Diversity-Discrimination by Kurt Löwenstein Educational Center International Team from Germany (CC-BY-2.0)

Coursenotes, SOCI221 Meeting 10

SOCI221 – Sociology of Cyberspace

Meeting 10: November 17, 2014
Ethnography to Cultural Contexts

Diversity

Diversity-Discrimination by Kurt Löwenstein Educational Center International Team from Germany (CC-BY–2.0))

Last Week

Ethnography

Activity: Field Entry

  • Which groups?
  • Expectations?
  • Entering the group?

Required Text

Coleman, E. Gabriella. “Ethnographic Approaches to Digital Media.” Annual Review of Anthropology 39, no. 1 (October 21, 2010): 487–505. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104945.

  • Diversity
  • Almost historical
  • Anthropology and sociology
  • Global inequalities

Next Week

Cultural Contexts

Activity: Online Interview

  • Find someone from your new online group who’s willing to serve as an interviewee.
  • Prepare a few questions to gain her/his insight on the online group, the importance of technology to group members, or any other topic you find interesting.
  • Conduct a brief interview through whichever means you find appropriate (email, Skype, chat…).
  • Post one thing you find insightful about the exchange.

Required Texts

Horst, Heather “Free, Social, and Inclusive: Appropriation and Resistance of New Media Technologies in Brazil.” International Journal of Communication 5 (2011): 437–462.
Kelty, Christopher. “Geeks, Social Imaginaries, and Recursive Publics.” Cultural Anthropology 20, no. 2 (May 2005): 185–214. doi:10.1525/can.2005.20.2.185.

Horst

Horst, Heather “Free, Social, and Inclusive: Appropriation and Resistance of New Media Technologies in Brazil.” International Journal of Communication 5 (2011): 437–462.

  • Understanding Brazilian society offline and online
  • Digital inclusion
  • Technological appropriation
  • Distinct usage

Kelty

Kelty, Christopher. “Geeks, Social Imaginaries, and Recursive Publics.” Cultural Anthropology 20, no. 2 (May 2005): 185–214. doi:10.1525/can.2005.20.2.185.

  • Geek culture
  • Distinct fieldwork experiences
  • Public sphere: Habermas
  • Recursivity
  • Ron Eglash on African fractals (TEDtalk) http://lar.me/ig

Ethnography

Descriptive approach to cultural diversity. – Alex

  • Fieldwork
  • Establishing rapport
  • Insider and outsider
  • Participant-observation
  • Cultural translation (making exotic familiar and familiar exotic)

Surveillance Society

  • Panopticon
  • Sousveillance
    • Surveillance, sousveillance and PRISM – an op-ed for Die Zeit | … My heart’s in Accra http://lar.me/2zk
  • Internet Bill of Rights

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