Ethnography Results, Week 5

Goal:

Now that we are familiar with different functions, controls and features of the second life game, we started visiting new places, meeting people and making friends. Following were the goals for this week:

• Meet new people.
• Discover new places.
• Start conversations and make friends.
• Get an idea of the overall tone of conversations on Second Life.

Method of Study:

• Teleport to a new location - Newbie Island.
• Observe the interactions between newbies and second life experienced users.
• Observe the actions of people, if they are willing and helpful or reluctant.
• Observe how many people take initiative in starting conversations.

Introduction:

We found a lot of people at the newbie island. However, not a lot of them were newbies though. Most of them were experienced Second Life users who were regular visitors of the place. Many of them knew each other and were busy in conversations. Almost every place on second life has a leader, he the once who owns the place, since land on SL is not free.

I have noticed that some people purposely hang out at places like the help island and the newbie island where they can make contacts with newbies and advertise their business. Many people own businesses on second life and earn real dollars from the sale of virtual products. They try to lure newbies into buying products and earn money. However, as long as you are clever enough not to go on a shopping spree as soon as you sign up on second life, you can save yourself from most of the trouble.

There are many people like you and me, college students, professors, scientists, inventors and businessmen who also have second life avatars. Interaction with nice people on second life can often be very motivating and enlightening.

Newbie Island Screenshots

Detailed Description:

After landing at the newbie island, we tried to start conversation with some of the people who seemed to be doing nothing. We were successful in getting some of them to talk to us. A couple of them recommended us some interesting places worth visiting. However, these conversations were pretty short. These people seemed like experienced users bored with newbie questions.

However, while we were wandering around the place, one of the ladies initiated the conversation with me. I am not sure why she did that, maybe she thought I was lost and lonely, or maybe something else. Anyway, it turned out that we had a long and very interesting conversation that went for couple of hours. Following are the parts of the conversation:

me: how would you compare SL meetings and interactions with RL interactions?

MB: when you meet someone in sl it’s more the character than the stuff that shines, so when you meet them in RL after knowing them in SL, you already know them, just now you see they have a twinkle in their eye; or wow those are some big feet… hmmm looks diff than in picture but who cares, it’s your friend….you've bypassed all the stuff and gotten to the essence of that person much faster.

MB: why do you ask?

me: hmm, i was just curious....i have read about ppl meeting on SL and then actually meeting in RL, some of them even ended up gettin' married.

MB: yes, i know some...some form RL relationships, some even get married while some horribly fall on their faces. just because you chat in sl doesn't mean you are mentally well or prepared to be with a virtual stranger. One may have horrible personal habits in RL.

MB: so what bought you to SL?

me: honestly, a class project. u?

MB: non profits, art, fun...it's all here.

Then she provided me with some interesting landmarks to visit. She mentioned a place where native Americans tell people about their culture. They do this to increase awareness about their cultural values. She also gave me a landmark in Texas called "The Lonestar". During the conversation I mentioned that I was on SL as a part of the HCI class project and gave her the link to my blog. After that, the conversation goes like this:

MB: r u indian?

me: yes ma'am ,i am....where r u from?

MB: Germany, working in the US in the finance industry.

MB: you might like this place : paradise. I love it there. Pluralism rocks!

me: indeed it does!

MB: thats why i love sl you can be in the room and have all continents there and all get along...fabulous

me: yup, i think i'm gonna get addicted to this thing, it's way better than FB

MB: fb is for kids and grandmoms

me: i think i'm gonna be a SL junkie

MB: never never leave...i love it here.

me: i dont think i will :) now that i can make friends from all over the world

MB: it can be intelligent conversation or just silly goofy stuff. you can make a lot of contacts and connections. I have met disney inventors, people from hallmark and many creative people on SL. and obviously, and some very stupid drunk ones too.

me: just like RL, there are wise people and there are always some stupid ones, but atleast SL brings all of em closer....and i dont mind meeting stupid ppl :)

me: i met one australian lady on SL who owns a furniture business on SL, she's disabled in RL, making fortune on SL. now thats the power of innovation...changing lives. its up to you if u wanna change it to better or worse.

After this verbose conversation, she sent me a friend request. I had just made yet another friend on SL.

Some advantages of Second Life

Virtual Conferencing

I realized that second life can be used as a tool for virtual conferencing. Two sisters, living in different continents meet on second life everyday, have lunch and go for shopping together. Thus, second life can act as an important communication channel and can help in fostering relationships.

Making contacts and connections

You can make professional contacts on second life. You might need an appointment to meet a CEO of a company, but if he is signed up on SL, he is totally approachable. There are many professionals on SL, who are very busy in their personal lives and spend some leisure time on SL.

Thinking beyond the differences

You can meet and make friends with people from various countries, having different religious backgrounds and skin color. Second life avatars filter out the external differences and the emphasis is laid on the character, thoughts and the person's ideas. It is very possible that you might not be comfortable talking to a person in real life just because he/she doesn't look like you, doesn't talk like you or maybe doesn't share the same religious values that you do, however, you can befriend this person very easily on SL, thus filtering out all the differences and removing the barrier that restricts the flow of ideas.

