Comments on: Being there, in the field, with and without internet

By: J Mason

J Mason — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:09:23 +0000

I’ve just gotten started on my dissertation fieldwork in Moscow, and I’ve actually been surprised at how essential the internet has been for my research. Not just for learning about events and communicating/setting up meetings with different groups, but for interacting with the communities themselves. People meet in person to discuss events and ideas that went viral on YouTube, their Facebook groups are constantly active with discussions about strategies and events, announcements go out on Twitter. I don’t think I could avoid using the internet if I wanted to. If there ever was a distinction between “virtual” or “digital” ethnography and any other kind, it’s already long gone, at least in studying some communities. We have to go where the people are, right?

By: marginalia84

marginalia84 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:14:30 +0000

At my field site, internet is patchy. There are cafes in the neighborhood, but they’re not very reliable. The family I live with does have a dial-up connection that I use when I really need it, but then everybody likes to stand around and watch me type (it never gets old for them, somehow). The electricity’s usually out for at least a few hours a day, so I sometimes find myself racing to finish an e-mail and press “send” before the scheduled cut-off. (Hanging out with people during the black-outs is actually a great way to have conversations.)

I do take a Kindle to the field, loaded with classic novels and some works of anthropology. And I take a headlamp/flashlight to read by. It’s a great sanity-saver for me. I do have so much more time to read books when I’m not whiling away hours on the internet.