SOCI221 – Sociology of Cyberspace

Meeting 9: November 10, 2014
Generations to Ethnography

Digital Natives?

Bronislaw Malinowski with natives on Trobriand Islands in 1918. (Public domain)

Last Week

Generations

Activity: Knapsacks

• Features of privilege
• Intersectionality
• Online privilege

Required Texts

• Prensky, M. “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1.” On the Horizon 9, no. 5 (2001): 1–6.
• Bennett, Sue, Karl Maton, and Lisa Kervin. “The ‘digital Natives’ Debate: A Critical Review of the Evidence.” British Journal of Educational Technology 39, no. 5 (September 2008): 775–786. doi:10.1111/j.1467–8535.2007.00793.x.
• Selwyn, Neil. “The Digital Native – Myth and Reality.” Aslib Proceedings 61, no. 4 (2009): 364–379. doi:10.1108/00012530910973776.
• White, David S. and Alison Le Cornu “Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement” First Monday, Volume 16, Number 9 – 5 September 2011

Digital Natives?

• Us/Them
• Birthyear
• Early access and comfort?
• Residents and visitors

Next Week

Ethnography

Ethics

• Tuskegee Experiment
• Do No Harm
• Risks and Benefits
• Informed Consent
• Research Ethics & Compliance – Concordia University’s Office of Research http://lar.me/19r

Ethnography

Descriptive approach to cultural diversity. – Alex

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

Activity: Field Entry

• Select an online group (forum, network, service, community) of which you’re not a member.
• From the outside, take some notes about features of that group, how it works, what seem to be unspoken rules, etc.
• Enter the group, introducing yourself to everyone. Notice reactions. Are you able to establish rapport?
• Post a description of the group and your fieldwork

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.

• Review article (like annotated bibliography or metastudy)
• Recent research
• Diversity
• Program for future research