Paper Reading #19: Reflexivity in Digital Anthropology

Jennifer A. Rode is an Assistant Professor at Drexel University. She teaches in the school of Information.

This paper was presented at CHI 2011.

Summary


Hypothesis
Rode's main hypothesis and idea in this paper is to discuss the fact that ethnography are present and useful in the HCI field. She also discusses various types and aspects related to ethnography.

Methods
Through her paper, Rode talks about the needs and uses for what she calls "digital ethnography." A digital ethnography is simply an ethnography that is focused on technology in some fashion. One example that Rode gives in the paper is that of a researcher visiting super-churches and learning how each one employs technology.

To prove her points and to visit the various aspects of digital ethnography, Rode breaks down the various components. First, she covers the styles of ethnographic writing. Then she moves on to discussing ethnographic conventions before she looks at the framing ethnographic practices.

Results
First are the three styles of ethnographic writing.
The realist is interested in accurately displaying the subject. Rode writes that "the realist account strives for authenticity." The realist also goes to great lengths in order to show the reader the native's point of view.
The next kind of ethnographic writing is the confessional. In this kind of study, the writer comes up with a kind of theory on the subject, discusses it, then applies the theory to the ethnography and addresses it.
The final kind of ethnographic writing is the impressionistic. This is simply an attempt to "give an impression" of the subject. It is an attempt to capture the entire feel of the subject much like how the impressionist painters captured their subjects in a painting.

Next, she discussed the ethnographic conventions. The first discussed is the rapport that the ethnographer must build with their subject. If a researcher can't interact well with their subject, the subject is less likely to reveal information or to openly discuss a topic.
The next discussed was the participant-observation. Rode described this as simply "deep hanging out." By being around and observing the participant in their "native" environment, one can gain information.
The final ethnographic convention discussed was simply the use of theory. By coming up with theories on the subject, researchers can focus questions for focus their research.

Discussion

This paper was a good description of how ethnography applies to the digital world. This paper will be very helpful when we begin to work on the design project related to our class ethnography projects. It will help point out things to look for and ways to approach problems.