Interview Analyzation Continued...

Going through the entire classes mini-interviews very much helped me get a grasp of what Second Life is to the thousands of people who use it everyday. From my own personal interviews, I found that the people I spoke to thought of Second Life as a place they could be someone else, or more accurately a networking tool. People talked about their many friends from all over the world, or the friends they made in real life after meeting them on Second Life. However, the people I spoke with were all new to Second Life. Upon reading the other answers from the class, I had a lot more information to analyze.

There were a variety of different responses, which of course can be attributed to the thousands of differences and variety of contexts. Each interviewer is different, each interviewee, place, time, manner in which interview was conducted, etc. The list of differences can be endless, so one must factor that in when analyzing.

Despite all of this, however, a lot of the responses were surprisingly similar. Many avatars discussed how Second Life was a different world for them, a place to be someone they're not in real life. Others discussed it as a nice networking tool. Many people took it literally and called a "chatroom with graphics" or something to that effect. I found these by reading the various interviews, and marking a number next to a brand new definition or idea, and then repeating that number when another response was the same to the original correlating number.

With such a plethora and variety of data, it was definitely a lot harder to go through and analyze, only because of its tendancy to be tedious. However, with so much information, and the number of consistant responses being from such a variety of users, I found the data to be much more conclusive and accurate than from my personal five interviews. So my conclusion seems to be "the more data, the better!"

Interview Practice

So I began my interview practice by talking to different people around campus areas - the library, campus center, the gym. I spoke with three men, two women. Here are their responses to the question - define Ithaca.

#1 Male, 1.5 years, Campus Center - A god-forsaken land settled by aging hippies and rediscovered by pretentious youth and psuedo Ivy-leaguers.
#2 Male, 4 years, Library - A city that's more like a close-knit community, connected through artistically minded individuals and old hippies.
#3 Female, 4 years, Campus Center - It would not exist without its immense student population.
#4 Male, 4 years, Library - Every kind of weird person you've ever met, or one of their obscure family members, either lives here or has been here.
#5 Female, 2 years, Gym - One time I saw a man carrying a vacuum down through the Commons at 2:30am. That's pretty much Ithaca.

A surprising majority of the responses were negative or a bit critical - also comical, to a degree. All cited the dominance of hippies, Ithaca's diverse and quirky community, and the majority of students living in this area.

The responses did not seem to have any correlations due to age, years living here, or gender.

Meanwhile, in Second Life, I inquired at the Hanja Welcome Center, where I got some interesting response about what they thought about the Second Life world.

#1, woman with pink dress, 11/7/2007, Hanja Welcome Center - its a wonderful networking tool that i'm still getting used to.
#2, man with suit and wings, 11/9/2007, Hanja Welcome Center - Jeff i dont know what to say to you
#3, little teddy bear, 11/1/2007, Hanja Welcome Center - I think sl is intresting becasue i get to meet people from around the world. i have a friend whos in finland!
#4 woman shaped with facial hair, 2/21/2007, Hanja Welcome Center - I've met three SLers in rl as a result of meeting them in here
#5, man in sharp suit, 11/8/2007, Hanja Welcome Center - you can go to many different worldssssssss. my keyboard is sticking

A lot of the conversation is incomprehensible. Many people did not really respond to the question - just talked about different aspects of Second Life that they enjoyed - with one being completely difficult and not giving me a response. Because I was unable to distinguish the gender of many people, I had to take their avatars for face value only. The majority of the people I spoke to were new to Second Life, five having only become members since November, all of them less than a year on Second Life. All had positive things to say about Second Life.

Interview Questions

Male 1

1) It was the only thing that was clean.

2) I got interested in it through some classes in high and decided I wanted to continue in that field.

3) No, I wouldn't, because I feel like if you change one thing it would change the entire course of everything and overall I'm happy with the way my life is going.

Male 2

1) I looked down at what I was wearing and I said, "Do I really need to change my clothes?"

2) I made vidoes for a bunch of my classes in high school and decided I like that.

3) I don't know. Whatever happens, happens - I don't really give a shit, as long as I'm not homeless. And as long as I have money to retire with. I'm cool.

Male 3

1) Uh...honestly, it's what I've worn the last three or four days. It was just kind of there and not dirty yet.

2) Uh...originally I wanted to be journalism major, but realized I hated writing, and decided I liked TV from a class in high school and went with it.

