Transitions Fom oOfline to Online Contexts and Back Again.Discussions About the Ethnographic Method in a Rural Setting

Author(s):

Sofia Marques da Silva(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

19. Ethnography

Format:

Paper

Session Information

19 SES 08, Parallel Paper Session

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

09:00-10:30

Room:

ESI 2 - Aula 3

Chair:

Karen Borgnakke

Contribution

While there is a developing body of Internet-related ethnography (Hine, 2000; Leander & Mckim, 2003; Miller & Slater, 1998), texts concerning the transformation of qualitative methodologies for researching online practices are beginning to emerge (Mann & Stewart, 2000). Being still critical and sceptical about some ethnographic studies conducted in virtual and online settings, we decided to, methodologically, become involved into an ethnographic study which combines both contexts.

We expected to deal with multi-sited practices and cultures in both online and offline setting, doing multi-sited observation (Hannerz, 2003). Following this, some authors suggest that we should see «the field [place], rather than as a site, as being a ‘field of relations.’ In this sense, rather than focusing on specific research locations as they are defined physically, focus would shift to the connections between multiple locations where the actors engage in activity» (Olwig and Hastrup (1997: 8).

This paper will be a methodological paper and will analyse the researcher doings during transitions between offline to online context and, therefore, between offline and online ethnography. Especial attention will be paid to the transitional moment in itself, which also represents a cognitive, theoretical and ethical change to the researcher within settings where different powers are played.

Method

The ethnographic study has been conducted in a rural area in the northeast of Portugal. The intention is to analyze how rural contexts are influencing young people educational pathways and sense of belonging. This study started in 2010 by using the classic model of doing ethnography: being in the “real” field, contacting and interacting face-to-face with community and young people, describing cultures and writing fieldnotes. After one year we felt that was possible to continue the research in online contexts, maintaining interaction with some young people and others members of the community through the internet, especially Facebook, also writing fieldnotes and describing settings and interactions.

Expected Outcomes

This experience confronted us with an ontological and epistemological impossibility of moving easily from location to location. If theoretically we believe by doing multi-sited ethnography, the ethnographic method «becomes as much a process of following connections as it is a period of inhabitance» (Olwig & Hastrup, 1997: 8), engaging and inhabiting the continuum is revealing in itself as much as a dangerous as an uneasy task. Christine Hine wrote that the «“virtual” nature of the methodology (…) aimed to maintain dialogue with established ethnographic principles and practices whilst opening up space for methodological innovation in directions that would be more troubling for that tradition» (Hine, 2007: 666). However, how can we endure this dialogue when we deal with disperse geographies and locations? How to integrate different data collected through different connections? How to make transitions from one setting/method to another? This experience shows that the researcher develops his/her methodological path through different layers of appropriation of contexts and methods. Intertwining a traditional model of doing ethnography with online ethnography seems an accurate strategy for collecting relevant ethnographic data.

References

Dierksen, Vanessa; Huizing, Ard; Smit, Bas (2010) "'Piling on layers of understanding': the use of connective ethnography for the study of (online) work practices", New Media & Society, 7, 1045-1063. Hannerz, Ulf (2003) “Being there... and there... and there!: Reflections on Multi-Site Ethnography”, Ethnography, 4, 201 -216. Hine, Christine (2007) “Multi-sited Ethnography as a Middle Range Methodology for Contemporary STS”, Science, Technology & Human Values, 6, 652-671. Leander, Kevin M. & Mckim, Kelly K. (2003) “Tracing the Everyday 'Sitings' of Adolescents on the Internet: a strategic adaptation of ethnography across online and offline spaces”, Education, Communication & Information, 2, 211-240. Mann, Chris & Fiona Stewart (2000) Internet Communication and Qualitative. Research: A Handbook for Researching Online. UK: SAGE Miller, Daniel & Slater, Dan (2000) The Internet: an Ethnographic Approach. New York: Berg. Olwig, Karen Fog & Hastrup, Kirsten (eds.) (1997) Siting Culture: The Shifting Anthropological Object. London, New York: Routledge.

Author Information

Sofia Marques da Silva (presenting / submitting)

University of Porto, Portugal

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