Digital Ethnography
摘要
This chapter discusses the sub-field of digital ethnography, considering multiple definitions and framing of the term. The term “digital ethnography” has been used to refer to the study of the cultural meanings or uses of digital media (sometimes referred to as media ethnography), or the ways in which humans experience digital environments (which may be referred to as virtual ethnography). Such an approach may entail the use or adaptation of traditional ethnographic fieldwork methods to study and interpret digitally-mediated cultures. Another meaning of the term is to refer to the use of computational tools to conduct ethnography and engage in ethnographic practice. An extension of this second meaning is to present real-life cultures using narrative techniques and the features of digital environments. The chapter will consider these multiple meanings of digital ethnography and consider some possible future directions for the field.