ANTHMETHGRP2-2425-YUSHU-LI

[Last modified: December, 4 2024 08:38 PM]

In the last tutorial, our group focused on Case 1—Women survivors of domestic abuse in Pakistan. Given the sensitive nature of conducting research in a refuge and the fact that participants are victims of domestic violence, we estimated this case exists high-risk issues.

First and foremost, formal consent must be obtained from the participants. Even though one participant was willing to share her experience of abuse and desired her story to be publicized in the local press, it is crucial to fully inform her, as well as any other participants who will be involved in interviews, about the research proposal and potential risks. For the subsequent research in the dissertation, the researcher must secure consent from interviewees each time, as consent given once does not validate ongoing or future engagements. Given the vulnerable status of the victims, their environment and attitudes can change at any time, making obtaining consent, especially in written format, essential for ensuring the security and privacy of both participants and the researcher.

The safety of participants and the researcher should be the top priority throughout the research process. Once the experiences of the victims are published in the local press, both the participants and the researcher could be at significant risk of attack or retaliation from the abusers. To minimize this risk, the researcher could seek support from NGOs and local governments. Comprehensive protection measures need to be established to safeguard their personal safety, including psychological counseling and necessary legal assistance. The refugee camp is only a temporary haven; they will eventually need to leave and return to normal life, so they should anticipate the potential risks in their future lives and seek protection.

Information published must be properly anonymized and stored in a password-protected environment. Even if participants express a strong desire to disclose their own information, researchers must be aware that revealing highly sensitive details such as names, ages, and physical appearances could put participants at serious risk, which conflicts with academic research ethics. Additionally, the abusers’ information also needs to be anonymized, and researchers must consider the legality of disclosing others’ identity information in the media.

Finally, researcher need to reflect on their own positionality and the power structure during the research process. Women who have suffered domestic violence are in a vulnerable position, and researcher must pay extra attention to show respect and understanding towards the participants in the interviews. At the same time, the research project needs to be approved by the ethics committee.

[Last modified: November, 27 2024 01:49 AM]

During my 15-minute field research, I visited a furniture store by the street, where I experienced a rich mix of sensory experiences. Walking along the street and looking through the glass storefront, I was drawn to the exquisite arrangements inside. The seemingly small shop was compactly filled with colorful furniture and an array of green plants of varying heights visible through the window.

I pushed the door open and was embraced by the fresh scent of wood and warm air, a pleasant contrast to the cold outside and the strong winds, making me happy to be enter in the warm indoors. Looking around, I saw a variety of furniture on display. In front of me was a sofa with an orange tree and flower embroidery, behind which was a storage rack adorned with potted plants, and beyond that, a plain-colored sofa. The store was not large, but it was filled with all manner of sofas, beds, tables and chairs, shelves, and floor-standing clothes racks. The wall space was well-utilized with shelves built into the walls, displaying a variety of storage boxes, cushions, vases, scented candles, decorative crafts and hot air balloon-shaped lights hung from the ceiling. However, such arrangements did not make one feel overly crowded. Every corner was reasonably used, and spaces were left between the neatly arranged furniture for people to walk through and admire.

There were about a dozen customers in the store. Some were casually sitting on sofas and beds to rest, while others stood by the shelves against the walls, carefully selecting items from the racks, all appearing leisurely and at ease. I noticed the music playing in the store seemed to have no fixed style; one song was a cheerful Spanish tune, and the next was light music filled with Christmas atmosphere, yet both fitting the casual vibe of the store. The music in the store is not noisy, it does not overpower the soft conversations of people, and I noticed that the customers in the store seem to deliberately lower their voices when speaking; everyone tacitly does not want to break the peaceful atmosphere of the store.

The multimodal approach to anthropological research has given me an unprecedented experience. I have never paid such attention to the various details of the environment, and I would not consciously pay attention to sounds and smells. However, under the guidance of multimodal methods, I consciously paid attention to everything around me. My senses were amplified, and I felt a richer experience and a deeper impression of my surroundings, discovering more information that is easily overlooked.

[Last modified: November, 19 2024 11:48 PM]

Standing at the entrance of Regent’s Park, we realized that coming to visit the park in such cold weather was not a wise decision. After walking for about ten minutes from the subway station, my body already felt stiff. It was sunset, and the sky was tinged with a hazy yellow and pink, giving a sense of warmth, but it was an illusion; the actual temperature was only 9 degrees Celsius. I was wearing short sleeves, a thin coat, and flip-flops, and every gust of wind made me want to retreat. I realized that perhaps I should have stayed at home today.

Walking from the park’s main gate, the ground was covered with fallen leaves. These leaves were no longer golden yellow but had turned into completely withered brown, crunching underfoot. As far as the eye could see, the trees were bare, and the flowers in the flower beds had wilted but not completely fallen, still displaying many colors. However, the reds, yellows, and purples all seemed to be covered with a layer of gray. Upon closer inspection, there was no longer any fragrance to smell. My friend and I both felt disheartened. We talked about how, if we had come here a month earlier, we would have seen a vibrant and colorful scene, but now in late autumn, all that awaited us was this scene of decay.

