As more and more of the world gains access to the internet, cell phones, and accompanying technologies, ethnographers’ field sites often multiply and become at least partially digital. Traditional ethnographic field methods for physical locations remain crucial to training junior anthropologists, but methodologies that do not keep pace with ever-shifting loci of communication and cultural organization run the risk of leaving critical data unanalyzed and unconsidered.

The Digital Ethnography group aims to address methodological issues related to the practice of studying the place of digital technologies in social life. This will take place primarily through a speaker, seminar, and workshop series to be launched in winter 2015. The core themes will address:

• Methodological practice–the techniques of using digital data in writing and analysis
• Ethics–privacy, informed consent, and online identity
• Public engagement–anthropologist as Facebook friend, Twitter-user, and blogger

Stay tuned for our upcoming schedule of events.