User-exemplar
(Digital Photography, London South Bank University)
(Simetra Moonites)
Prior experience on SL
Simetra has never used SL before she joined the project. Before she thought that SL was just a game
and it was designed for social purpose so that people can meet and chat on SL.
“First I thought it was a kind of game only. It’s only for social, meeting other people,
chatting…”
Recently, Simetra heard about SL from a lecturer of her that people use SL for business, conference
and symposia. Simetra is very interested in these aspects of SL.
“We had Journalist culture industry with her… she also told me about different dimensions
of that. Some people using for businesses, conferences and symposia.”
“I actually heard lots of about SL before this project. We had this lesson about Journalist, our
lecturer, she said that she used it quite often for conference of this kind of stuff, symposia,
and I think this part of SL is quite interesting.”
Engagement with SL activities
Virtual exhibition & gallery
Simetra thought that SL offered a virtual place for displaying work much more freely and easily than
in real life. One of the reasons was that she wouldn’t worry about the space in SL.
“I think it will be quite different from the real life that you couldn’t actually be much more
freely and easily in real life, you would have to think about where to put on, on the wall or
on the space, in SL you don’t need to worry.”
“Again you don’t have to worry about the space, so just move much more freely…if you
actually think about space, it’s much more difficult to take the photo, but if you don’t think
about it, you have just endless possibility about taking the photos from different angle,
much bigger than in real life.”
“Yes, I think so, exhibition or all this stuff sounds so good actually because you can exhibit
your work without a place, you just putting these on a computer and you can actually walk
like in a gallery, so it’s like a place for exhibit.”
Development & creation in SL
Simetra thought that SL offered great potential for developing and creating things.
“Definitely it’s bigger. You’re more free, you can do whatever you want. It’s not limited to
anything.”
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Exploring different techniques in taking photos in SL
Simetra enjoyed the opportunity to explore different techniques in taking digital photos in SL.
“But I like the possibility that you don’t actually need to go to the subject to take the photo
from the subject, you can be like kilometres away and just zoom in, and later you can just
adjust the camera, which actually, like in real life when you have to take the photo, you have
to stand in the right position, to ask the subject to move to the right position to frame the
picture, but they’re just to move the camera, not to move our avatar at all.”
She thought it was much easier to take photos in SL than in real life. One of the reasons was to do
with the copyright issue that in SL people had more chance to take photos of the other avatars
without being noticed.
“I have to speak to the real person, ask them to pose for me, while in SL I don’t need to
because if I took the photo from far away, they are unaware of this at all… but in the real
life, when you’re coming close to a real person, they would definitely notice actually taking
photos from them, so it’s more like discussion and asking for permission.”
Another reason was that SL offered techniques that people can take the photo from different angles,
whereas those angles were not usually possible in real life.
“I think it would be much much more difficult because…. after a while when you taking
photos, you brain started thinking in the directions how to take the photo in real life. If you
starting using SL for taking photos, you might get used to the idea of different angles that
you actually don’t [have in real life], ‘oh, yeah, I can take the picture of this person from
above’, but in real life you can’t do that, so might be some kind of confusion.”
Simetra still preferred to take photos in real life. However, she wished she could take all the
techniques offered by SL to real life.
“But I still prefer to take photos in real life, if I could have this technology which is in SL in
real life…”
Group discussion & negotiation in SL
Simetra thought that her experience of the group discussion and decision-making process was quite
unusual in SL. She thought that the decision-making could have been done much easier in real life
because they were talking to the real people.
She also thought that they would have discussed more in real life. She felt that people argued and
negotiated less when the discussion was happening online.
Simetra felt that the whole SL environment made her feel less personal compared to real life. She
felt disconnected with her avatar and other avatars. The disconnection made her discuss less to
other avatars and care less about the decisions and outcomes of their group task. She felt that she
was more connected with people in real life, and therefore want to talk to them more.
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Another challenge Simetra perceived was that the group discussion was through text. She thought
that writing was more difficult than talking. It took more time in putting what she wanted to say in
text. Sometimes she gave up easily if the discussion was through text, whereas she would always
discuss and negotiate more in real life.
Simetra used Facebook to contact her friends a lot. She thought it was much easier to use text-based
tools on a one-to-one basis than on a group of people. On a one-to-one basis, both parties had equal
opportunities for input, whereas in a group setting, people had to compete for an opportunity to
speak. It was easier to get distracted because people were more likely to talk something off the
topic in group discussion. It was also difficult to make comment to different points through text.
Simetra also noticed that people changed topics quickly in group discussion through S. Sometimes
she felt that she couldn’t keep up with the discussion and gave up easily.
On the whole, Simetra said that she liked the possibility of not worrying about the space in SL, but
she would prefer discussion in real life.
Simetra’s personal experience on using SL for group discussion was captured in the cognitive map
below.
