Ethnography, by its characteristics, has revealed a durable and interesting capacity to mediate the knowledge between different worlds, exploring cultural practices from the inside and in different settings.
However, recent changes have altered the way people communicate and how new technologies are being used for that purpose. For instance, the daily lives of people take place in different contexts, many of which are mediated through or linked to virtual spaces, where new forms of culture are being produced and reproduced. Given this, there is a vital need to research these new cultural settings and meanings, trying to analyse continuities and/or ruptures between those worlds involved.
In this context the classic model of single-site ethnography has been challenged and those challenges concern what means to be in the field , and they raise questions as to whether old concepts and actual perspectives in ethnography are an effective means to grasp the transformations of present cultures. We have had to question the accuracy of concepts that we have taken for granted,such as space, time, field, interaction, participant observation. New concepts have already emerged: netnography, online ethnography, cyber-ethnography, offline ethnography, digital ethnography, and we need to examine their usefulness. Do these changes mean that we are confronting a new type of ethnography, with new research tools needed, new types of empirical data to collect and new types of analysis to interpret situations?

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Sofia Marques da Silva
Paolo Landri


2012


181


9789898471048


Maite Fornaroli (Universitat de Barcelona)


Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Educativas (CIIE) da Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto


Contents

Introduction
Bob Jeffrey, Dennis Beach, Paolo Landri and Sofia Marques da Silva

Part 1: Conducting Research in Online/Virtual Settings

When the (playing) field has no physical limits: Ethnographic research with young people on their learning experiences outside school
Fernando Hernández, Juana M. Sancho and Rachel Fendler

Non-heteronormative genders in Web 2.0
Carla Luzia de Abreu

Single parent online forums as learning communities
María Isabel Jociles, Ana María Rivas and David Poveda

Using online communities, wikis and blogs to capture the boundary crossing of novice teachers: An action research enquiry on the margins of digital ethnography
Warren Kidd

Part 2: Conceptual and Epistemological Challenges for Ethnography
Ethnography, education and online research (OLR)
Bob Jeffrey

Conceptual, epistemological and methodological challenges in hypermedia ethnography: A boon for ethnographic analysis
Kathleen Gallagher and Barry Freeman

On being there with Federica: A multi-site ethnography of a web-learning platform in higher education
Paolo Landri and Rosanna De Rosa

Virtual ethnography for virtual worlds: The case of Second Life
Ridvan Ata

Doing ethnographic researches in educational contexts in Second Life: Reflections on an ongoing project
Marta Sponsiello


Part 3: Online Ethnography and EducationTrajectories of participation through online affinity spaces
Russell Francis

An exploration of teaching and learning in Second Life in the context of initial teacher education: The research journey
Sabrina Fitzsmions


Part 4: Doing the Fieldwork
Being there : Re-conceptualizations of space/time, place... and power for ethnographers in hybrid and online/virtual educational contexts
Nalita James and Hugh Busher

Part 5: Ethics in Online Research
Ethical dilemmas in using social networking sites to recruit and engage with teenage participants
Helen Hearn


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Open Access