Digital Ethnography

RESEARCH FOCUS

Ethnographic research is central to anthropology and sociology. It has been used for decades to study various cultural groups, from traditional societies to modern urban communities. Technology has always played a role in shaping human interaction and culture. However, with the rapid advancement of technology in recent years, ethnographers have found that technology's role in everyday life is increasing. With the increasing prevalence of social media and online places where people meet, connect, work, and play, a new area of culture of interaction has evolved that both influences and is influenced by life offline. Hence, the method of ethnography has to evolve to accommodate these changes in our social world.

Digital ethnography is a method that allows for the study of the cultures and behaviours that emerge within online communities. This research approach integrates the traditional methods of ethnography, such as observation and participant observation, with digital tools and methods, including online surveys, social media monitoring, and digital content analysis. However, while digital ethnography is an extension of traditional ethnography to the digital realm, it is essential to note that it requires adapting methods to fit this new area. The first digital ethnographies studied online cultures that emerged in online communities, such as online games. However, pure online ethnography can only give a limited understanding of online cultures and technology's impact on society. The increasing integration of the digital into everyday life increasingly blurs the lines between online and offline. Digital ethnography thus needs to consider both online phenomena and their offline context.

At CDS, we are interested in both digital technology's positive and negative impacts on society. Digital ethnography is, therefore, a suitable method to study the interactions between online and offline phenomena. We have adopted a digital ethnography methodology to explore the online interactions of gig economy riders in Bangkok. Our research found that contested identity narratives online have had an impact on riders' ability to organise and protest offline. In another research project, we studied the online presence of opposition figures in Myanmar. The study revealed an impact of……..

Throughout our research, we have found evidence of the interconnectedness of offline and online worlds. Therefore, the method of digital ethnography is likely to become even more critical to understanding society in general and the impact of technology in particular.

PUBLICATIONS & PROJECTS

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Myanmar Migrants and Social Media: A Digital Ethnogprahy of Charisma Signalling

Team Member: Nang Lao Wann Si

Social media presents a tremendous opportunity for supporting Myanmar migrants in Thailand. Leaders of informal migrant support organisations have taken advantage of this platform and have successfully built large followings among migrants. To understand the dynamics of this engagement, this study employs netnography, a digital ethnographic approach, to analyse the interaction between Myanmar migrant leaders and their followers on social media.

The study focuses on the Facebook pages of these migrant support organisations, examining the posts, images, captions, and comments made by the administrators. The findings reveal that migrant leaders use charismatic signalling to attract a following and expand their support for migrants. They use verbal and non-verbal techniques to establish moral authority among Myanmar migrants.

The study illustrates how migrant leaders use metaphors, goal-setting, rhetorical questions, contrast drawing, and the demonstration of conviction and personal sacrifice to signal charisma and engage with migrant workers. It makes an important contribution to understanding charisma within Myanmar culture and how offline signalling methods are deployed within online settings.

Gig Economy Riders on Social Media in Thailand: Contested Identities and Emergent Civil Society Organisations

Team Member: Dr Daniel McFarlane, Yannik Mieruch

The emergence of the gig economy has generated a new class of workers who are categorised as independent “partners” instead of employees with rights to labour protection. Civil society research has neglected to analyse such groups within the gig economy. Triggered by observations of a protest movement by platform-based delivery riders in Thailand, we engaged in seven months of digital ethnographic research of riders’ interactions online to understand the emergence of informal groups facilitating mutual aid and collective action. The study finds that social media is a site for developing and contesting identity narratives. We observed a “Hero” narrative that glorifies delivery riders' independent status and a “Worker” narrative that challenges riders' conditions. We argue that these collective identity narratives crucially facilitate or inhibit the emergence of labour-oriented civil society organisations, thus contributing to third-sector research that examines civil society in the Global South.<

This study focuses on several of CDS’s core research areas. First and foremost, it is concerned with the impacts of digital technology on society, in this case, the delivery sector of the economy. However, it also highlights the overlap between online and offline worlds by adopting digital ethnographic methods. Furthermore, it is deeply rooted in the emancipatory spirit of CDS, aiming to showcase pathways towards a more just and equitable use of digital technologies. In this spirit, the online communities of gig economy riders can show us that digital spaces are contested and can play a significant role in either furthering or hindering a sustainability agenda.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-022-00547-7