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Photo of library in Second Life with a number of avatars engaged in a Digital Ethnography discussion.

Digital Cultures

2013/01/29 Written by Digital Ethnography

Digital Cultures / Discussion Group Where do Virtual Babies and Digital Ethnography intersect? Besides iRez, they intersect in an ongoing discussion group in Second Life, Digital Cultures. Founded by Tom Boellstorff and hosted by Tredi Felisimo, every other week this group spends an hour in conversation about a topic in Digital Ethnography and related ideas [...]

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Tom Boellstorff 2: Is it Fierce? Or, Hotness Based Research

2012/10/18 Written by Digital Ethnography

One of my favorite parts of the conversation Kathleen Cool and I had with Tom Boellstorff was about what I like to jokingly refer to as hotness based research. I wonder if any of the readers here have ever had this problem I encounter when I attend parties or events where I am with any [...]

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Katie Vizenor, Tom Boellstorff, and Kathleen Cool sit in a Second Life living room like space with couches and posters of Boellstorff's books on the wall.

Tom Boellstorff 1: Exploring the Digital Jungle

2012/10/15 Written by Digital Ethnography

In 2008 Tom Boellstorff published Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Last month his latest book Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook Of Method, cowritten with Bonnie Nardi, Celia Pearce, and T.L. Taylor was published. Recently, Kathleen Cool and I sat down with him (in Second Life, of course) [...]

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Whose Rule is it Anyway? An Intro to Digital Citizenship

2012/08/21 Written by Digital Ethnography

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the term Digital Citizens. That term is typically used to talk about how people in the real world are learning to incorporate technology into their lives in order to engage in social, community and political activities and efforts. Avenues for this participation include social networks like Facebook, [...]

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Data Crunch

2012/08/15 Written by Digital Ethnography

I know, I know, I haven’t been as prompt with my blog postings this week. Here’s the deal – a paper of mine, based on my dissertation work, was accepted for presentation at the Qualitative Report Conference next year. The acceptance got me excited and when I get excited, I become a little OCD. So [...]

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Virtually Ethical

2012/07/16 Written by Digital Ethnography

As a qualitative researcher, one of my primary areas of concern when conducting research in a RL or virtual environment setting is ethics – in other words, ensuring that participants are treated ethically and with the respect they deserve. Ethics has also been, interestingly, the primary barrier when conducting my research. As many of you [...]

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Transparency

2012/07/05 Written by Digital Ethnography

I’ve been pondering how to make research more transparent for a few years now, and I have to say that ever since Vaneeesa put out the idea of using a blog for data collection, I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I’m just not sure how the big bad IRB will see it. After all, they [...]

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Painting of a large group of people in conversation in a large salon

The Virtual Salon

2012/07/02 Written by Digital Ethnography

All this talk about Salons and blogs got me thinking about the role of virtual worlds in all of this. Ultimately, most of the learning that occurs in virtual worlds is informal and social in nature; people from different cultures and backgrounds with a common goal, idea, etc. get together and talk. Apart from the [...]

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Posters, Videos and Other News

2012/06/26 Written by Digital Ethnography

First off, I want to thank everyone for “liking” my first post. Such a show of support is not only encouraging for a “newbie” like me, but also proves my thesis that a sense of community and in turn, emotional attachment to a community (whether virtual or actual) is a huge motivator for retention. Since [...]

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Photo montage of Kathleen Cool's avatar Kathleen Koolhaven and actor Jean Seberg

New Girl on the Blog

2012/06/25 Written by Digital Ethnography

Ok, so Vaneeesa and I started talking about my dissertation and failed blog a few weeks ago and long story short, she invited me to her blog. You may ask – who is this girl?! Truth be told, I’m just another graduate student trying to change the world with her research lol. For those of [...]

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