"Crafting a research question is thus often linked to exploration." This quote, elaborated on in Ethnography and Virtual Worlds," seems to articulate the interesting aspects of this virtual ethnography project I have been coping with. The chapter goes on to talk about the significance of an ethnography compared to other forms of research; it is a much more open, personal, and even social type of research that relies on subjectivity and point of view. However, it also relies on facts, objectivity, and unbiased information.
Ever since this ethnography project has been on my radar, I have been attuned to different communities I encounter on the internet. I start making observations, thinking back to things people have said class, and letting my mind wander and draw conclusions. Sure, exploration and finding out what online community I want to pursue is a part of the process of creating my ethnography. But I'm afraid I'm visiting so many online communities that, suddenly, the things that are so distinctive and worth noting are becoming less obvious to me. I'm sure this is a problem people deal with all the time when conducting ethnographies--but since this is one of my first ethnographies (other than out last paper), I'm still finding these things out and figuring out a way to deal with them.
Later, in Chapter 5, the authors talk about "Participant Observation in Practice." This section addresses the balance of being involved while remaining an ethnographer, and so on. We also talked about this briefly in class last week--whether or not participant observation should occur with the virtual ethnography. We seemed to agree that either was valid--choosing to participate or not--for this ethnography. It could shed light on different aspects of the communities for either choice. I, however, have not decided if I am going to choose to engage in my online community or not. My first thoughts seem to reflect that I prefer to take an observatory stance on this project, but if I think about it more, I think it could get really interesting and specific if I choose to participate.
I'm not even sure what virtual community I'm officially going to observe yet. I have a few options, and all of them seem exciting. I'm interested to see what everyone else does as well.
Ever since this ethnography project has been on my radar, I have been attuned to different communities I encounter on the internet. I start making observations, thinking back to things people have said class, and letting my mind wander and draw conclusions. Sure, exploration and finding out what online community I want to pursue is a part of the process of creating my ethnography. But I'm afraid I'm visiting so many online communities that, suddenly, the things that are so distinctive and worth noting are becoming less obvious to me. I'm sure this is a problem people deal with all the time when conducting ethnographies--but since this is one of my first ethnographies (other than out last paper), I'm still finding these things out and figuring out a way to deal with them.
Later, in Chapter 5, the authors talk about "Participant Observation in Practice." This section addresses the balance of being involved while remaining an ethnographer, and so on. We also talked about this briefly in class last week--whether or not participant observation should occur with the virtual ethnography. We seemed to agree that either was valid--choosing to participate or not--for this ethnography. It could shed light on different aspects of the communities for either choice. I, however, have not decided if I am going to choose to engage in my online community or not. My first thoughts seem to reflect that I prefer to take an observatory stance on this project, but if I think about it more, I think it could get really interesting and specific if I choose to participate.
I'm not even sure what virtual community I'm officially going to observe yet. I have a few options, and all of them seem exciting. I'm interested to see what everyone else does as well.
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