ACTIVE DESIGNPROCESSGDNM

THILINI THEWARAPPERUMA

Visual Ethnography

• Ethnography- The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.• Anthropology- The scientific study of the prigin, the behaviour, and the physical, social and cultural development of humans.• Photography, video and hypermedia are becoming increasingly incorporated into the work of ethnograpers as cultural texts, and representations eth-

nographic knowledge and as sites of cultural production, social interaction and individual experience that constitutes ethnogrpahic fieldwork.• ‘the methods should serve the aims of the research, not the research serve the aims of the method’ (Mc Guigan 1997:2)• ‘Our ethnographic stratergies are also shaped by the subject’ situation, their global as well as local perceptions, and their demands and expectations of

us’ (Lizette Josephides)• Anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, photographic studies and media studies are the key disciplines.• An interlinking of cultural studies and anthropology approuches seems particularly pertinent to an ethnography that incorporates visual images and

technologies.• Ethnography is rarely the sole means or end of a research project: different disciplinary uses of it are likely to situate ethnography differently within

their processes of research and representation.• Visual images are made meaningful through the subjective gaze of the viewer, and that each individual produces these photographic meanings by

relating the image to her personal experiences, knowledge, and wiser cultural discourse.• ‘Photographs can be tools which to obtain knowledge’(collier and collier 1986:99)• ‘Photographs allow us to produce knowledge unavailable through verbal interviewing: because the brain processes visual and spoken information dif-

ferently’• “images evoke deeper element of human consciousness than do words” (harper 2002:13)• Knowledge may be experienced and represented through textually visual or other sensory ways.• Ethnographers’ uses pf video benefit from awareness of how informants are and inderstand video technologies and representations.• Video can be used for ethnographic diary-keeping, note taking or recording certain processes and activities.• Interactive hypermedia publications usually consist of sets of interlinked files that contain written words, stills or moving images, sounds or a combi-

nation of these.• Ethnography images are as inevitable as sounds, words or any aspect of culture and society.• “Invovles the ethnographer participating, overtly or covertly, in people’s daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening

to what is said, asking questions- in fact, collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues that are the focus of the research” (1995)

Interview with KarinaName: Karina Louise MensahAge:19Date of Birth: July 19th 1991No. of siblings: 1 Brother Feels a kind of responsibility and protectivness over him. They Age: 17 maintain a close ‘friend’ relationship and often keep in touch.Status of parents: Separated- (both in new relationships)Hobbies: Bowling/ Shopping GymInterests: Singing Has had time to adjust and mature about the situation and Reading the Bible arangments. Collecting keyrings/rings

Q: If you could live anywhere where would it be?A: One of those nice houses on the beach

Q: Do you prefer modern or traditional?A: Kind of tradition, not too snazzy, I like old.

Q: How many houses have you lived in?A: I have lived in 7 different houses.

Q: Has this changed your relationship with your parents?A: It has caused me to not get attached easily. I also lost respect for them and thought they acted selfishly when moving.

Q: What would you reincarnate as?A: A turtle as I would be able to live in and out of water.

Q: If you had a time machine where would you go back to?A: To meet Jesus , and visit Egypt to see how they made the pyramids

Q: How has living out affedted you?A: I feel more independant, also see it as a place to escape.

Interview with Karina continued...Q: Biggest achivevement?A: Being baptised, I feel like I have been forgiven of all my sins and been able to start fresh

Q: Most memorable childhood game?A: I used to love playing monopoly and Ludo with my dad

Q: What is your preffered season?A: I love summer, as it doesn’t come around often

Q: What’s you biggest fear?A: I hate spiders or anything creepy crawly

Q: How would you describe yourself in a few words?A: Kind, over emotional

Q: What materialistic value is most important to you?A: I would say my phone, or y Bible as it’s what I personally live by

Q: Do you enjoy living away from home and why?A: Yes and no, I do enjoy the freedom and living with friends, having fun. But then I do get home sick quite alot because i’m quite family orientated

Q: Have you achieved anything in particular that your proud of?A: Getting a merit for my foundation, G.C.S.E results, my media c/w

Q: Is being a christian important to you? and why?A: Yes, because I have faith in what the bible teaches, I try and pray and lead my life to the way god wants us to lead it

Q: Do you feel that there’s pressure?A: Yh, I do when you tell people your a christian they expect you to be perfect, or to be a certain way, but it’s like were all human at the end of the day, we all make mistakes, but I try to be as much as a good christian as I can. But obviously you slip up

Q:Whose the closest person to you and why?A: My mum, because I see her as a friend but also as a role model. She is a strong and independant woman, which is what I consider myself to be too.