Overall Experience:

Just like real life, not everyone on second life is a nice person and everyone has to pick and choose their friends, people who match their own interests and hobbies. The overall experience was wonderful, I had a really nice conversation, got to know new places and made a friend. Some conversations on SL can be a total waste of time, while others can be interesting, informative and motivating.

Book Reading #34, 36 - Obedience to Authority

CHAPTER 1-14 (full book)

Summaries:

In chapter 1 Stanley Milgram discusses about the concept of obedience and talks about the Nazi experimentation as an example of obedience. He addresses the question as to why people are obedient even when they know what they are doing is unethical. He discusses the goal of the famous Milgram's experiment - to explore the willingness of the people to obey the authority and under what circumstances they become disobedient.

In chapter 2 Milgram writes about what he did to perform the study. He talks about how they got participants, selection of the location for the experiment, the procedure of the experiment, the shock generator and instructions provided by the experimenter to brief the subject about the experiment, data collection process and user feedback.

In chapter 3 Milgram talks about the expected behavior and the predictions made by psychiatrists, professionals, students and middle-class adults. They thought that almost all subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter and that only a very small percentage of people, the mentally sick and sadistic people of the society would actually go all the way.

In chapter 4 Milgram provides data about the effect of proximity of the victim to the teacher. In Experiment 1 the teacher got no feedback from the victim except for the pounding on the walls at 300 volts. In Experiment 2 vocal protests were used. In Experiment 3 the victim was placed in the same room as the teacher. In Experiment 4 the victim only got shocked when he forced the learner's hand on a shock plate. He describes how proximity influences obedience.

In chapter 5 Milgram gives the details about several subjects and how they behaved. Milgram includes the data recorded from observations of the subject while the experiment was performed, information received during an interview after the experiment and information they gave in a survey months after the experiment.

In chapter 6 Milgram describes seven other experiments in detail. Some of the variations in the experiments include changing the location of the experiment, including women in the studies, using a contract (and its effect on responsibility), and having the subject to choose the shock level.

In chapter 7 Milgram provides data and information similar to what was presented in chapters 5 and 6. He mentions that one of the subjects was originally from Germany and was disobedient. She decided to stop at 210 volts. Milgram attributes her behavior to her exposure to Nazi propaganda when she says "we have already seen enough pain".

Chapter 8 provides information on six more experiments that Milgram performed. The only difference is that in these experiments he keeps changing certain attributes and factors of the experiment. In these experiments he changed the position - if the subject is delivering, receiving or ordering the shock and action - the conduct of the people in their positions to see how the results change.

In Chapter 9, Milgram discusses the effect of the group. He also discusses the difference between conformity and obedience. He states that obedience to authority occurs within a hierarchy while conformity is imitation but obedience is not. The cause of actions is explicit in obedience but implicit in conformity.


In chapter 10, Milgram no more talks about the observations from the experiments rather he starts talking about the analysis of the results. MIlgram tries to dig deep to find the causes of obedience. In this chapter he defines a new term - the agentic state, which is the condition that a person is in when he sees himself as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes. He mentions that this state is the important discovery of their analysis.

In chapter 11 Milgram talks about the factors that influenced the subject before the experiment, like the family structure, upbringing, the institutional setting, and a reward system. He observes the subjects reactions during the experiment. The areas that he observed were the perception of the authoritative figure and the appearance of the authority figure..

Chapter 12 talks mainly about two things - disobedience and the strain experienced by the people. Milgram discusses sources of strain, things that help to cope up with the strain. He also mentions how people deal with strain through avoidance, denial and subterfuges. He also says that people in the experiment verbally disagreed with the authority and tried to make themselves feel better and reduce the strain. Common physical reactions were trembling and sweating and in some cases being disobedient by refusing to continue.

In chapter 13 Milgram talks about aggression. He also talks about soldiers and yet another experiment performed by by Buss and Berkowitz to investigate aggression.

In chapter 14 talks about the public criticisms about this experiment. These criticisms include - the people studied in the experiment were atypical. Some claim that the subjects didn’t actually believe they were administering real shocks. Some say that the findings cannot be applied outside the laboratory setting i.e. the results can't be generalized. Milgram addresses each of these in detail within the chapter. Author presents convincing arguments to each of these claims. He finally compares the findings of this experiment with the behavior of people influenced by authority in Nazi Germany.

Discussion:

I had an idea of what this book is about after reading a chapter about Milgram's experiment in the book "Opening the Skinners box". However, in this book he talks about his experiment in minute detail. It was interesting to read how the results varied with varying different factors like location, proximity and gender of the subject. The experiments were very convincing and I don't believe with most of the claims mentioned in chapter 14 that criticize the experiment.

