Ethnography Online: Natives Practising and Inscribing Community Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The article is an analysis of the methodology used to study a community spawned from an Internet website devoted to a television serial. In the five and a half years the site was in existence, its real-time, linear, archived Posting Board spawned a community. Herein, we discuss how our work at the site offers insights into significant concepts in the practice of ethnography. In particular, we are concerned with such questions as: How much distance is necessary between the ethnographer and her site/subjects? Is distance necessary? Who is inscribing whom? We also discuss the generative problem of anonymity and how this concern has opened up our perceptions of ourselves and our field site.

published proceedings

  • Qualitative Research

altmetric score

  • 5

author list (cited authors)

  • Gatson, S. N., & Zweerink, A.

citation count

  • 42

complete list of authors

  • Gatson, Sarah N||Zweerink, Amanda

publication date

  • August 2004