GDNM Ethnographic Research
By Andrew Kissoon
Contents User profile - 1 person • Material Gathering • Ethnographic Research • Reference Material • Analysis • Initial Concept User Testing- 1 Person • Present User • User Response • Document Response User Test Results Evaluation - 1 Person • User Influence • Analysis Documented Opinion Sampling Results • Opinion Influence • Analysis Opinions
Interview I
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gathered information mainly by video, audio and written. I choose these methods because i felt they were the best way to record information. My subject is Matt Finnie where i interviewed him in a number or places. Interview: based on my 1st interview with Matt Q) how are you? A) Im ok thanks Q) What are your favourite hobbies? A) I like socailising if you can count that? reading manga and playing games Q) What is your favourite colour? A) Yellow - Why? - I like the colour, it makes me feel warm inside. Q) What’s your Favourite food? A) Tinola its a Filipino dish, its chicken and papaya, love it. Q) Where do you live? A) Chelsea -Why do you live there - I’ve lived there all my life. Its where my parents choose to live
2 Q) Do you like the area you live? A) Yeah i’ve been there all my life, so i know a lot of people there, so it makes me happy. Q) Do you know any other languages? A) i know a little bit of Spanish, French and Filipino. Im not fluent at them but i know bits and pieces. Q) What 3 things do you value the most? A) I value my phone, my Macbook and my ipod. - Why? - My phone helps me keep in with people texting and all that. My ipod cause i love listening to music, and its always with me and my Macbook pro as it has all my work. Q) Who do you live with? A) My mum and my Dad. I used to live with my Brother, but he’s got his own place now. Q) Do you play any video games? A) Yes i do, i manily play hack and slash and RPG’s and stuff like that - What age did you get into that? - When i was younger, me and my brother used to play a lot. I still have my super nintendo for when i was young, so i’ve been gaming for quite a while. - So do you value your super Nintendo? Does it mean something to you? - Yeah i mean i still have it now, so i’ve looked after it. I have a few good memories of it
Research Methods
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I looked through the visual Ethnography book and took a couple of pages out which i though would help me. My methods to record information was to use photography, video, audio and written. My methods • • • • • •
Video interview images provided by subject Audio interview Written interview Explorations of accounts( deviantart) Photos taken of subject.
I gathered some quotes for the ethnography book. “Ethnographic research is likewise interwind with visual images and metaphors. When ethnographers produce photographs or video, these visual texts, as well as the experience of producing and discussing them, become part of their ehtnographic knowledge”
I wanted to mix my research up and use a variety of different methods. i wanted to record a video because it captures a emotional response while asking the subject questions. It also captures body language which is a important aspect. I also did recording on skype. I felt like a doing video recording in different locations. I wanted make him feel my comfortable while i was interviewing him, as certain places can have an effect on his answers or he wouldn’t want to discuss too much detail in public. Photos i also used to capture his a still image of his body language.
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I’ve gathered several photos and put them together showing his personalty. I think this is a effective way of showing what kind of person he is. I’ve taken pictures that were given to me from his collection of family photos and some which were taken from his facebook friends page. I’ve also taken information from his Deviantart web page profile, as this is a genreal summary of his personal details and interets. I felt by gathering information from different sources helped me understand Matt a little bit better.
5 Based on the interview i made some notes about his influences and the people that are closest to him in his life. I recorded information based on the my interviews, to find the source of his influences. I’ve included written analysis about his personal interests. I looked at the information i had collected and decided to pick out key informations that could be used in his enviornment.
6 I included an in depth research on his family as they are seen as a big factor in his up bringing. I broke down the information stage by stage. So i would gather information on just his family then i would take information on just his friends. I would then look at what i could use in the enviornement and how i could link it to my research.
Initial Concept
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y gathering information from the interview i started drawing a mind map, which include possible ideas for the enviornment. I took his main interests and expanded on them. I wanted to focus on the things that were important to him and that had influenced him through out his life. I focused mainly on gaming, anime/manga/comics, music, culture and future ambitions. I then had to think of my idea for the synopsis. I wanted to create a past, present and future based on the information i was given. As he had talk a lot about his early life, present life and where he wants to be in the future. As i had my synopsis idea i then had to decided what i was gonna to put in each enviornment. I created another mind map which helped me decided what i was going to put in my final unity game.
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User Testing Presenting I presented my work to Matt across skype as i had already video recorded a walkthrough of the game and it was posted on my blog. I recorded a video clip of his reaction to my game and i also recorded another audio clip of him viewing and updated version 2 weeks later. Response The user was very positive with the outcome of my work. He was slow to respond at the begining but then was able comment about my work and the progress i have made so far. After running through the whole game he then gave his own opinions on what i could improve on and what he thinks i should add or take away from the enviornment. He mentioned that i had represented the enviornment well, but there certain part of my game which i could make stronger. Documenting I documented the response with a video recording which was done one skype. I also did another audio recording too, i did this because i thought it could get a different reaction out from him since he was being filmed. My recorded videos and audios were then posten on my blog.
8 User Test results The response i gathered for the user helped me a lot since i was in a situation where i didnt know what eles i could do to improve it. I had taken his ideas on board, but i wanted to expand on it further so i also had some input in on what was going in. But i never told him about these changes. As i wanted him to be suprised in a sense partly so i could film another reaction. Analysis After looking through my recordings i could tell based on his facial expression that there were mix feeling about the unity enviornment. At the start he was netural, and as he went further through the game he started becoming positive about the work. It didnt appear as he was in a hurry, he took time looking through each enviornment. My analysis overall that he looked pleased about the outcome. It didn’t appear that he was uncomfortable with anything that was placed in the envionrment.
Opinion Sampling Results A
s a good few of the people i interviewed knew Matt well, the majority of them said roughly the same thing. They mentioned how i could add more of his social life to the present enviornment, something that i took on board as i felt like there wasn’t enough that could represent him. I also managed to interview people that didnt know him too well and i took some ideas that they had suggested. I think these interviews helped me fill the missing pieces to my unity enviornment. I took one or two ideas from different people and combined the two, which is something i probably would never have come up with by myself if i didn’t interview them. I thought this process was helpful as different people had different opinons about how the could represent Matt. Analysis Most of the mentioned his social life which they thought was a big part about Matt. They were generally postive about the synopsis i showed them and took time in explaining their thoughts on their ideas. I felt like i got a good response as it such a surreal kind of enviornment to create. I didnt really expect people to fully understand where i was coming from in terms of the idea.
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