[6.1] Engaging students in media ethnography

[6.2] What do media ethnographers study?

[6.3] Conducting media ethnographies

[6.4] Research methods for conducting media ethnographies

[6.5] Final Task

[6.6] References

Powerpoints

[6.3.1] For a glossary of terms used in ethnographic research, see fieldworking.com.

[6.3.2]

[6.3.3, 6.3.4] For a discussion of methods for studying places or institutions employed in the very useful first year college composition textbook, Fieldworking (Cheresi-Smith & Sunstein, 2002), see Field Working Online and Field Working Online: URLs

[6.3.5]

Folklore studies (research on local folklore is related to media ethnography in that it examines the ways in which local social practices reflect the culture of a particular place or region):

[6.3.6] American Folklore Society
[6.3.7] American Folklife Center
[6.3.8] American Memory Project
[6.3.9] CARTS: Cultural Arts Resources for Folk Arts in Education
[6.3.10] Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
[6.3.11] Wisconsin Folks
[6.3.12] Louisiana Voices: An Educators Guide to Exploring our Communities and Traditions

For further reading on general ethnographic/fieldwork methods with students:

[6.3.13]

[6.3.14] Pfitzner, A. (2002). Preparing students to become invested members of their community.

[6.3.15]

The following are some media texts students could study:

Video games

[6.3.16] Google: video games
[6.3.17] The Sims OnLine
[6.3.18] One player, Melissa Maerz, in an article in City Pages, described her experience playing The Sims Online.
[6.3.19]
[6.3.20] Game Culture
[6.3.21]
[6.3.22] Game Journals: blog about games
[6.3.23]
[6.3.24] WomenGamers
[6.3.25] Digital Games Research Association

[6.3.26] For a study of female computer games, see From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Further Reflections

[6.3.27] DVD: Gamers: Clans, Mods, and a Cultural Revolution (documentary on gamers)

[6.3.28]

[6.3.29] Ahuna, C. (2001). Online Game communities are social in nature

[6.3.30]

[6.3.30a] Torill Mortensen, dissertation research on online game identities,
Pleasures of the Player: Flow and Control in Online Games".
[6.3.30b] Constance Steinkuehler: research on MMOG’s
[6.3.30c] Constance Steinkuehler: Learning in MMOG’s
[6.3.30d] Constance Steinkuehler: Study of players of MMOG, Lineage
[6.3.30e] The Daedalus Project: The Psychology of MMORPGS
[6.3.30f] Digital Games Research Association: conference papers
[6.3.30g] International Association for Games Education and Research
[6.3.30h] Montreal GameCode Project Blog: cultural influence of games
[6.3.30i] Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media
[6.3.30j] Games for the Web: Ethnography of Massively Multiplayer
On-line Games: college student papers on playing games
[6.3.30k] Valerie Walkerdine, Angela Thomas and David Studdert, University of Western Sydney, Young Children And Video Games: Dangerous Pleasures And Pleasurable Danger
[6.3.30l] Tom Chick: MMOs: Building Whole Societies         
[6.3.30m] Clive Thompson: economics of the games industry
[6.3.30n] Edward Castronova: economics of the games industry
[6.3.30o] Simon Bradford and Nic Crowe, Brunel University: research study of players’ participation in the on-line, role-play game, Runescape, found that players were creating new friends through hat exchanges, explore experiences not available to them, and adopted alternative gender identities
[6.3.30p] Media Education Foundation: Game Over: Gender, Race & Violence in Video Games

Further reading

Castronova, E.  (2005). Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Juul, J.  (2005).  Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Fan members/clubs

[6.3.31]

[6.3.32]

[6.3.33, 6.3.34]

[6.3.35] Mary Hocks (2003) cites the example of an online dissertation research report by Christine Boese (1998), a study of the fan culture of the television series, Xena, Warrior Princess.

[6.3.36] For links to the mythological intertextual links, see Xena Online Resources.

[6.3.37] Web-site links such as the Whoosh fan magazine provide funs with a lot of articles about background information on intertextual links. Gwenllian-Jones (2003) notes that the journal:

For other Xena sites:

[6.3.38] Oxygen.com
[6.3.39] Xenafan.com
[6.3.40] Xena.com
[6.3.41] Xena Online Resources
[6.3.42] XENA Logomancy

[6.3.43] Star Trek fan clubs/activities

[6.3.44]

Lord of the Ring resources:

[6.3.45] “One ring to rule them all”: Pre-viewers and pre-texts of the Lord of the Rings films.
[6.3.46] Lordoftherings.net
[6.3.47] Tolkien-movies.com
[6.3.47a] The fanfiction.net site contains thousands of fanfictions as well as sharing of users’ favorite authors, stories, bands, video games, anime series, and home page links
[6.3.47b] Rebecca Black: Online Fanfiction: What Technology and Popular Culture Can Teach Us About Writing and Literacy Instruction
[6.3.47c]
[6.3.47d] Audiences also use fictional blogs as material to create dialogue for fanfiction characters
[6.3.47e] Angela Thomas Blurring and Breaking through the Boundaries of Narrative, Literacy and Identity in Adolescent Fan Fiction