3) Yeah...uh, cuz right now I have no future and to have anything to garuntee I'd get the job I want would be awesome.

Just a note.

So Second Life was on the Office tonight.

That's pretty awesome.

Observation

Once again, I revisited my beloved Hanja Welcome Center, where I stayed for about a half hour on a Tuesday, the 23rd of October, from 11pm to 11:30.

While I was there, I mainly just listened to a conversation going on, mainly being delegated by a man I will call SP. Going for gross-out shock and vulgarity to "incite" new users, SP had nothing of substance to say but certainly kept things interesting.

Here are some priceless quotes and insight SP gave.


[19:51] SP: LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!

[19:52] SP: I LOVE BEING SINGLE!
[19:52] SP: I HAVEN'T HAD THIS MUCH SEX SINCE I WAS A BOY SCOUT LEADER!!!
[19:53] SP: I mean at the time...
[19:53] SP: I was dating alot.

[19:53] SP: I have what's called a heziated colon.
[19:53] SP: Which means that sometimes I can't control my sphincter
[19:53] SP: Well nobody knows this, but sometimes I poop my pants so I have to wear a diaper.
[19:53] SP: I have to take medicine for it every day.
[19:54] SP: It's a little suppository I have to put up my rectum.
[19:54] SP: I have what's called a heziated colon.
[19:54] SP: Which means that sometimes I can't control my sphincter
[19:54] SP: Well nobody knows this, but sometimes I poop my pants so I have to wear a diaper.
[19:54] SP: I have to take medicine for it every day.
[19:54] SP: It's a little suppository I have to put up my rectum.

[19:55] SP: I need to go poopie!

[20:10] SP: I just visited a SL adoption center. I spanked a 'child' on the ass and she tp'd away

and in closing...

[20:19] SP: THROW THE JEW DOWN THE WELL
[20:19] SP: SO MY COUNTRY CAN BE FREE
[20:19] SP: YOU MUST GRAB HIM BY HIS HORNS
[20:19] SP: THEN WE'LL HAVE A BIG PARTY!

Second Life treasure hunt

Tonight, when looking at educational events, I was surprised to find a Treasure Hunt under the tab.

In the spirit of Halloween, the Treasure Quest Hunters group organizes a newbie Treasure hunt for Second Life users to get acclimated and moving around the the Second Life world.

As the group moderator explained to new players, this how the Treasure Hunt works.


[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- Ahoy Me Hearties, welcome to the Treasure Quest, if its treasure your after you found the right crew.
[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- We pirates have a few suggestions that might make this easier for you.
[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- The hunt is easier if you have joined the group - just ask if you need an invitation...
[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- It means we can help wherever you are.
[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- You'll recieve a notecard with a tp and somewhere near to where you land you'll find treasure!
[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- Good luck maties, look out for enemy pirate ships and beware of walking on planks!
[19:17] Calypso Llewellyn: -*- If you have any questions or need any help dont hesitate to ask, we pirates aren't as scary as we look!!!

"Treasure Quest is a new and unique scavenger hunt, exclusive to SL! As you travel from Sim to Sim, you will encounter many locations, where you solve the clues and you find the hidden treasure! Our last Quest covered 35 locations, varying from clothing merchants, home décor, jewelers, and costumers, to tattoo artists, the UFO Watch tower and clubs!"

It's also for a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which is a very good cause.

Interview Observations

From the article, "Conducting an In-depth Interview" (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FY393) I was given a great deal of insight in how to perhaps conduct interviews on Second Life.

I hope to be able to approach various avatars on Second Life and conduct an informal but in-depth interview with a basis of questions, but I will hopefully manage to let the avatars speak and give insight about themselves and their views on Second Life.

A couple of things I noticed about interviewing in Second Life that I might find problematic is mainly the practice of interpreting non-verbal communication. The article discusses how to be flexible and perceptive of what people aren't saying, which is hard in Second Life, seeing as people are hiding behind digital avatars, which unless animated, do not give emotion beyond what they are typing. I suppose when I begin conducting my interviews, I should be especially aware of how people are typing and what is being interpreted through that.

Luckily, since every communication on Second Life is typed, I can therefore copy and paste every interview instead of having to do record voices and transcribe the audio.

Interviews on Second Life will certainly be an interesting and insightful look into the lives of people and how they interact virtually.