Video (stills) Ethnography

Interview/ Video Analysis

The interview which I conducted on my user allowed me to get an understanding of her personality and find deeper meanings to the way she lives her life. Being her housemate I had the advantage of knowing her daily routines and typical behaviour, however I didn’t understand fully where and how these had developed. I began with a variety of questions from different topics to cover a general overview and then developed them to get a better insight on the reasons behind the things she does. I learnt from both the video and one to one interview that karina is a very family orientated and is very religious. I noticed that she regularly reffered back to her christian faith, which indicated that she is quite reliant and passionate about what the bible teaches. Faith in God was without a doubt strong however I discovered through the interview that she lacked faith in herself and the work she produced. She mentioned she may reffer to herself at times as her own worst critic, but inturn this lack of self belief caused her to lose confidence. Although this may not seem ‘christian’ like, she replaced her lack of self belief with her passion for christianity. She considers herself to be a moral human being in this society and admits to her sins, however it was others sins who played a bigger role in her life than her own. As her mother and father are separated she has learnt to be independant and has grown from it, thus ena-bling her to accept the separation. From the separation she spends more time with her mum as she lives with her and has formed a very close mother, daughter relationship. However she feels like there is a role reversal when her mother makes quick judgments or hasty decisions in her life. This then leads to a common dissagreement, which the both later resolve. The relationship Karina has with her mother implied that she often feels resposible for not just her younger sibling but also her parents. This explains her stressed attitude and mood swings as it seems she takes on more than she can handle. I also feel that her faith plays a large role in her ‘need’ to help everyone and always make the right decisions. The interview was insightful and relevant to my user development. Although I gained alot of knowledge on the behind scenes of her fam-ily life I still felt that I had yet covered her opinions on my analysis. Therefore I later conducted an interview based on my interpretations of this former interview.

Why did you chose these to share on facebook? What do these pictures mean to you?

It was my 17th birthday and is my most upto date picture of me and my brother. It was a nice sum-mer day and it was special because my brother was round when at the time he wasn’t living with us.

This was at the 02 and we went nandos. It was like a reunion because it wasold friends from my church .I chose this because these are the two closest friends of mine and it was a special day for all of us..

I put this up on the anniversary of her death. It is speacial to because she was a close friend who died in car crash. Its the only picture I have of both of us and reminds me of her. It makes me appreciate my life.

This was after my college oscars, i went to support my friend. After we went to our nearby tesco and all bought galaxy . We all had that in common and were having fun. It was a fun day and we felt to be silly.

I took this at my friends laptop at her uni. I took one of myself and ended up liking it so I thought I’d upload it on facebook.. I chose to share this because I like the colour effect and how it made me look.

This was before we went out to my friends birth-day. it was a nice picture of me and my house-mate and I liked the pose I was doing. It shows our closeness and reminds of night to remember.

Interview with YewandeQ: How do you know Karina?A: She is my foolish housemate and friend and classmate

Q: How would you describe Karina?A: Bubbly, stressed at time, someone you can talk to

Q: Whats your most memorable moment with her and why?A: Late night snack sessions, because the’re funny and we watch random video clips online till late

Q: How do you see karina’s desired future?A: I think karina is on a journey of discovery, through finding herself and religion

Q: What’s karinas favourite game?A: Fall down on her blackberry

Q: What do you have most in common with karina?A: We both love to eat food, anything goes

Q: Why do you think she gets stressed?A: Time managment pressure

Q: What is she addicted to?A: Her christian radio

Q: What’s the funniest story karinas told you?A: She sneezed and her granma come and splashed her with water. and she was in shock and asked her mum why her granma did that and it was apparently to get rid of the bad spirits

Q: What’s her popular phrase she says?A: “you know rightt”

What does this mean to you, Why do you chose to communicate through facebook?

I thought it was a good way of communicating to everyone, as everyone has facebook. It also allowed us to socialise and update people on weekly meetings. I can upload scriptures and quotes from the bible which may help them or something which they can relate to. I made the page because I thought it was a good way of letting people know that we exist. I put the logo up to represent our profile and will be able to know it is the same one as the uni posters. I also intend to upload a timetable so people know what they are attending and the subjects that will be brought up in order for people to think about it before hand and maybe bring more ideas or questions to talk about. It helps the members feel like they are part of something and can interact online with a group which they can relate to.

Hypermedia Ethnography

Why do you use facebook? How do you view it? Do you think it does justice to presenting your

identity? Do you often update/use it? What do you think about the layout?