23 Discussion would
be more interesting
in real life
3 Discuss less
online (SL) ...
Discuss more in real
life
-
-
1 Group discussion
is unusual in SL
... Easier in real
life
10 I have less to
say in SL ... More
to say in real life
5 I don't really
care how the story
is going
4 SL is less
personal for me ...
Real life is
personal
6 I don't identify
myself so much with
my role in SL
9 I don't have
connection with my
avatar
8 The avatar is not
me, but a digital
figure on the screen
14 I gave up easily
if the discussion is
through text
22 When I notice
something happening,
they've changed
topic
11 Writing is more
difficult ...
Speaking is esier
and straight away
19 It's difficult to
bring the topic back
12 It takes time in
putting what you
want to say in text
18 You're easily to
get distracted
20 It's difficult to
make the point in
responding to
different points
-
21 We're quicker in
group discussion in
SL
-
16 You're waiting
for the other to
answer when talking
to one person ...
People compete for
speaking in group
2 We don't see the
real people in SL
... We're talking to
the real people in
real life
17 You're on track
when talking to one
person ...
Discussion in a
group is easily to
go side-way
15 Talk to one
person through text
... Talk to a group
through text
7 Presence through
avatars
Presence through avatars
3
-
Simetra felt disconnected with her avatar and others’ avatars because she couldn’t see the real
person behind the avatar. She felt the avatars were just some digital constructed figures on the
screen. They were definitely not the real people. Even Simetra knew the others in the group in real
life, she still felt completely different talking to them in person and through their avatars. She
preferred to talk to them in real life.
Simetra observed that people still used a lot of smiley faces to express personal feelings in SL
because they can’t see each other’s facial expressions. She liked the gestures in SL to show personal
feelings to make SL resemble more of real life.
Simetra really tried different possibilities offered by SL and created her avatar completely different
from herself. In SL, she had red eyes, spiky hairs and features that she couldn’t have in real life. She
said that she would like to change the appearance of her avatar often if she stayed SL longer.
Simetra had this preconception that people would not behave themselves in SL. They would perform
as the person they really wanted to be. However, for this particular group of students, it seemed
that presence through avatars had a little impact on their identities. It wasn’t difficult for Simetra to
tell who the person was behind the avatar because she knew them in real life.
Sometimes she could tell who the person is behind the avatar simply from the appearance of the
avatar because some students created their avatars look exactly like themselves. Even some
students made their avatars differently, Simetra could still tell who the person was behind the avatar
easily because the personality of the person didn’t change.
Simetra’s personal view on identities through avatars was captured in the cognitive map below.
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28 SL is more about
performance, we're
all performing for
the person we want
to be
-
31 I preferred
talking to them in
real life
27 I don't have
connection with this
person on the
screen, we're
disconnected
30 I felt completely
different talking to
them in SL ... In
real life
41 It wasn't
difficult to tell
who the person is
behind the avatar
40 Most of them
stayed one person
very similar to
themselves
37 Some created
their avatars very
similar to how they
really look
-
-
26 I feel the avatar
is not me, but a toy
to play with
29 I know the people
in real life
33 Sometimes it can
be ambiguous in SL
42 Some played a
little and changed
their look often
-
25 It's more like
seeing some digital
constructed thing
24 I see the avatar,
but I can't see the
person behind their
avatar
36 To make SL
resemble very much
of real life
32 The avatar can't
see that you're
smiling when you're
making a joke
34 People add smiley
faces to say 'I'm
joking'
39 Some played with
the tools and tried
different
possbilities
35 I like gestures
in SL
Socialization in SL
Simetra talked to other students a lot in real life during the first two sessions in SL. She said that they
started in SL. If someone found an interesting place on SL, he or she would send teleport invitation
to the others. When they were end up in the same place, they started talking to each other in real
life. They also asked each other technical related questions in real life.
“Other people, somebody found a nice place, they invited me to them, so just teleport to
each other’s places sometimes.”
“When we actually teleport each other live, we were like, ‘oh, yeah, give me teleport, so just
come to my (place)’, almost something like that, or some questions, how to move avatar if I
wanted to, yeah, this kind of technical stuff.”
“Yes, but we started in SL, but chatting to each other in real life…For example, Evi was sitting
next to me, so I invited her to Poland, one of the cities…So we actually just combined the
writing in SL and talking to each other in real life.”
She tried once to start a conversation with the person next to her in SL, however, they soon gave up.
“I think once I tried to talk to Evi, but we gave up very quickly.”
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“I think I went to one place, and I told her just come over… but after a while we just finish
talking [in SL]”
“We started talking in SL… but after… she gets bored and I get bored, so starting doing
something else.”
Simetra felt that it was awkward to talk to each other through SL while sitting next to each other in
the same room. In such a physical setting, she always wanted to speak out in real life.
