ITRMdeth - HackMD

## ITRM 2021 // Week 7 - Digital Ethnography  <img src="https://i.imgur.com/KH2FM61.png" width=70%> Pablo Velasco & Ane Katrine Gammelby // Information Studies // [pablov.me](https://pablov.me) --- ## Topics for the day: * Digital Ethnography * Flow logic and flow as method * Ethics of doing ethnographic research in digital environments --- # DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY 101 * virtual ethnography * connected (relational) ethnography * ethnography of the everyday ---- ## Ethnography Ties through cultural competence communication  Malinowski, B. (1926). Crime and Custom in Savage Society. > an attitude or mindset that influences how researchers act in the practice of social inquiry - "in collaboration" with people (or objects) - not looking from above: but going through - things that are hidden (not obvious) to the subjects (which won't be revealed in an interview) - "in the making" - not finished methods: methods evolve, and we as researchers have to adapt them Markham, A. (2018). Ethnography in the digital era: From fields to flow, descriptions to interventions ---- # Virtual ethnography (web 1.0) - text as main form of communication Hine Hine, C. (2000). Virtual Ethnography - people producing websites - participants in online discussions Hine methods: - document analysis on websites or media coverage - discourse analysis - participation in online events - interviews ---- ### Cyberspace >Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. >Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live. Barlow, J. P. (1996). Declaration of Independence for Cyberspace ---- * immaterial (metaphysical) places * virtual communities / virtual worlds * a notion of persistence when the world is "offline" (Markham 2018) "The ethnographic gaze was focused on how individuals come together via computer-mediated interaction and developed common rules, collective norms and values, as well as a sense of belonging" Ardévol, E., & Gómez-Cruz, E. (2014). Digital Ethnography and Media Practices <iframe width="948" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DOv2sNUZgD8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Second life trailer (2003)  ---- <img src="https://i.imgur.com/zunpQOy.png" width="80%"> Meta. (2021, October 28). The Metaverse and How We’ll Build It Together—Connect 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvufun6xer8 ---- # Connected ethnography (web 2.0) Commonly used in Digital Anthropology, Digital Sociology, HCI and STS * Blur or **integration between online / offline** ethnographic work * Heterogeneous network of subjects and devices (**relational** ontologies, networks, etc) * ***Field site*** as the locus where empirical work is conducted, less than a place or a community * Strands of digital ethnographies: Coleman, E. G. (2010). Ethnographic Approaches to Digital Media - Digital media and cultural politics: representation - Digital media vernaculars "ethnographic lens to practices, subjects, modes of communication, and groups entirely dependent on digital technologies for their existence" (Coleman 2010, 492) ---- <img src="https://pablov.me/pres/media/coleman-hhws.jpg" width=35%> Coleman, G. (2015). Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous * weapons of the geek: What they all have in common is that their political tools (...) emerge from the concrete experience of their craft (Coleman 2015, 107) ---- # Internet in everyday practices and media ethnography - Ethnography about living ***in*** media - Ethnography ***for*** the internet - adaptative approach - "embedded, embodied, and everyday" (not as *cyberspace*) Hine, C. (2015). Ethnography for the Internet: Embedded, Embodied and Everyday - Sociology of infrastructure: the internet becomes an infrastructure to do other things Bowker, G. C., & Star, S. L. (1999). Sorting things out: Classification and its consequences.  [Ethnography as something that allows to] inhabit and capture the simultaneous centrality of *the digital* Markham, A. (2018). Ethnography in the Digital Internet Era: From Fields to Flows, Descriptions to Interventions" ---- ## Consider the notions of social shaping of technology and domestication: <img src="https://moneyplatform.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Filters-on-TikTok.jpg" width="50%"> | Hirsch, E., & Silverstone, R. (2003). Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. | Baym, N. K. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age (2nd ed.) | -------- | -------- | 1. Tech integrated and adapted | 1. Surprising and strange | 2. User environment changes | 2. Moral panic and opposition | 3. Former adaptations change next generation of tech | 3. Normalisation ---- # 5 principles for doing digital ethnography Pink, S., Horst, H. A., Postill, J., Hjorth, L., Lewis, T., & Tacchi, J. (Eds.). (2016). Digital ethnography: Principles and practice. - **multiplicity**: multiple ways to engage (depending e.g. on places or infrastructure) - **not centered in "the digital"**: media as part of something wider (environment, activities, experiences, relationships) - **openness**: processual (open-ended, collaborative, not bounded, not a start-to-finish activity) - **reflexivity**: considering and reflecting on their own knowledge production and ethics - **unorthodox**: beyond, academia, disciplines, and standard written production http://energyanddigitalliving.com/ --- ### Activity: Digital case-based ethnographic discussion [MIRO board here](https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_llug8NM=/?invite_link_id=342749842172) * The case should be "health-related" and can be related to the apps observed last session. We won't collect any data for this activity, but the data should exist. #### Constructing the field site * How is access to settings and research subjects to be obtained? * How would you be present in the field? * What kind of data can be gathered and through which specific means (scraping, interviews, observation, etc)? * Where should the former means of research be conducted? * What would be the advantages of a "flow" approach? #### Dealing with ethics * What ethical dilemmas does the "construction of the field site" involve? * What would be your take on the notion of "contextual integrity" in your specific case? * What would be your take on the notion of "distance principle" in your specific case? * What other ethical considerations are to be considered for your specific case? <style> .reveal{ font-family:arial; font-size: 24px; } .reveal .censor{ background:black; color:white; } .reveal .censorw{ background:white; color:black; } .reveal .pinky{ color:#e5157d; font-style:italic; font-size: .8em; } .reveal section img { border: none; box-shadow: none; } .reveal section left{ width:50%; } .reveal .refs { color: grey; font-size: small; text-align: left; } </style>