I use facebook to see how friends are doing and communicate with friends that I don’t speak to on the phone as much. I see it as a nice way of sharing things like pictures, communicating. Sometimes I see it as something selfexpression, and personal but sometimes it can get too personal and unecessary. I went through a phase of posting quotes and scriptures on my wall as I wanted to share them with friends and wanted people to comment on them. I don’t feel like I’m a photogenic person, and so i don’t think my pictures do me justice. I also don’t update my status often so I see myself as mysterious. I don’t think its a good predition of myself because I personally think I come across different through facebook and pre-fer to get to know someone through other means such as meeting up. I update my christian union page more than my facebook as I feel resonsible as the leader to post up quotes, and notices for those who attend it. I want them to see that I am reliable and take it se-riously. It is also a way for me to express my faith which I enjoy doing. I don’t prefer the new layout of fcebook were you can see tagged photos on the top as it is quite personal. I do like the fact that it shows pictures of my friends and reminds me sometimes of the people I’ve lost touch with. This makes me not only think about my memories with them but also encourages me to write a com-ment and get back in touch with them. I would’nt say I was addicted to facebook but I do think its something everone should have as a means on communicating and keeping in touch with old friends.

Facebook Comments/ BBM status’

I was refering to my macbook in this status. I called it my baby because I paid for it from my own money which I earned and cherish it. Its some-thing mine which I’ve been waiting so long to own.

On this day I went to epsom baptist church and I was really happy and on that day as I found out another girl wanted to start up a christian union like me. I heard she went to my uni and later realised she was on my course. It felt like god wanted me to go and find that out and he had a plan for me to organise this for people. It was a very happy day for me and when I have a good day I tend to thank god and this time I wanted to share it with people on my facebook.

This shows that karina enjoys spreading the word and making her faith known to those connected to her on facebook. It is a comfort and preference of hers to pub-lisize her happy emotions through hypermedia. She clearly gets satisfaction from letting others know her strong love and appreciation in God and what he does.

This is one of the most up to date pictures of my family. It was a special day as I don’t often dress up in indian wear and me and my mum matched.My mum and brother are the closest to me.

I chose to put god is gracious and i believe god is in control and if he didnt help me get a job I woulnd’t of been able to afford my ‘baby’ macbook.

How do you feel about your google profile? what are your opinions on anyone being able to see this?

Its abit scarey and I dont really like david phillips so I dont appreciate it being the first thing that represents me. However I understand that I have no control over what is exposed on the internet and I know I am not the only victim in this. I think altough this is the only infomation other people can view there is much more that someone could find out about me or anyone through the internet. I just hope that in the near future there will be more privacy and security on this infomation and con-trol over what we allow others to view on google. I dont think this google profile is a realistic and valid representation of me but it is all that google can gather from blogs or work i have posted up online. Therefore I can not complain too much as it is only minor work pieces and false infomation.

Home Church

I told my user to take a few photos of her home enviroment and safe place. She de-cided to tke photos of her church at home which she regularly visits and has many friends who join her. The girls in the pic-tures are a few from her youth group which is where she socialises and prays. She feels that this is her safe place as she is used to the surroundings and is gods home. The envi-roment is also quite fun and energetic as it is dedicated to young teens who gather to relate to one another and share their beliefs. They also play both church music and of their preference to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere. She has been to many churches and has explained that every church has a different approuch to services and this home church is one which she feels allows her to be herself and interact. I also acknowledge the architecture of the gates and windows as they are all traditional visuals of the church and christianity.

C.U Meeting: What does this mean to you?

These photos are from one of our c.u meetings which we lead on mondays. As you can see it was very successful as were the rest that fol-loweded and each time new faces were intro-duced. This c.u means alot to me and rebecca who is my fellow c.u leader. We both felt a strong urge to create a christian union group for the university as we not only felt it would benefit us but also felt it would be a great way to spread gods words to those in need of help or guidence. We discuss many issues which we

all may or may not have experienced yet and share our opinions on the matter. We reffer to gods teachings and try to find the right and moral way to overcome obstacles we meet daily. This enables us to help one another but also be moral supporters for eachother. Some-times we find it hard to relate to those who do not believe in god which is why is nice to speak and discuss certain issues with believers. We try to make it a relaxed enviroment by holding it the student union room and also providing

snacks and drinks. It usually lasts an hour but often extends as we get thoroughly into our topics. At the end of each meeting we pray either for in-dividual issues or for general issues brought up in the meeting. I hope and pray that this c.u is successful and that it has and will help alot of people to develop their faith in god and do right in the world.

Photographic Ethnography Analysis

Biblical quote which she feels strongly about. She has written them on pink post it notes for decorational purposes as well as a reminder to herself.

She has stuck up photographs of events and general gatherings with friend which she enjoys to be remind-ed of. The people in the photos are all of close friends or family which show her caring side.

