Practicing Digital Ethnography
Key Guides
London; New York: Routledge (2026), xxx, 373 pp.
Contains index
ISBN 978-1-04-072212-1
"Practicing Digital Ethnography offers a comprehensive introduction to the essential methods, concepts, and practices of conducting ethnographic research in digital environments. Written by 60 global contributors across 12 chapters with accompanying case studies and concept explorations, this book provides both theoretical foundations and practical guidance for digital ethnographic work. It covers research approaches for diverse digital contexts, including social media, virtual spaces, video games, and hybrid physical-technological settings, while addressing the deployment of tools like artificial intelligence, big data, mapping technologies, and multimodal methodologies. This book examines ethical challenges specific to digital research environments while maintaining a commitment to reflexive, co-present research that acknowledges how our interactions with digital technologies transcend boundaries of citizenship, race, gender identity, age and ability." (Publisher description)
INTRODUCTION / Devin Proctor, 1
0.1. Concept: Ethnography / Heather Horst, 7
0.2. Case stuy introductory suite: negotiating the on and offline, 11
0.2.1. Case Study: Zapotec villagers in the digital era / Roberto J. González, 13
0.2.2. Case Study: Selfies, shamans, and social media participation among the Shipibo-Konibo in the Peruvian Amazon / Jennifer Sierra, 20
0.2.3. Case Study: Digital solidarity and everyday assertion of Dalit identity on WhatsApp in India / Rashmi Kumar, 26
0.2.4. Case Study: Songs of an initiation club in West Africa and its Caribbean Diaspora / Ivor Miller & Margaret M. P. Okon, 33
1. DIGITAL DATA ETHICS / Michelle Cera, 43
1.1. Concept: Representation / Serhat Tutkal, 60
1.2. Case study: Drug trade on the Polish darknet / Piotr Siuda & Patrycja Hewelt, 64
2. ETHNOGRAPHY ABOUT DIGITAL MEDIA / Xinyuan Wang, 71
2.1. Concept: Affordance / Anna Colom, 87
2.2. Case study: Women Australian Rules footballers’ digital self-tracking / Paul Bowell, Paul Scifleet, Ekaterina Pechenkina, & Emma Sherry, 91
3. ETHNOGRAPHY ON/IN SOCIAL MEDIA / Katrin Tiidenberg & David Kneas, 97
3.1. Concept: Platform / Chiara Perin, 114
3.2. Case study: Navigating Iranian digital feminist activism through multi-sited mobile ethnography / Mitra Shamsi, 118
4. ETHNOGRAPHY IN VIRTUAL WORLDS / Rachel Berryman & Crystal Abidin, 125
4.1. Concept: Virtual / Tom Boellstorff, 143
4.2. Case study: Work, play, and questioning the binary in EVE Online / Harish Goutam, 146
5. LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS / Graham M. Jones, Jisoo Hong, & Maya Návar, 153
5.1. Concept: Meme / İdil Galip, 173
5.2. Case study: Evaluating emergent Kazakh anti-proverbs using corpus linguistics / Erik Aasland & Gulnara Omarbekova, 177
6. DATA ANALYSIS / Anna M. Górska, Dariusz Jemielniak, & Nina Kotula, 185
6.1. Concept: Data / Tone Walford & Hannah Knox, 203
6.2. Case study: Over-the-shoulder observation of Facebook group admins / Anna D. Gibson, 208
7. SPATIAL ANALYSIS / Greyson Harris, 215
7.1. Concept: Space / Mark Nunes, 231
7.2. Case study: Implementing GIS in Malmiñañ, Cameroon / Veronica Bayiha ñwa Quillien, Jean-Baptiste Quillien, & Eugene Bayiha Makonn, 235
8. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / Matt Artz, 241
8.1. Concept: Algorithm / Heiner Heiland, 260
8.2. Case study: Using AI for deradicalization / Andrea Russo, 264
9. MULTIMODAL ANTHROPOLOGY / Isaac Marrero Guillamón & Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan, 273