[6.3.48] For television program fan clubs, see Fandom.tv

[6.3.49, 6.3.50] Soap opera fan clubs: About.com and Soapcentral.com

[6.3.51]

[6.3.51a] Fansites.org: Directory of fansites

[6.3.51b] The Sims: Fansites

[6.3.51c] Hollywood.com: Movie-star fansites

[6.3.51d] Grey’s Anatomy: TV show fansite

[6.3.52] For an article on a B-52’s fan club, see citypages.com

[6.3.53] For Nicolas Gipe’s study of a rock band’s fan club, see geocities.com

[6.3.54] Bale, J., Virtual fandoms; Futurescapes of football.

[6.3.55] Pradstaller, F. (2003). Virtual proximity: Creating connection in an online fan Community. Gnovis: Journal of Communication, Culture, and Technology.

Internet chat rooms

[6.3.56] For on-line Cybercultures, see Cybersoc.com

[6.3.57] Corante.com

[6.3.58]

[6.3.59] Based on analysis language use in a “Cybersphere” MOO chat space, Angela Dudfield noted that language use in this text is highly complex and sophisticated.

[6.3.60]

[6.3.61] Crichton, S. & Kinash, S. (2003). Virtual ethnography: Interactive interviewing online as method. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 29(2).

[6.3.62] For a discussion of what constitutes “public”: Beau Lebens, Ethnographic Ethics.

Research on Chat-Room Interactions

[6.3.63] Bibliography on chat communication

[6.3.64]

[6.3.65] Baird, E. (1996). "Ain't gotta do nothin but be brown and die " - Introduction to the Internet and an American Indian Chat Room. CMC Magazine 5 (7)

[6.3.66]

[6.3.67]

[6.3.68] Chenault, B. (1998). Developing interpersonal and emotional relationships via computer-mediated communication. CMC Magazinede

[6.3.69] la Harpe, R. & Mackenzie, A. (2002). Chat rooms as an academic teaching technique.

[6.3.70]

[6.3.71] Murphy, K, & Collins, M. (1999). Communication conventions in institutional electronic chats. First Monday, 2(11).

[6.3.72]

[6.3.73]

[6.3.74]

[6.4.74a] Virtual Proximity: Creating Connection in an Online Fan Club: study of the Adam Clayton Fan Club

[6.4.74b] Julian Dibbell: excerpts from My Tiny Life: descriptions of participation in the LambdaMOO site

Organizations/resource sites focusing on research on audience use of the Internet:

[6.3.75]
[6.3.76] First Monday
[6.3.77] The Journal of Virtual Environments
[6.3.78] Cybersociology
[6.3.79] Journal of Online Behavior
[6.3.80] Association of Internet Researchers
[6.3.81]
[6.3.82] Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies
[6.3.83] Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
[6.3.84] Cybergeography Research
[6.3.85]
[6.3.86] Cyberculture, identity, and gender resources
[6.3.87] Net Culture Site
[6.3.88] Association of Internet Researchers: Listserves on Internet Research

For further reading on Internet audience research:

Ayers, M., & McCaughey, M. (Eds.). (2003). Cyberactivism: Online activism in theory and practice. New York: Routledge.

Bell, D., & Kennedy, B. (Eds.). (2000). The cybercultures reader. New York: Routledge.

Chayko, M. (2002). Connecting: How we form social bonds and communities in the Internet age. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Flanagan, M., & Booth, A. (2002). Reload: Rethinking women + cyberculture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Hawisher, G., & Selfe, C. (2000). Global literacies and the World-Wide Web. New York: Routledge.

Holeton, R. (1998). Composing cyberspace: Identity, community, and knowledge in the electronic age. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill

Jones, S. G., (Ed.). (1998). Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting computer-mediated communication and community. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Katz, J.E., & R.E. Rice. (2002). Social consequences of Internet use: Access, involvement and interaction. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Kendall, L.  (2002).  Hanging out in the virtual pub: Masculinities and relationships online.  Berkeley, CA: University of California Press

Klotz, R. J. (2004). The politics of Internet communication. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Kolko, B. E., Nakamura, L., & Rodman, G. B. (Eds.). (2000). Race in cyberspace. New York: Routledge.

Lueg, C, & Fisher, D. (Eds.). (2003). From Usenet to cowebs: Interacting with social information spaces, Readings in Cscw. London: Springer Verlag

McCaughey, M, & Ayers, M. D. (Eds.). (2003). Cyberactivism: Online activism in theory and practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Miller, D., & Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: An ethnographic approach. Oxford, UK: Berg.

