Digital ethnography: method, topic or cultural context?

Sept. 16/17, 2016

Prof. Bettina Beer, Universität Luzern

Prof. Dr. Steffen Dalsgaard (IT University of Copenhagen)
Prof. Dr. Dan Jorgensen (The University of Western Ontario)

Anthropology and related disciplines have seen an increased interest in digital ethnography, but not always with an agreement on what that entails. Does it refer to a tool for research, an object of study, or a new context in which social and cultural life unfolds? Arguably there are no ethnographers who do not communicate or collect data via at least basic digital media (email, web-searches), but whereas some see the digital technologies as providing exciting new methodological tools for ethnographic studies, others see challenges in terms of how to manage dilemmas over for instance authenticity or ethics. One challenge is to understand what affordances the specific digital technologies provide for ethnographic inquiry, and how they can be meaningfully aligned with the classic ethnographic aim of trying to understand human beings in their 'whole' environment (social, cultural, natural, or technological). A related but distinct challenge is to understand the ways in which such affordances bring new fields of study into view and foster new kinds of relations with colleagues and research subjects. This workshop will help participants explore or reflect upon the affordances of digital technologies for ethnographic work (i.e. systematic description of social and cultural practices) either conducted online or partly involving online media.

Magliaso TI

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