The Internet and new technology are revolutionising societies, we hear. The diffusion of social media is enabling people around the world to speak, to deliberate and to become engaged in new ways, but the Internet and new technology can also be used to reinforce divisions and cause harm. Kathy Sierra recently spoke up against people who inserted seizure-causing images into epilepsy forums. A recent Guardian blog post highlights forums that treat rape like a public joke, and Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old boy from western New York killed himself just weeks ago after being repeatedly and aggressively victimized online. As much as people come to rely upon these new tools they also complain about violations of privacy, unexpected public exposure, an oversimplification of what is most subtle in our social relationships, and how they distract and demand our attention in ways that are hard to resist.
We came together to start this blog because we believe that ethnographic research — with its focus on human experiences in context — is critical for countering the trend towards users as numbers, as digits, as data and as markets. In the push to scale technologies globally, technological talk often focuses on the production and consumption of technological goods — There are Users, Makers, and Artifacts — and very little in between.
We believe in the in between.
This blog will be a place for conversation between academic and applied ethnography, for listening to and thinking about people’s stories, and for analysis and theory focused on the social patterns and contexts of technological (re)use, rejection and (re)construction.
In the specific frame of technology research and design, ethnography matters because the practice of telling user stories, exposing how technology makes us and how we make technology, can help to direct information tools in the service of human values like empathy, global solidarity, surprise and joy. Ethnography matters because it provides a mechanism for evaluating theories of “revolutionary” technology as grounded in the lived experience of people and communities. Ethnography matters because it helps to keep technology development real. Through ethnography we can delve into what we have in common and where we diverge to better envision human possibilities. When we understand this we can, in turn, get a better grasp on why technology matters.
We are four ethnographers in different stages of our careers. In the months that follow, we will be showcasing the work of other ethnographers and of those using ethnographic practice. If you have something interesting to share, please contact us. We look forward to going on this ethnographic journey together.
So glad to have found you. I am still in the very early stages of looking at Ethnogrophy & Ethnographic research & all of the possibilities. Can’t wait to read your posts!