Digital Ethnographic Methods

Undergraduate / Graduate

Social life occurs not only in face-to-face contexts but also through many digitally mediated environments. Yet ethnography is still traditionally conceived of as built on the primacy of "being-there," the seeming immediacy of co-presence between researcher and social interlocutors. This course is an introduction to conducting ethnographic research with digitally mediated environments. Students will engage with prior literature in anthropology on doing research in virtual gaming worlds, through social media websites and apps, and in face-to-face interaction with mobile digital devices. Students will also gain hands-on experience through conducting a designed research project of their own throughout the quarter