Her plate and work on her bed imply that she feels comfortable in her room and views it as a place to relax rather than an office or serious enviroment.

Her rosery suggests that she prays regularly and reinforces the fact that her faith plays a large role in her life.

Her pink bed covers and everything else pink not only display her obvious love of pink and her girly side but also imply that she may still like to feel like a little girl rather than a grown up. The teddy also symbolises her childhood and her not letting go.

Documenting Real World/ Daily Activities

Ethnography Analysis

Daily utensiles, such as her make up, toothbrush, hair brush all im-ply that she takes care of her pres-entation and likes to have a routine.

Cards from her baptism stuck up to remind her of such a great event which changed her life and was a step closer to god.

Regularly listerns to her christian radio and is a daily routine of hers.

Desk implys she does her work and is quite organ-ized.

Her favourite quote above her sink which she visits every morning. She needs to be re-mindined every morning of her strength. However, ironically she still lacks self-belief and confidence.

Opinion Sampling ResultsDiwani Ramakrishnan(GDNM student/friend)

“I think its a great metaphor of Karinas life as I also know she struggles with personal dilemmas and obstacles.”

Yewande (GD student/housemate)“I love the Maze, its so fun to walk though and read the quotes on the walls. Karina will deffinately relate to this enviroment”

Rebecca West (GD student/c.u leader)“Although I havn’t known Karina long I know she will love the reference to god through the quotes and the idea that she has to work towards a final destination”

Isabella Groves (GD student/ friend)“The enviroment is pink! she will enjoy interacting with all the obstacles and closing doors”

John Mensah (Brother)“Karina will like the enviroment because it is based on her finding her way through life and overcoming obstacles she meets. She will be able to relate to it and will enjoy the sounds of cheering when she accomplishes and gets to the end.

Karamat GDNM student“I like the maze and the structure of how you have to find your way to the middle. the journey is quite entertaining and metaphorical of a users personality.”

Aloy (GDNM student)“I like the face that the walls are animated which make it interesting for the user walk under. I also like the celebration at the end which makes you feel like you’ve won.”

Calvin (GDNM student)“Its an adventurous enviroment, maybe their can be more sounds and textures on the floor for the user.”

Opinion AnalysisGathering these samplings from people allowed me to un-derstand how the enviroment is seen and operated by a user. The comments were mixed but overall positive. However elements which were brought up such as sound, speed and texture will all be adjusted in order to meet expectations. I think that my users were satisfied with the enviroment and saw it as a game rather than a general visual representation. This reassured me that there was enough level of motivation due to my choice of structure. Although the visual meta-phors were difficult for the users to figure out, I know that my targeted user (karina) will be able to indentify them and relate to the pathway which she travels through.

Dhruvi (friend of creator)“its hard to control because of the speed but when you get the hang of it, its ok”

Further Interview...What are your personal struggles?My self confident, I still lack in some areas, such as in myself, my appearance. I can be insecure about my weight and I tend to compare myself to other people. I think thats why I buy so much clothes, to make myself feel better pysically. When I look nice, I feel like it helps my confidence.

Do you find that you are met with faith challenges?I get angry easily because I shouldn’t let it get to me so much. I know what I believe and if I truely believe that then I shouldn’t get so worked up.

What are they? and how do they make you feel?When people challenge my faith it just makes me want to express it more. Thats probably why I started the christian union, because I want people to see how i am committed. I guess you cant make everyone believe what you believe so its kust accepting that.

What are your opinions on other christian interpretations of the bible?It upsets me that there are so many different outlooks on it, I think if were all christians were all ment to believe in the same things, but then again were all people and people have different opinions. I dont agree with some of the things some christians say, because I believe in the bible and take it quite literally whereas some dont. I believe im truely christian now rather than before when it was just a weekly routine with the family, I wasnt passionate about it, but now its different.

Do you feel like there are some questions you can’t answer as a christian? how do you feel about this?Yh, because only God knows everything, and we only know what we read or what’s been told to us. Personally I dont know the bible like the back of my hand, but I’m still reading it, so I dont know everything that’s been said. And I think we can’t always answer everything, some things will always be un-questionable , that why we have faith, if we knew everything there would be no point in faith because everyone would have the answers.

Do you think that there will be a time you will have an answer or are you satisfied with not ever knowing the answer?I feel like I’m getting better, the more I read the Bible the more I listen to my Christian radio, the more I’m learning about my faith, and it prepares me on how to answer difficult questions. Theres only so much you can tell people, if they dont have faith then you cant force it on them. There is a confrence in the summer I want to go to which talk about answering tough questions, which will be good towards my C.U aswell.

