My main focus for my DA is to analyse the ‘living big in tiny homes’ community. Throughout my project I aim to understand:
- Why do certain people follow the tiny house movement? (Educational purposes, entertainment, aesthetics, lifestyle dream/goal etc.)
- Does the community become a lot more involved based on the medium the content is delivered on? (YouTube vs. T.V shows)
- Does the community shun bigger builds? Do they prefer the more simplistic designs? Are tiny homes moving away from their intended purpose and becoming more of a trend than a lifestyle choice? How does the community feel about this?
- Why is the tiny home phenomenon so popular?
- Is there a certain age group that my media niche appeal to? (Older more than younger? vice versa?)
- Is the content the host are portraying realistic? Or are they glamourising the idea of tiny home and tiny living to encourage their audience to become more involved?
These are just a few of the many points I aim to touch on in my research. Through the research process I aim to find out not only more about the ‘Living Big in a Tiny Home’ community but about the tiny home community as a whole. This will assist me when creating my final DA (Video Essay), as I’ll also be touching on audience accessibility and interaction in my video essay. By completing this research, I will be able to give the community an explanation as to why tiny homes are so appealing to a wide variety of people. It is my aim to understand the draw and appeal to others like myself.
My research will be completed in the form of an auto-ethnographical research study. An ethnographical research is defined as “a methodology for studies of cultures and peoples, with the assumption that they have something in common” (Smith, Sobolewska & Turner, 2009, p. 1). However, auto-ethnographical research is a qualitative method of researching, where the researcher is able to draw on personal experiences, interpretations and self-reflection in order to fully amerce oneself into the community they’re studying (Wall, 2006, p. 4). This type of research is important as “Autoethnography” …introduces a whole new way of pursuing social knowledge” (Wall, 2006, p. 4).
Target Audience
The target audience I have in mind for my research are people who are interested in creating content related to tiny homes. Throughout my research I’m going to be diving into the audience’s reactions to certain things such as:
- Background music
- Language used
- Aesthetics of videos
- Flow of conversation between the owner and the presenter – (Does it give a more authentic feeling, when the owner is talking about their build?)
- Facts and statistics presented throughout the video.
Research Plan, Schedule and Timeline
I’ve created this mock timeline for the next few weeks in order to keep myself accountable and organised. Each week I aim to complete a certain goal in my research into the ‘living big in tiny homes’ community. By creating this timeline of events, I can ensure I have enough time over these coming weeks to complete all the necessary observational research components.
My method of completing this research will be as simple as possible. I will be setting aside a couple of hours per week to delve deeper into my media niche via the internet, where I will be able to access all the necessary primary and secondary sources applicable to my DA. My research will be taking the form of;
- Analysing and taking notes of videos
- Screenshots of the community’s opinions (in order to gather a generalised opinion, for ethical reasons)
- Gathering images (Royalty Free only)
- Going through the main website blog to gather more information about the tiny home phenomenon.
- Comment sections of videos and subreddits to help engage and understand the community.
Danielle x
Reference List
Smith, C, Sobolewska, E Turner, P, 2009, ‘Auto-Ethnography: Problems, Pitfalls and Promise’, Submission to HCI Ed 2009, pp.1-3
Wall, S, 2006, ‘An autoethnography on learning about autoethnography’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 5(2), Article 9, pp.1-4
Twitter: @Danielle_Godden
Instagram: @danielle.godden
Daily Dash of Danielle 