Book Reading #33 - Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 11: The Girl in Conflict

Summary:

This chapter talks about some of the Samoan girls who try to deviate from the traditional norms and find themselves in conflicts. Some girls deviate from the group to find more choices and freedom. These girls are classified as delinquents. The author talks about two girls named Lola and Mala who faced some conflicts. Mala once stole a toy which gave her a reputation of a thief. No one wanted to be around her since there is no security in Samoan houses. Lola was a quarrelsome and insubordinate girl who after her love affair accused her rival and called her thief. Such conflicts arose in the case of the girls who stayed on the outskirts of the town and at the pastor's house. Mead believes that lack of affection was the cause for such deviation in behavior.

Discussion:

I see significant similarity in the Samoan culture and the developed cultures of the world when it comes to human behavior. We often see and hear about young agitated adults who want to challenge the authority and enjoy more freedom get into conflicts with their parents, elders and the society. Similar behavior is seen in Samoan villages. I think this behavior is not influenced by religion or education, it's intrinsic human nature. Some are more rebellious than other.

Book Reading #31 - Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl

Summary:

In this chapter the author Margaret Mead talks about the life of an average Samoan girl. The author mentions that children are exposed to life and death when they are young. No effort is made by the elders to hide this from children to keep them innocent and the elders consider this normal. The author then proceeds to talk about experiences and stories various different girls of the village. She says that Samoan girls experience an orderly development of slowly maturing interests and activities.

Discussion:

The chapter wasn't particularly interesting for me. It does provide lot of detail but it's hard to relate this information with computer science. From anthropology point of view, the details are appreciable. Since I am a "cut the crap and come to the point" type of guy, it's hard for me to be impressed by such work, however, I'm sure this information is very vital when it comes to writing ethnographies.

Book Reading #30: Emotional Design

Chapter 3: Three Levels of Design: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective

Author: Donald Norman

Summary

This chapter seems to be a continuation of the second chapter. He talks about the same three levels of emotional designs that he talked in last chapter - Visceral, Behavioral and Reflective. However in this chapter, he goes into much detail.

• Visceral level is about the first impression or the initial impact of the product. The factors contributing to visceral design are - look, feel, appearance and attractiveness.
• The behavioral level is about functionality and the experience of the user in using the product. If the systems solves a problem or meets a need and is fairly easy to use, then the product does well at the behavioral level.
• The reflective level is the highest level of emotional design. It's about the memories that the user forms about the experiences of using the product.

Norman also talks about two designing approaches - design by the individual and design by committee.

Discussion

Initially the chapter seemed a little repetitive since he already provides the definitions in the second chapter. However, in this chapter, the author makes the distinctions in the three levels very clear to the reader by giving more detailed description and plenty of everyday examples. Overall, I enjoyed reading the chapter, especially, the examples.

Book Reading #34 - Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 10: Chipped

Author: Lauren Slater

Summary:

This last chapter of the book talks about the evolution of psycho surgery and about Antonio Moniz, who was the father of psycho surgery. In some of the early surgeries that he performed, he used alcohol to kill the damaged nerve tissue. Majority of his surgeries are reported to be successful but questions are raised regarding poor follow up concerning validity of the data.

Later in the chapter the author talks about a man called Charlie Newitz from Austin, Texas who suddenly showed symptoms of OCD. He tried all medications but nothing worked for him. He finally underwent psycho surgery. The surgery was successful and his OCD was gone. However, he reported feeling a little depressed after the surgery, however, it was much better than suffering from OCD.

Finally, the authors talks about psychiatric medicines like the prozac. No one really know which part of the brain it affects and how it works. Also, it does and does not help some people. Some people eventually get immune to it's effects and do not show improvements. Most times, it's just trial an error.

Discussion:

I think I oppose both medications and surgery. I believe, they both must be avoided if the condition is not bothering the person. However, if the condition worsens then the person has to take the drugs. Surgery should be left as a last resort since brain is such a delicate organ. Once small mistake can cost a life and such mistakes can't be undone. But overall, it looks like these days psych surgery has evolved considerably and doctors have good knowledge about the brain and even the tools are more sophisticated. So, today it's probably not as risky as it was before.

Book Reading #32: Opening the Skinner's Box

Chapter 9: Memory Inc.

Author: Lauren Slater

Summary:

The chapter focuses on Eric Kandel's research on human memory and how it's stored in the brain. The chapter begins with the story of Henry who had epilepsy and very often suffered from convulsions and seizures. Dr Scoville contacted his parents and proposed a possible solution of brain surgery. Being the last resort, Henry's parents consented the surgery. Dr. Scoville removed the hippocampus from Henry's brain which stopped the seizures but he lost the ability to form new memories.

After reading about Henry's story, Eric Kandel decided to learn about neurons and human memory. He experimented with sea slugs since their neurons are visible and less complex. He discovered CREB (cAMP response element binding) and CREB repressor. CREB is a molecule in the brain that triggers the genes which produce proteins that hold memories. Later, Kandel started a company that manufactured pills to enhance memory.

Discussion:

This was an extremely interesting chapter. I idea of making pills to enhance memory was interesting but the question that pops up in my head is that if scientists believe that the human memory is limited then won't this pill create some negative side effects as well? I think human brain being such a fragile organ should be left as it is.