difficult Conversations

The below digitally ethnographic study sought to observe difficult conversations held by pairs of people who knew each other previous to their first on-screen interaction. Most platforms focus on romantic couples. The focus in this study zeroed in on participants in The { } And.

ROLES

In this space there are FACILITATORS, PARTICIPANTS, and SPECTATORS. Facilitators manage the content creation process, screen or recruit participants. Participants are the people having the conversations but sometimes they start as spectators. Spectators are the people watching on youtube, whether or not they subscribe to the channels the content is created on they are the ones who watch and become invested in the lives of the participants, especially, when it comes to repeat participants.

ACTIVITY

The activity was having difficult conversations. Difficulty being classified by the amounts of vulnerability, hesitation and emotion being conveyed by the body language, tone and words of the participants. Actors with different roles had different activities at the 3-key points in the content publishing process: prescreen, on screen, off screen. Pre screen is any time before the camera is rolling and the participants are on stage. On screen can be the time when the participants are in the facilitators fabricated environment and having the conversation. It also describes time when people access this moment in time after the fact by watching the content on YouTube. Off screen time is any time post production for the facilitators and participants. It’s anytime after watching for spectators.

SPACE

Youtube. Yes, all of youtube, but the focus of this study was narrowed to one series on one channel. The conversations that inspire, while compelling, are difficult in a way that is obvious to all users involved. These are all series or shows that have been created by entertainment media companies. BBC is known for its television networks; Iris is part of the same media company that publishes WIRED, GLAMOUR, VOGUE, Vanity Fair and The NEW YORKER; Soul Pancake is the digital subsidiary to Participant Media produces films and physical media that targets "conscious consumers." The channel is called The Skin Deep outside of being a youTube content creator they are a, “ a creative studio and publisher.” They are a company that focuses on “human connection in the digital age.”

DEFINE “DIFFICULT”

There were some distinctions that had to be made early on between what was going to count as a “conversation” and how to classify “difficult.” There is a lot of click bait about conversations between strangers. This opened up too many possibilities as to why the conversation was difficult to participants so that was eliminated. The conversations had to be between people who had an existing relationships. Because difficulty is hard to gauge, the metrics of difficulty were more so about how the difficulty was presented or reveled. Shows like BBC 3's "Eating with my Ex", Iris's "Why did you cheat?" and Soul Pancake's "In Love or Not" focus on the confrontational emotions, conflict, and interactions between 2 people after the fact.