On the first day of class, we did an exercise that asks everyone to write sticky notes in different categories such as methods we are good at/not good at, topics we are interested/want to avoid, fields we would like to explore, etc. Then we got into groups of two people to review each other’s board and help to generate three potential thesis ideas based on the sticky notes we wrote. I think this activity really helps me start to think and explore the potential topics. Even though I have not come up with a solid idea yet, I do have some general directions I know I can explore.
After going over the interest areas, I decided on landing on the topic of NFT arts, which stands for Non-Fungible Tokens Art. Basically, an NFT is a collectible digital asset, and it holds value as a form of cryptocurrency and in the form of art. It is the same concept as the traditional arts that represent a certain amount of value in real life. But for people who want to purchase NFT arts, instead of using real money, they use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
After picking the general direction, I started asking myself questions to explore more areas that are related to the topic of NFT arts. I know the primary research method I will be using is research for arts and design, and my general interest is to create or improve the channels and ways to allow people involved more in the NFT arts community. Then I moved on to recognizing the main stakeholders of the topic: who and what is involved in the NFT arts trading? After some research, I picked up three parties and mediums that answer the question. The NFT arts creators, the buyers, and the trading platform itself. After having a basic understanding of stakeholders, I asked myself what the current user experience is and what are the pain points of the exchange/trading process, which lead me to a new area of the fundamental technology lying behind the NFT arts, the blockchain. Blockchain is a technology about decentralization, but it is not a concept that most people are familiar with. This leads me to think of the question “Does the level of understanding people have about the concepts of blockchain and cryptocurrency affect the level they involve and the user experience they have?” If so, then improving the user experience is not only about improving the transaction and trading platform, it also has an educational perspective.
Aside from the previous topics, I also thought of how policies and regulations affect the NFT arts trading experience. Because the core idea of blockchain is decentralization, it might be difficult to widely distribute in areas where power is highly centralized. How should NFT arts trading adapt in those areas? And what are the alternatives if NFT arts are not able to be distributed in reality? The topics then open up widely, and suddenly there are so many aspects I could consider in my research. So for the next step, I will keep exploring more aspects and start to converge ideas into a more specific research statement.
