Kathy Nguyen(SL Avatar: ICanNguyen)

Professor Mary Stokrocki

Definitions Ethnography: It is the scientific description

of the customs of individual peoples and cultures. A qualitative research project consists of information obtained through observations and living among the people of the culture (Wikipedia).

Digital Ethnography: It is the study of online communities and human-technology interactions through the use of qualitative research methods. It is the same only different because it is used in a digital setting (Wikipedia).

Reference: Wikipedia

Stages Data Collection: This method is to collect

information to use for a research project.

Content Analysis: It is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts. It provides insight into the research topic.

• Comparative Analysis: This is used to compare and contrast two things within a research project.

Research Questions

What was there a source of inspiration for their artwork? Used any references?

Is there any meaning behind their artwork? Symbolic? Expressions?

What are their art preferences?

Context and Atmosphere Immersiva, Second

Life

A dark, isolated island filled with mysterious artwork and creatures. When first entered onto this land, a dark forest greets all that comes by. At the end of the dark forest, on the other side of the island, there is a lit, old looking house at the top of rocks and stairs. Upon entering this world, it feels like a dark place to be in, like in somebody’s nightmare. It’s enough to where the artwork “creatures” could trigger fear. Since this is the location where majority of the artist’s, I interviewed, artwork is, I decided to check it out.(SL location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/230/45/47 )

Community

Hardly anyone in the area. It is like a ghost town. A nightmare more like. Very quiet and very low traffic. That feeling of being alone and isolated from the outside world.

Community (Continued)My avatar actually got killed in Immersiva by one of the “artwork” creatures.

Jack-in-a-box Bunny

The moment before I was killed…

Community (Continued)So after I died, I was sent to another community called Korea I. It was full of avatars. I somehow ended in a completely different setting versus how the setting was in Immersiva.(SL location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Korea1/234/111/26)

Artist: Bryn Oh The artist I chose to interview

was Bryn Oh. I had difficulties trying to find an artist to interview so I asked for some suggestions. I searched her through Second Life and sent her a private message. She agreed to do the interview, but due to her busy schedule she couldn’t meet up to do the interview. Instead I sent her a set of question through a notecard for her to answer.

Data Collection(how the interview process started)

Content Analysis (Summary of Interview)

 Comparative  Analysis  Interview

Who? Avatar Where?SLLocationRL Location

What is title -of his/her artwork?How made?

What is Art?What kind of art is this?What style?

Benefits? Inspirations?

Avatar: Bryn OhSL:ImmersivaRL: Toronto, Canada

Title:TheRabbicornMade:Sculpture.3-D Digital Art Sculpture.

Art:Virtual Environments, focus on immersionStyle:Steampunk

 To get the Digital arts to a potentially huge crowd.

Personal poetry

         

Content Analysis (Continued) Real Name?

- Bryn Oh (uses her real name as her SL username).

Where from?- Toronto, Canada. Previously lived in Europe for 1 year.

Real life career?- She has been an oil painter for most of her career but over the past few years have been winning New Media grants from the Canadian government so she is more now a new media artist.

Content Analysis (Continued) What kind of art?

- She creates virtual environments which often follow a narrative. They often contain original poetry, 3D sculpture and an open ended virtual environment whose focus is on immersion.

Favorite art piece?- The Rabbicorn story also known as Standby.

How made?- 3D sculpture. She was originally commissioned by IBM to create a story and it was through them that she created a trilogy of work that features the Rabbicorn.

(The video of the trilogy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8RgAuhcBOw )

The Rabbicorn as the background of this slide.

Content Analysis (Continued) What kind of art? What style?

- Elements of Steampunk. It is an open ended virtual world creation.

Inspirations?- All her work is in a form of diary. In them she talks about things she wishes she had said or done, things that worry her or concepts she dwells upon.

Benefits?- To be apart of the frontier. She was apart of the artistic medium when it first started. She likes being apart of the artistic medium because of the potential audiences it reaches.

Comparative Analysis & ConclusionsIn SL, Bryn Oh spends most of her time creating art work to build around her inspirations, which are her thoughts. She builds them so people could follow her poetry and stories and feel completely immerse in them. According to Sanchez, digital storytelling is a way to let people experience the artist’s stories in an open space so they explore every detail and aspect in the story. In Bryn’s Immersiva, there are messages in a bottle laying all around the island. She built her art pieces around in all areas so people could explore the island and find the pieces to the story. It allows users to be fully immerse in her story, which was one of her main goals.

Reference: Joe Sanchez article 2

Comparative Analysis & Conclusions (Continued)She builds her artwork to where audiences would focus on a point of her piece. This is where she wants her audience to look at her art piece for a long period of time. She has had people respond to her art piece in a positive way. Audiences from all around would message and inform her on how much time they would spend exploring her art world, which can be hours upon hours. She considers that a job well done if she could get people to explore her art for a long period of time. It is like Sanchez said in his article, when you build something you’re proud of, there will be a positive reaction.

Reference: Joe Sanchez article 1

To sum up Bryn Oh…..

Bryn was an excellent artist to interview. I felt like I learned so much about her work and how passionate she is about it.

References Bryn’s Blog - http://brynoh.blogspot.com/ Ethnography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography Digital Ethnography - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_ethnography Immersiva - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/230/45/47 Korea 1 - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Korea1/234/111/26 Story that features Bryn’s favorite art piece -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8RgAuhcBOw Joe Sanchez 1 - https://myasucourses.asu.edu/courses/1/2014Spring-X-

ARE598-ARE494-27450-27448/content/_8813639_1/SanchezPed%20ApplicSL.pdf

Joe Sanchez article 2 - https://myasucourses.asu.edu/courses/1/2014Spring-X-ARE598-ARE494-27450-27448/content/_8813639_1/SanchTeachSL.final.pdf

Thank you!