9.1. Concept: Public / Christopher M. Kelty, 285
9.2. Case study: SAPIENS magazine as anthropology for the public / Emily Sekine, 289
10. VIDEO GAMES / Lindsay Grace, 295
10.1. Concept: Gamer / Florence M. Chee, 311
10.2. Case study: Listening to queer, LGBTQ+, and women Twitch streamers / Jackson McLaren & Larisa Kingston Mann, 315
11. HYBRID INSTALLATIONS / Rob Eagle, 321
11.1. Concept: Hybridity / Maxi Heitmayer, 341
11.2. Case study: “In America” COVID memorial art installation on the DC National Mall / The Rituals in the Making Collective, 345
0.1. Concept: Ethnography / Heather Horst, 7
0.2. Case stuy introductory suite: negotiating the on and offline, 11
0.2.1. Case Study: Zapotec villagers in the digital era / Roberto J. González, 13
0.2.2. Case Study: Selfies, shamans, and social media participation among the Shipibo-Konibo in the Peruvian Amazon / Jennifer Sierra, 20
0.2.3. Case Study: Digital solidarity and everyday assertion of Dalit identity on WhatsApp in India / Rashmi Kumar, 26
0.2.4. Case Study: Songs of an initiation club in West Africa and its Caribbean Diaspora / Ivor Miller & Margaret M. P. Okon, 33
1. DIGITAL DATA ETHICS / Michelle Cera, 43
1.1. Concept: Representation / Serhat Tutkal, 60
1.2. Case study: Drug trade on the Polish darknet / Piotr Siuda & Patrycja Hewelt, 64
2. ETHNOGRAPHY ABOUT DIGITAL MEDIA / Xinyuan Wang, 71
2.1. Concept: Affordance / Anna Colom, 87
2.2. Case study: Women Australian Rules footballers’ digital self-tracking / Paul Bowell, Paul Scifleet, Ekaterina Pechenkina, & Emma Sherry, 91
3. ETHNOGRAPHY ON/IN SOCIAL MEDIA / Katrin Tiidenberg & David Kneas, 97
3.1. Concept: Platform / Chiara Perin, 114
3.2. Case study: Navigating Iranian digital feminist activism through multi-sited mobile ethnography / Mitra Shamsi, 118
4. ETHNOGRAPHY IN VIRTUAL WORLDS / Rachel Berryman & Crystal Abidin, 125
4.1. Concept: Virtual / Tom Boellstorff, 143
4.2. Case study: Work, play, and questioning the binary in EVE Online / Harish Goutam, 146
5. LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS / Graham M. Jones, Jisoo Hong, & Maya Návar, 153
5.1. Concept: Meme / İdil Galip, 173
5.2. Case study: Evaluating emergent Kazakh anti-proverbs using corpus linguistics / Erik Aasland & Gulnara Omarbekova, 177
6. DATA ANALYSIS / Anna M. Górska, Dariusz Jemielniak, & Nina Kotula, 185
6.1. Concept: Data / Tone Walford & Hannah Knox, 203
6.2. Case study: Over-the-shoulder observation of Facebook group admins / Anna D. Gibson, 208
7. SPATIAL ANALYSIS / Greyson Harris, 215
7.1. Concept: Space / Mark Nunes, 231
7.2. Case study: Implementing GIS in Malmiñañ, Cameroon / Veronica Bayiha ñwa Quillien, Jean-Baptiste Quillien, & Eugene Bayiha Makonn, 235
8. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / Matt Artz, 241
8.1. Concept: Algorithm / Heiner Heiland, 260
8.2. Case study: Using AI for deradicalization / Andrea Russo, 264
9. MULTIMODAL ANTHROPOLOGY / Isaac Marrero Guillamón & Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan, 273
9.1. Concept: Public / Christopher M. Kelty, 285
9.2. Case study: SAPIENS magazine as anthropology for the public / Emily Sekine, 289
10. VIDEO GAMES / Lindsay Grace, 295
10.1. Concept: Gamer / Florence M. Chee, 311
10.2. Case study: Listening to queer, LGBTQ+, and women Twitch streamers / Jackson McLaren & Larisa Kingston Mann, 315
11. HYBRID INSTALLATIONS / Rob Eagle, 321
11.1. Concept: Hybridity / Maxi Heitmayer, 341
11.2. Case study: “In America” COVID memorial art installation on the DC National Mall / The Rituals in the Making Collective, 345