“I think when you sit next to each other, it’s actually quite awkward to use SL to talk than
actually talk to them who sit next to you, probably would be different having the
conversation through SL because we were like next to each other.”
“When we actually had in SL, I knew we’re in the same room, sometimes I just feel like, ‘oh,
yeah, I could just ask questions without [SL]’, when they answered the question, I had
additional question, I just more feeling like [ask the question in real life]…. Maybe if we, I’m
thinking, sitting in one room and use SL is difficult. I feel more like, being with another
person in one room, I feel more like using my voice…not through SL.”
She felt that it was easier and quicker to talk to the person next to you in real life instead of writing
the same message through text.
“Maybe it’s much quicker to actually tell her because she’s next to me. It was easier to talk
to her than actually writing the same thing…It’s just quicker.”
“If I know the person is not far from me, I prefer to communicate with the real person…If
they were sitting next to me, I prefer to tell and actually start talking instead of writing.”
Learning how to use SL
Learning basic skills
Simetra read through the training guide thoroughly. She followed the instructions step-by-step to
create an account, create an avatar and log in. When she was in SL and practised on basic skills, she
still referred to the guide a couple of times for further instruction.
“I used it before I actually log in to SL. I used this to check what I should do.”
“I think [I used it] quite a lot because first I check what it is all about, how should I log in,
later how to move around, which things forward. But later, when I actually log in to SL, I
used three times to help in SL.”
Simetra watched all the You Tube videos embedded in the training guide and found them very useful
in helping her getting on with the basic skills.
She thought that the training guide was very important for a beginner like her to know where to
begin with on SL.
“I think it’s quite useful. I’ll probably without this training guide, I wouldn’t know how to
enter SL and what to do, and for which purposes.”
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“Yeah, it’s good because it explained what it’s all about, the basic skills, later, of course you
can learn how to use SL, but it’s really good to have something [at the beginning]…”
Simetra also found that the face-to-face training session was very interesting and well prepared.
Difficulties in using SL
One of the challenges Simetra had was that her laptop had small memory and isn’t good enough for
SL. She tried to practise basic skills more on SL, however her laptop was slow and didn’t work very
well, so she had to give up.
Another difficulty she had was to search and find information that she really wanted. Simetra was
really interested in finding information in relation to conference and symposia rather than chatting
with people on SL. However, she found that she was easily to get into those places for fun and social
activities.
“I think it’s quite confusing because of so many different [places]…maybe because ours is
the first time, so I don’t know how to find information. Every time when I type something
in…I’m ending up in different [places]… it’s kind of interesting, and it’s more social kind of
meeting people…”
“All I heard about SL, except the dimension of social life, it has the dimension of businesses,
conference, symposia. I don’t know how to get there. Every time I type in something, I’m
having these places for fun. I’m not actually sure how weak the other dimensions are in SL,
maybe this is just for a start.”
“I didn’t actually spend lots of time…in this last session. Maybe like more than half an hour
later on, I did a lot of search from SL, but mostly, what I actually found was also different
kind of fun social activities.”
“Yeah, more than actually just chatting with people.”
Another difficulty she had experienced was to do with taking photos in SL by switching between the
keyboard and mouse.
“When I’m taking the photos, I found it difficult to actually using the keyboard at the same
time as the mouse because sometimes, it takes the photo to zoom in and zoom out, I have
to use the mouse, I couldn’t use the keyboard, so always press buttons somewhere.”
Simetra said that she learned about some short-cuts on the keyboard how to zoom in and out later
from the tutor, and that made things a bit easier for her.
“I had problems with the camera because I don’t know short-cut to zoom in and zoom out,
and I think it was quite…when I was taking photos, later Paula showed me a short-cut so it
was a bit easier, but still I don’t know short-cut for everything.”
At the beginning, Simetra found movement in SL was a bit daunting for her. But she got used to it
after spending some time in SL.
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“At the beginning, of course, so I just didn’t know how to move and all these stuff, I had
some problems with the move of the avatar, but I don’t think it’s very complicated, then if
you actually spend some time you can get used to. I think everybody has much less problems
with moving avatars and doing everything in our last session than at the beginning.”
On the whole, Simetra found her first experience in SL quite interesting. It was a completely new
experience for her because she had never used any 3-D games or immersive environments before.
“I think it’s interesting because of the whole SL that is something completely new for me.
I’ve never used any 3-D immersive games or anything like that before. So they were
something completely new for me.”
She thought that the basic skills were not too difficult for her to master.
“I think it’s all right. Because what you need is just the basic to move from one place to
another, so I don’t think it’s a problem.”
Even the development and creating a cube was not too difficult to do for her, especially being shown
how to do it by the trainer.
“They are only cubes, it’s quite easy, but when I look around SL, it was like quite different,
constructions are much much more difficult to create, and you probably need better skills to
do something like that. To create a cube was all right, especially there is explanation how to
do that.”
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