At the project kickoff meeting, we held a brainstorming session with our correspondents from Linden Lab in order to determine the common areas of interest. We created an affinity diagram and derived focus questions from the dominant categories within the diagram to guide our research and solution. From our affinity diagram, we derived three foci:
- What do I do now?
- How do I socialize with people in virtual communities?
- How do I shape my identity/identities in virtual communities?
What do I do now?
This question underlines the lack of direction new Residents experience and the difficulty they encounter when attempting to locate activities.
How do I socialize with people?
This question directs our research to the social aspects of Second Life and to communication's unique manifestation within the virtual framework.
How do I shape my identity/identities?
This question focuses our attention on the relationship between Residents' real life identities and the identities of their avatars, compelling us to consider the various aspects of these identities that users are willing to share and to identify those they wish to remain unknown.