Markham, Annette, Janne Bromseth, Radhika Gajjala
The Importance Of Context Sensitivity In Doing Internet Ethnography
The Importance Of Context Sensitivity In Doing Internet Ethnography
Discussion Format: This panel is structured as a roundtable discussion to facilitate a considerable amount of interaction with audience and panelists. As the discussion centers on practical, theoretical, and ethical issues of conducting interpretive-qualitative studies of the Internet, we anticipate much debate and discussion of specific cases.
Discussion Facilitators:
Annette Markham, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Janne Bromseth, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Radhika Gajjala, Bowling Green University, USA
Description and Rationale
The impetus for this panel comes from several current issues in qualitative approaches to internet research and its ethical implications. Many of us who use qualitative premises to study the social patterns and structures of internet interaction call our work "ethnography" whereas in actuality our projects are more appropriately guided by specific methodologies of case study, grounded theory, rhetorical analysis, and so forth.
Some researchers may turn to qualitative methods because they do not like statistics. Other researchers may turn to qualitative methods to study the specifics of the case-context. In any case, without extensive training in qualitative methodologies, it has become a convenient shorthand for some researchers to perceive łethnography˛ as a self explanatory blanket term that justifies itself without solid support and rigorous interpretation.
As more people gravitate to qualitative inquiry of social life online, it becomes vital to engage in discourse with acknowledged experts in these specific methodologies. Discussions at conferences about specific methodologies and what they offer will help researchers newly venturing into qualitative methods make better researching and reporting choices.
In addition, methodological choices by their very nature imply ethical and ideological perspectives, and vice versa. Applying existing ethical guidelines to the diversity of social interaction contexts mediated through the Internet creates new challenges in defining the semi-public spheres of communication. This is particularly apparent in the study of cultural processes, when we use participant observation and other łethnography-inspired˛ approaches. Ethical guidelines have been in the forefront of Internet research discussions. While no firm guidelines have been established, most review councils are searching for standardized rules with generalized applicability. However, the Internet is not a monolithic structure; the cultures formed via the Internet have vastly different norms and practices, and groups and individual participants perceive their spaces in multiple ways. The standards we search for may not be appropriate for the specific contexts we study.