Digital Ethnography of Facebook

Abstract

Despite the presence of Web 2.0 applications (i.e., all the interactive sites and "stuff" in the online world), there are divergent definitions and neologisms of digital ethnography and limited academic studies of digital ethnography as method. In this assignment, we will explore the method of digital ethnography by doing digital ethnography in a digital...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Qualitative Methodology

Resource Type(s):

Assignment

Class Level(s):

College 300

Class Size(s):

Small

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. 1. Apply digital ethnography tools for collecting data from a digital space.
2. Compare field notes and observation between digital ethnography and traditional ethnography.
3. 3. Analyze data by coding, summarizing qualitative digital research results, and identifying key themes.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Learning goal 1 will require: a) daily/weekly observations of ten users’ pages using both "lurking" and "participant experience" techniques; and b) a check of emic contextual meaning through at least one offline meeting with a digital participant.
2. Learning goal 2 will require all enrolled students to complete the traditional ethnography components of field note journaling and observation and experiment with modifications for a digital field.
3. Learning goal 3 requires all students to record, manage, and analyze multiple types of multimedia data (e.g., YouTube videos, photos, apps) through initial and focused coding and required data interpretation.