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.
Join us for our final event of 2020! On Wednesday, December 16th from 3:00-5:00pm (EST) Tania Li’s Ethnographic Practicum students will present their research findings. The generation of knowledge about the world is the core mandate of ethnographic inquiry; and thecontent of knowledge – what it is, who generates it, how it is evaluated, contested … Continue reading
Join Elliott Tilleczek (PhD Student, Anthropology) and Thomas Stoneman (Youth Educator) on Wednesday, November 4th as they discuss the various methods and types of work that go into creating their podcast Do You Queer What I Queer? In addition to speaking about the podcast, Elliott and Thom will host a workshop and show in real-time what is … Continue reading
Friday, February 7, 2020 | 1:00 PM 3:00 PMSpeaker: Maya El Helou, PhD Student, Department of Anthropology, The University of Toronto This workshop proposes experimenting with collage as a medium of making sense out of the mess of social theory. It continues an initiative begun last year of informal workshops designed to encourage ethnographers to experiment with different mediums to enhance their engagement—visually … Continue reading
Jacob Nerenberg, a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto’s Department of Anthropology, will be giving the last talk of the semester in the Ethnography. Entitled : Mission Telecom, Nerenberg will be asking: “What can ethnography offer scenes of dislocation and uncertainty? Stories about text messages and missionaries in New Guinea raise questions about technology, … Continue reading
The Digital Ethnography Group is pleased to welcome Dr. Barry Wellman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and co-author of the book “Networked: The New Social Operating System,” to the Ethnography lab on Friday, April 10th at 5pm for a discussion about some of the changes brought about in tandem with the proliferation … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
Ethnography Lab 