answer if you do. With one question, and a very basic question at that, it is easy to bring this data together, because the majority of the people interviewed gave short answers, there was not much to the response, because there was really just one question asked of the people. When there are more parts to the question, or more time spent talking to people, then you will be able to pull apart different aspects of peoples answers and be eaiser to move them into different groups. I think having more data makes analysis harder, but this is what makes all reserach papers good. If the answers to the quesitons they were asking were obvious, there would be not purpose to reading the paper, that is why it is important to get as much data as you can, because it gives you a chance to get a larger varity of answers to your questions meaning you have more data to analize for your project. It will make it harder however because you have alot more information to sift through because now you may have smaller patterns that may emerge and must decide if these would be reoccuring patterns if you kept asking more people. It makes the analysis harder, but the end result more enriching and acurate to the paper.

Interview Questions Avatar Answers

Colin De'Aeth Kinsai Nightfire Male Plain Clothing Born 11/02/07 "Well since I am new I havent formed a full opinon yet but so far it is just a metting place for people to meet people online" Hanja Welcome Center
* Colin De'Aeth Adilah Illyar Female Plain Clothing Born 11/11/07 "I think second life is...freaking weird" Hanja Welcome Center
* Colin De'Aeth MrRoss Munster Male Topless White Pants Born 11/06/07 "Second Life is something to do when i'm bored i guess I dont really know what it means to me" Hanja Welcome Center
* Colin De'Aeth Poeland Rayna Female Gothic Clothing Born 10/27/07 "Second life is a second life, a place where you can have friends with no family" Hanja Welcome Center
* Colin De'Aeth Jeff Maruti Male Plain Clothing Born 10/28/07 "I'm not sure I guess, a place where people go to meet other people" Hanja Welcome Center

Asking people in the welcome center was a task in its self. In a large group of people all the actions were very laggy, making the actual questions very difficult to ask. Alot of avatars did not want to answer any questions either. However the ones that i did get to answer the questions were unsure of how to answer the question. Most of them had only been playing for a couple of days so were unsure of what second life was or what it really had to offer. the people that did answer my questions were by themselves sitting and observing other avatars in the welcome center, and most were very helpful in answering my questions.

Interview Practice Human Answers

Colin De'Aeth Person #1. Male Student. 1 year. Man i dont know what you want me to say. Ithaca is a fun place to be with two colleges. Alot of students here. I hope that helps. Campus Center Dining Hall
* Colin De'Aeth Person #2. Male Student 1 year. Ithaca is full of hippies. And alot of weed man. Weed everywhere! Campus Center Dining Hall
* Colin De'Aeth Person #3. Male Student. 2 years. I dont know what you want me to say. Ithaca is Gorges? Ithaca Is Cold? i guess thats what everyone says. Library
* Colin De'Aeth Person #4. Male Student 3 years. Ithaca is very cold. Pub
* Colin De'Aeth Person #5 Female Student 3 years. I love ithaca, i love this place, i love going to school here, its so different and so much fun. Pub

Some things that i saw in the responses to these questions is that people in real life dont really like answering quesitons on teh spot, even when the know what the question is and what it is for. Each person i asked was real unsure of how to answer the question and were unaware of what i wanted to hear for an answer. Each answer always containted Ithaca is somewhere in teh answer. Some of the responses were positive some where negative. I think people would have had more to say if they thought about the questions, or where talking to a friend, instead of a stranger they have never met before. People in the dining hall seemed more in a hurry and said what ever came to mind first. The student who talked about the hippies didnt think i was serious at first, but he also looked like he was under the influecne of said "weed" which made the whole answer seem really funny.

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.