Following the sound of trickling water, we made our way to the riverbank, which was dotted with ducks and geese, as well as groups of people. I recognized a type of goose that was introduced on the park’s signboard as Egyptian geese. As I approached, the geese, sensing they were being chased, let out shrill cries and splashed into the water. The slow waddling of the geese along the shore and the presence of people added some vitality to the declining park.

As we wandered through the park, immersed in nature, I could feel my sensory experiences were heightened. The sight of the sunset was awe-inspiring, the sight of the withered plants was disheartening, the sound of the flowing water sparked curiosity, the chase of the geese brought joy, and the cold that permeated the entire journey. In the cold and quiet environment, the sensory experiences brought complex emotional responses. Every detail was noticed, and I think this is precisely the joy of visiting a park.

[Last modified: November, 13 2024 12:52 PM]

[Last modified: October, 30 2024 12:50 PM]

While wandering the streets, I noticed a garden surrounded by stone walls with a small gate in front. Through the gate, lush trees, winding paths, and a few people strolling came into view. This garden creates a serene space in the bustling city, allowing people to enjoy a moment of tranquility amidst their busy lives. Entering the garden, I was pleasantly surprised to find a coffee kiosk tucked away in a corner by the stone walls. I was amazed by the perfect blend of natural and humanity—it’s clear that people come here not just for coffee. Scattered in front of the kiosk, people waited in line with smiles on their faces, chatting and laughing, reluctant to leave even after getting their coffee. Most of these people were students taking a break between classes, thoroughly enjoying the leisure the garden offered during their wait for coffee. Beside the kiosk, along the winding stone path, there were several tables and chairs. I observed that everyone sitting there was engrossed in their own activities. At one table, a man and a woman, who seemed like a couple, were working on laptops, typing away and occasionally exchanging a few words. At another table, a middle-aged woman, with a phone pressed to her ear, was talking loudly in a language I couldn’t understand, her face beaming with joy. The third table had two women who appeared to be students, energetically conversing and gesturing with their hands. On the other end of the cafe is a row of benches, some people were deep in thought, while others were simply enjoying the beautiful scenery of the park. Occasionally, squirrels could be seen hopping through the grass, adding liveliness to the tranquil park.

This coffee kiosk in the corner of the park can be seen as a perfect constructed environment, an exchange of space and scenery, inviting people to move their work outdoors, blending nature and productivity. People are willing to stay here, chat with friends, talk on the phone, or just grab a coffee and go, as this place offers a space for a brief escape from life’s annoying. The build environment in this city is vividly reflected in every corner, with parks, flowerbeds, cafes, and benches everywhere, fully embodying ecological balance and human well-being, harmoniously blending architecture with nature. In this city,  urban architecture is not just a functional display, but more about the harmony and fusion between humans and nature.

[Last modified: October, 25 2024 12:53 AM]

My proposed pilot project revolves around k-pop fans online engagement activities, it is expected to explore the production and consumption activities they engage in various online platforms and investigate the motivations and effects of doing so. Production content includes text, images, audio and video materials, and consumption activities is about fans’ interaction within online communities, interact with fan-created materials and material consumption like purchase idol peripheral merchandise.

I’m a Chinese female in mid-twenties who belongs to the mainstream audience of k-pop culture. As a k-pop culture lover myself, I dedicated five years in star-chasing activities in my life, so it is hard to say I didn’t have any bias towards this topic. For me, participating in online star-chasing activities has become an integral part of my daily routine. About three hours a day, I will spend on digital platforms like Weibo, Instagram and bilibili, browse the latest news about my favorite idols, interact with other fans in the communities, click” like” or “repost” under other fan-created content and buy material products like albums, photocards and dolls. These activities has been totally positive for me, I have master the skills about edit videos, design posters, made friends with other fans, and I also obtained emotional value within this process, especially during times of stress and depression. However, I’m well aware though that this opinion is not common, nor is it even of the majority. I clear know that fan behavior is often stigmatized, and in the view of older generation and even some of my peers, it can be described as crazy, ridiculous and even stupid.

When considering any positionality on my research project of fans online engagement activities, several key considerations need to be included. The fan base of k-pop idols is dominated by east Asian females, more than 90 percent of those who engage in online interactions or consume material products are young females below 25. Therefore, the information I gathered will also be from the perspective of young East Asian women, which means my intercalators will be very limited in terms of age and gender. And as a young female fan myself, it is necessary to be careful not to incorporate personal sentiments and group bias into my research. Furthermore, my nationality as a Chinese, special network censorship needs to be addressed. Due to the Great Firewall in China, people cannot access to western digital platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, this will lead to the information I collected is mainly about fan activities on Chinese digital platforms. A fair complete and relatively closed fan ecosystem has been formed on Chinese digital platforms. Fortunately, Chinese platforms have a huge base and rich research resources, so maybe I should focus my research on a certain Chinese platform in China.

