Com 470 Paper 2: Digital Ethnography

Com 470 Paper 2: Digital Ethnography

Due: November 19, 2020 at 11:59 pm on Blackboard Description

For this assignment, you’ll be writing a digital ethnography of a hashtag. Please limit your choice of subject to Twitter or Instagram, and observe that hashtag for a period of three days. Notate what you see on this hashtag. This should give you enough information to reach data saturation, so you can characterize what that hashtag ‘means’ to the people who use it.

Your ethnography should characterize the digital community that forms around a given hashtag. You should determine the following things: 1) Is the hashtag based on an acute event, or is the community around it somewhat more stable? 2) How do users employ self-presentation as a tool? i.e. are the users devotees, insiders, newbies, or minglers? How do you know? 3) What features of Twitter or Instagram do users use most often? What do their usages mean within the context of that community? 4) What are the topos, i.e. what are some of the themes or tropes that are often repeated under the hashtag?

Com 470 Paper 2: Digital Ethnography

Using this information, interpret the meaning of this hashtag of the people who use it. Is there more than one group of people using this hashtag? How do they utilize it? What is the “point” of this hashtag? Try and be faithful to your observations, while also being engaging and original in your interpretation.

Your Warrant as a Researcher

You are now something of an expert in how to do an ethnography, so you have a warrant that makes your interpretation of this hashtag more valuable. Remember that you are going to be interpreting this data subjectively, so try and be as even-handed and fair as possible. Think of yourself as a scientist.

Remember the Following Guidelines

“Follow the medium” – How does the medium determine the shape of your community?
“Follow the natives” – How do the users utilize technical features, and what do their various practices

mean to them?

S.P.E.A.K.I.N.G. – Think about the setting, tools, participants involved in a “ritual.” Think about the meaning that the community assigns to that ritual.

Com 470 Paper 2: Digital Ethnography

Requirements

– 2-3 pages of analysis, 12pt font, double spaced, etc
– On top of that, include your notes about the hashtag. They should be at least a page long.

– Don’t name any of your research subjects by name. Keep them anonymous. Speak in general terms about your participants, whenever possible.

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