On a scale from 1-10 how christian are you? (strict wise)Its quite hard. I believe I’m a true christian now because I’m certain I believe in God and Jesus being the son of God. Each day is like a daily process, I would say that im a 10 in the sense that I truely believe there is a God and there no doubt about that, but the whole strict christian, people might not see me as one because I go out and drink. But I dont think thats whats being a christian is about, and theres not where in the bible that says you cant, but as long as you have control and I believe I do.

Interview continued...Do you feel that your personal struggles affect the people around you? why and how?Yh, it makes me question why I’m handling them in a bad way and it hurts my family and friends because they dont like to see me like that. My mum gets quite upset alot , I don’t really share it with my dad, that im upset, to him im very happy karina so he doesn’t see this side of me and I think he wouldn’t know how to deal with it. I probably protect my dad from it because I dont feel I can relate to him like that, I don’t think anything he says would even comfort me. I feel to not bother letting him know when I’m down. Whereas with my mum, even though she does get upset I know that she can help me with what she says and comforts me alot more.

Do you consider it a christian thing to do by allowing your fustration to be shared with these people?No, thats why it upsets me so much because your character is ment to be christ like and yh Jesus did get angry at people but that was one time only, and he knew it was wrong. Im so glad that it happened because it shows that even Jesus got angry, he was human aswell. We just have to deal with these emotions, but I don’t think it’s christ like and thats why I pray that I will find a way to deal with it and try not to be angry as I am recently.

When did these emotional feelings start to get the better of you?I think as a child I grew up very timid and angry and I always held my emotions in instead of going to my parents. I also used to cry alot when I was angry, After my parents separation, the crying all the time turned to anger and I got very angry with my parents and I feel like I’ve forgiven them and that was really hard but I have. When I think back I dont get worked up, I just think thats wht happened and deal with it. But now its fustrations with myself. I have quite high expectations of myself.

What would you say triggers the majority of these emotions and why?Well recently it deffinately is my course and I think its because I spent all these years working towards it and now I’m stuggling and it doesn’t seem to be what I enjoy. When I doubt my ability it gets me down.

How does your faith help you get through this?I know it does because it gives me the motivation and purpose for life. Sometimes i think what am I doing on this course but then I think God has guided me through life, and when I look back everything I’ve done is for a reason and has got me to where I am.So I just think I’m here for a reason and purpose God wouldn’t want me doing something which I’m not ment to be doing.I feel like im not going to fail, yh im finding it hard but gods with me in this.

How do you aim to get out of this funk? And be in a happy place again?I wake up knowing I feel bad, and its because im thinking about it, and the more I think about the less I get out of it. Its just like a vicious circle. I just try to wake up and think, Its a new day I cant let it get to me and think its going to get better. The way i’ll get out of it is when I start believe in myself .

Things which trigger emotions/change in behaviour/ attitude/

change in personality/facial exp

Expresses strong belief against other peo-ple who try to make her doubt her faith.

Used to feel uneasy about not knowing how to answer some difficult question on her reli-gion but is not satisfied and happy with what she knows.

Finds communicating her belief hard to do in words, more of a frame of mind.

Ethnography Analysis

Smiling when she talks about her faith, she obviously speaks with passion and certainty.

When talking about her mum and both of their relationship, she seemed to be in her comfort zone. Unlike talking about her faith it was more natural.

After letting her listern to her-self, she mentioned that she didn’t like the way she sound-ed and was quite embaraced.

Shocked when she sees other people doing wrong such as girls disrespecting their own body by revealing too much.

User Testing

What did you think of the enviroment and how it represented you?Did you enjoy interacting with it and why?

I loved the enviroment, it made me curious and anticipate what was go-ing o come next. I enjoyed reading the quotes on the walls and waiting for them to move up to quickly run through. It was a fun enviroment which i think represents my personality. The colour scheme is pink and girly which is an obvious link to me. I found it funny when I eventually got to the destination and liked that the clapping and stand reminding me of church. The gates which i entered were also very similar to the ones out-side my church which made me think I was entering heaven. I thoughrally enjoyed the journey of the enviroment and it represented me very well.

User Testing EvaluationThe user testing was successgful and my users reaction to the enviroment was what i intended. I do regret not including some more obvious visuals and materials which she could identify but the ones which i have included she noticed. The controling was still abit difficult and quick but she got used to it as she continued through the game. My user was very happy to see her quotes displayed as her faith means alot to her when making decisions in her life. I documented her reaction by taking photographs as she played. She related to the enviroment as a representation of her find-ing heaven and the destination was for her to visualize and interpret in her own way.