The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups
The concept "cyberethnography" remains undefined in the social sciences while, at the same time, still overlapping too much with the more well-known concept of "virtual ethnography." The aim of our paper is to remedy this situation by underlining new directions in the ethnographi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
FQS
2007-09-01
|
| Series: | Forum: Qualitative Social Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/283 |
| _version_ | 1818755672515280896 |
|---|---|
| author | Maurizio Teli Francesco Pisanu David Hakken |
| author_facet | Maurizio Teli Francesco Pisanu David Hakken |
| author_sort | Maurizio Teli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The concept "cyberethnography" remains undefined in the social sciences while, at the same time, still overlapping too much with the more well-known concept of "virtual ethnography." The aim of our paper is to remedy this situation by underlining new directions in the ethnographic study of computer mediated settings. To do so, we define cyberspace as computer-mediated contexts intrinsically related to supposed-to-be "real" places. From this point of view the ethnography of online groups is not just the ethnography of the groups online (or the online ethnography of groups), but it is both the ethnography of online and related off-line situations, the ethnography of humans and non-human actors in these related fields. It is hybrid, like a cyborg. In a word, it is a cyberethnography. In the first part of the paper, we discuss linkages between classical ethnography and its cyber developments. In the second part, we ground epistemologically the argument in favor of a robust social concept of "cyborg" drawing mainly from the fields called Science, Technology and Society (STS), and Organization Studies (OS). In the third part, we focus our argument on web-based group issues, using field data from our own research to define this kind of group and propose a metaphor, "the Internet as a library-of-people." This metaphor, which is strictly grounded in the cyborg concept, highlights the cyborgic characteristic of society that arises in research practice.
URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0703338 |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T05:42:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-545b89fce63245e0860a767243238bc5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1438-5627 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T05:42:52Z |
| publishDate | 2007-09-01 |
| publisher | FQS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forum: Qualitative Social Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-545b89fce63245e0860a767243238bc52022-12-21T21:19:07ZdeuFQSForum: Qualitative Social Research1438-56272007-09-0183282The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online GroupsMaurizio Teli0Francesco Pisanu1David Hakken2University of TrentoUniversity of TrentoIndiana UniversityThe concept "cyberethnography" remains undefined in the social sciences while, at the same time, still overlapping too much with the more well-known concept of "virtual ethnography." The aim of our paper is to remedy this situation by underlining new directions in the ethnographic study of computer mediated settings. To do so, we define cyberspace as computer-mediated contexts intrinsically related to supposed-to-be "real" places. From this point of view the ethnography of online groups is not just the ethnography of the groups online (or the online ethnography of groups), but it is both the ethnography of online and related off-line situations, the ethnography of humans and non-human actors in these related fields. It is hybrid, like a cyborg. In a word, it is a cyberethnography. In the first part of the paper, we discuss linkages between classical ethnography and its cyber developments. In the second part, we ground epistemologically the argument in favor of a robust social concept of "cyborg" drawing mainly from the fields called Science, Technology and Society (STS), and Organization Studies (OS). In the third part, we focus our argument on web-based group issues, using field data from our own research to define this kind of group and propose a metaphor, "the Internet as a library-of-people." This metaphor, which is strictly grounded in the cyborg concept, highlights the cyborgic characteristic of society that arises in research practice. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0703338http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/283computer mediated communicationcyberspacevirtualitycyberethnography |
| spellingShingle | Maurizio Teli Francesco Pisanu David Hakken The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups Forum: Qualitative Social Research computer mediated communication cyberspace virtuality cyberethnography |
| title | The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups |
| title_full | The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups |
| title_fullStr | The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups |
| title_short | The Internet as a Library-Of-People: For a Cyberethnography of Online Groups |
| title_sort | internet as a library of people for a cyberethnography of online groups |
| topic | computer mediated communication cyberspace virtuality cyberethnography |
| url | http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/283 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT maurizioteli theinternetasalibraryofpeopleforacyberethnographyofonlinegroups AT francescopisanu theinternetasalibraryofpeopleforacyberethnographyofonlinegroups AT davidhakken theinternetasalibraryofpeopleforacyberethnographyofonlinegroups AT maurizioteli internetasalibraryofpeopleforacyberethnographyofonlinegroups AT francescopisanu internetasalibraryofpeopleforacyberethnographyofonlinegroups AT davidhakken internetasalibraryofpeopleforacyberethnographyofonlinegroups |