Please, have a “seat”
by Andrew Crow
Today was our first day of in-world interviews with actual Second Life residents. I have to say, it was a lot of fun.
We met with a man who has been in-world for some time now. Like many people, he was passionate about the topic and we were happy to hear him talk.
It was an unusual experience…as was expected. First, how do you meet and greet someone formally in-world? Typically, you’d shake hands if you were meeting in person. At least there is some protocol for talking on the phone. But when you see someone who is there, but not there…what are you supposed to do?
We did what came naturally. We said hello, introduced ourselves and sat down in the plush leather chairs of Linden Labs’ beautiful conference room by the sea. The setting actually affected my mood. The surroundings were done so well and felt real enough to almost feel you were there. All while talking to the interviewee, we were looking at him, and I think that changed the way we spoke.
When you talk on the phone, you can look around, multitask and write notes to the other researchers. But, even though this person could not see us, we unconsciously behaved as if he could.
I did take some liberties and moved the camera’s viewpoint around to take some pictures. Seeing your “self” sitting there while talking with someone is odd, indeed.
It was a great success. The interview was well paced with no technical problems. The different medium by which the interview was conducted had no effect on the quality or possibility of the communication. I enjoyed this more than a regular phone interview!
Chiara will add more as the research process goes on. I just wanted to drop a quick note about how fun and easy it went today.
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February 24th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
wow, interesting. did you take notes the same way you would have it it were on the phone?
February 25th, 2007 at 9:41 am
did you use any script? What are yours research objectives? We are conducting now a study about Second Life’s residents in Spain. We’ll be happy if you want share your results with us. Good luck!!
February 26th, 2007 at 8:26 am
[...] Andrew Crow berichtet im Blogposting von den ersten virtuellen Interviews. Nach der Beschreibung von einigen Unsicherheiten in der virtuellen Begrüßung, kommt er zum Schluss, dass für Ihn diese Form von Interview natürlicher ist, als ein Telefoninterview. Eine genaue Forschungsfrage habe ich allerdings nicht finden können. Interessant ist auf jeden Fall, dass die Interviews in den virtuellen Konferenzhallen von Linden Labs stattfinden. Da ist es natürlich um einiges angenehmer und “hipper” als auf den ebenso virtuellen Straßen. [...]
February 26th, 2007 at 10:19 am
@Julia- We took notes the way we normally do, via computer and whiteboard. But, since we were in-world, my computer needed to be dedicated to Second Life. I could’ve had TextEdit or OmniOutliner open for notes and switch back and forth, but I wouldn’t have been in control of my avatar.
Since this was our first time interviewing a resident in-world, I wasn’t sure how to interact with that person. Do I move my head when I talk to them? Do we walk around? Also, if you don’t touch your mouse for a certain amount of time, your avatar falls asleep. I didn’t want to fall asleep during an interview.
Fortunately for me, Chiara wasn’t able to log into SL. Plus, she types very fast (she can transcribe conversations, make wood cuttings for illustrations, go to Kinko’s and get the notes bound and be back before I can peck out my little phrases).
So we had one MacBook open for SL and one for notes. In another interview, we’ll be conducting it by chat. Second Life has the ability to log chats, so that will save some extra work.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:24 am
@Victor- That’s great! Understanding the international implications of a global online world is not an easy task.
We’ll talk about the script and research plan shortly. Look for it in another blog post.
Also, until Linden has had time to process and work through some of our designs for the changed experience, we can’t share too much about the project. I am happy to let them know you’re working on a study!
February 26th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I guess all work done with them will pay in Linden dollars. Very interesting stuff thanks for keeping us posted.
February 26th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Did the way that the person appeared in world affect your perceptions of them or the way that you talk to them (the way that someone’s appearance and mannerisms affect how you communicate with them IRL)? Would it be different if their avatar looked more like their real life self?