[Last modified: October, 15 2024 01:03 AM]

After a brief interview with three k-pop fans, they told me that Weibo is the platform they most frequently use to engage in online star-chasing activities. In addition, Red, Bilibili, Twitter, Instagram, Douyin are also the platforms they often use. They gave me the reason why they list Weibo as first priority, Weibo has perfect fan communities, usually hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans gather in one community, with a wealth of resources, including images, videos, songs related to their favorite k-pop idols. Furthermore, there are also lots of engagement activities held by fans, such as poster design, control comments (kongping), anti-malicious activities (fanhei). Almost all forms of online engagements activities are included, so I chose Weibo to start my participatory observation.

Firstly, I browsed several Weibo Supertopic, which can be considered a kind of online fan community, usually named after a certain k-pop idol or idol group, with a large number of fans share content relates to this certain idol or idol group. Supertopic is managed by administrators and hosts, who are also members of fans. I have observed that, for Supertopic communities, whether they have millions of fans or just thousands of fans, they are well-constructed. Different communities have different content sections, one Supertopic usually includes 5-15 content sections, mainly about posts, trend, creators, offical resources, fan-created resources, fancam videos, online chat room and albums. For example, here are some screenshots of homepage in Supertopic about k-pop idol or idol group, it is clear that each Supertopic has various content sections and multiple content.

Another interesting finding is that the fans in Supertopic are keen to improve their level in Supertopic. They usually get points by signing in, liking, commenting and reposting the posts in Supertopic. Meanwhile, they can also gain points from post their own contents and get other fans interaction. When they enter certain level, they are qualified to apply for managers and hosts in Supertopic, and will get vitual bandge of honor as rewards. Within fans group, there are clear hierarchical distribution, higher level can be seen as more love and time they devote into their idol, and when they undate posts, they are more likely to acquire other fans’ interaction.

What makes me feel strange is that Weibo, as a social media platforms, users are mainly located in China, has such a huge fan base of k-pop stars in Supertopic community, and the fans carry out some spontaneous engagement activities, forming a set of independent hierarchical structure and sound content production and posting system, while the k-pop idols they follow are completely not involved in the whole process. Therefore, in the future research, I tend to explore their motivations for online engagement activities through in-depth interviews.

[Last modified: October, 6 2024 05:49 PM]

Topic:

Female Kpop Fans Online Engagement: the Self-expression, Production and Consumption on social media platform

Research Background:

Kpop culture has a wide influence on Asia, and the fan base is dominated by young women, mainly in South Korea, China and Japan. With the emergence of various social media platforms, fans can be seen on all digital platforms to carry out some online engagement behaviors based on star-chasing, as a subculture group, they have unified values and behavior patterns. Star-chasing has become a way of life, fans show continuous creativity and cohesion in their online engagement behavior, and participating in the process of content production and production is also a way of self-expression.

Research Question:

1. What leads to the active online self-expression, production and consumption behaviors of k-pop female fans? What are their psychological motivations?
2. What social media platforms do female k-pop fans prefer to use for engagement online star-chasing? What specific features do these platforms meet their needs?
3. What online self-expression, production and consumption activities do k-pop female fans engage in?
4. How do fans build, maintain their online communities? How do they interact with each other within their communities?
5. How do these online engagement behavior in turn impact on themselves and society?

Methods

1. Online Participant Observation: an essential method to perceive and analyze k-pop fans behavior, explore their identity recognition and transformation as creators, expressers, consumers by interpreting the online content they create, publish, consume and observing the interaction among fans group. I will join the communities of k-pop fans on social media platforms to participate in commenting and interacting with relevant engagement activities, and observe how other fans give feedback.
2. Content Analysis: Analyze the texts, images, videos created by fans on social media platforms, focusing on the theme, language, style and other visual and auditory elements, classify and analyze the features of these contents.
3. In-depth interviews: select 5-10 k-pop female fans with different age group and nationalities to conduct interview, investigate their motivations for engaging in online star-chasing activities, their choice of social media platforms, the way they interact with other fans, the process of their self-identity and self-expression, and how they feel about engaging in these activities.
4. Case Study: choose representative engaging fan behaviors to conduct in-depth research, such as “Super Topic” in Weibo (a Chinese social media platform), which is a collective community for fans, to explore k-pop fans behaviors, and “Kongping”（controlling comments) under Hot Search topic, as well as topics on Tik Tok named in k-pop idols, to observe fans content production and consumption.

Potential Findings:

1. The motivation for fans online engagement should be their high infatuation for k-pop idols, star-chasing satisfy their emotional needs. On the other hand, the limitation of time, geography distance or expense make them lack the opportunities to interact with their idols offline, so online engagement activities can serve as an alternative.
2. In the process of online engagement, k-pop fans get opportunities to express their personality and find identity, and the sense of belongings can be enhanced when they engage in group fan activities.
3. The content of fan production includes text, image, video and various forms, fans are both producers and consumers. Online consumption includes content consumption and material consumption, and some fans purchase idol peripheral products like albums, photocards, photobooks, stuffed toys.
4. The influence can be multifaceted, it should be analyzed critically. Fans online behavior is often considered as crazy and ridiculous due to the bad social impacts of some previous events. Excessive engagement might have harmful impacts on individuals, especially for younger fans, whose behavior need to be counseled and corrected.

[Last modified: October, 1 2024 05:57 PM]

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