Session Information
19 SES 09 B, Virtual Ethnography: Possibilities, Issues and Problems
Symposium
Contribution
Recently a pupil researcher asked why I wanted her to contribute to a research project blog. “Does anyone read these things?” she asked. The question propelled me to think not only about my assumptions but also my own use of the web. I began to keep a systematic record of my various we practices and to note any assumptions I had as they occurred to me. These ‘field notes’ were kept for one academic semester as I used a netbook, blackberry and a desk top machine. My activities were centred around sending and answering email; searching for scholarly information; searching for personal information; managing professional information; shopping and visiting youtube and face book, in particular an errant son’s blog. These were associated with highly addictive behaviours: looking at email before getting out of bed; compulsive immediate answering of email; withdrawal symptoms if unable to access email; excessive purchasing of books. The experience made me question whether it is possible and/or desirable to research only virtually, and whether, and if so under what conditions, and in response to what questions, one might want to research the ways in which the material and the virtual are mediated as lived, cultural practices.
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