Nakamura, L. (2002). Cybertypes: Race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge.

Rheingold, H. (2000). The virtual community: Homesteading on the electronic frontier. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Smith, M. A., & Kollock, P. (Eds). (1999). Communities in cyberspace. New York: Routledge.

Sudweeks, F., McLaughlin, M., & Rafaeli, S. (Eds.). (1998) . Network and netplay: Virtual groups on the Internet. Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press.

Turkle, S. (1996). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

Wardrip-Fruin, N., & Montfort, N. (Eds.). (2003). The new media reader. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Werry, C., & Mowbray, M. (Eds.). (2001). Online communities: Commerce, community action and the virtual university. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Talk-radio shows

[6.3.89] Yahoo.com Directory: News and Media: Radio Programs

[6.3.90] Ruohomaa, E. (2002). Radio as a (domestic) medium: Towards new concepts of the radio medium.

For further reading:

Barnard, S. (2000). Studying radio. London: Arnold.

Fitzgerald, R., & Housley, W. (2002). Identity, categorisation and sequential organisation: the sequential and categorial flow of identity in a radio phone-in’, Discourse and Society 13: 579-602.

Hester, S. & Fitzgerald, R. (1999). Category, predicate and contrast: some organisational features in a radio talk show. In P. Jalbert (Ed.). Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis No 5. Oxford, MD: University Press of America.

Hutchby, I. (1996) Confrontation Talk: arguments, asymmetries and power on talk radio. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Scannell, P. (Ed.). (1991). Broadcast talk. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Thornborrow, J. (2001). Questions, control and the organisation of talk in calls to a radio phone-in. Discourse Studies 3 (1).

Tolson, A. (Ed.). (2001). Television talk shows: Discourse, performance, spectacle. Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum

Teen e-zines/Web pages

Various teen e-zines or Web pages geared for adolescents:

[6.3.91] Blast! Online
[6.3.92]
[6.3.93] gURL
[6.3.94] Politics4teens
[6.3.95] Everytn.com
[6.3.96] Get Help
[6.3.97] Teenink
[6.3.98] Grip Magazine
[6.3.99] Teenmag.com
[6.3.100] Teenreads.com: The Book Bag (information about young adult novels, authors, and entertainers)
[6.3.101]
[6.3.102] Wave

[6.3.103] Guzzetti, B., Campbell, S., Duke, C., & Irving, J. (2003), Understanding Adolescent Literacies: A Conversation with Three Zinesters, on readingonline.org.

[6.3.104] Another study by Barbara Duncan and Kevin Leander (2002), “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Literacy, Consumerism, and Paradoxes of Position on gURL.com,” on readingonline.org.

[6.3.104a] Knobel, M. and Lankshear, C. (2001). Cut, paste, publish: The production and consumption of zines. In D. Alvermann (Ed.), New Literacies and Digital Technologies: A Focus on Adolescent Learners. New York: Peter Lang

[6.3.104b] Sinor, J.  (2003).  Adolescent Girls' Zines: Uncommon Pages and Practices. ERIC: ED462707      

For collections of zines produced primarily by females (Knobel & Lankshear, 2002):

[6.3.105] The Book of Zines
[6.3.106] Zinos
[6.3.107]
[6.3.108] E-Zine List
[6.3.108a] http://www.bomp.com/BompbooksMemoirs.html
[6.3.108b] Course syllabus for courses using writing of music autobiographies
[6.3.108c] http://altzines.tripod.com/index_t.html

For further reading on female zines:

Bayerl, K. (2000). Mags, zines, and gURLs. The exploding world of girls’ publications. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 29 (3-4), 287-292.

Comstock, M. (2001). Grrrl zine networks: Re-composing spaces of authority, gender, and culture. Journal of Advanced Composition, 21(2), 383-409.

Driscoll, C. (2002). Girls: Feminine adolescence in popular culture & cultural theory. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Drive Slowly, Appear Quickly. (2001). Exhibit at Space 1026 Gallery in Philadelphia, PA.

Green, E., & Adam, A. (2001). Virtual gender: Technology, consumption and identity. New York: Routledge.

McRobbie, A. (1999). Shut up and dance: Youth culture and changing modes of femininity. In M. Shiach (Ed.), Feminism and cultural studies. New York: Oxford University Press.

“Riot Grrrl Retrospective.” EMP collection.

Robbins, T. (1999). From girls to Grrrlz. A history of women's comics from teens to zines. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Schilt, K. (2003). “I’ll resist with every inch and every breath”: Girls and zine making as a form of resistance. Youth & Society, 35(1), 71-97.

Scott, K. (1998). “Girls need modems!” Cyberculture and women’s Ezines.

Stern, S. R. (2002). Virtually speaking: Girls’ self-disclosure on the WWW. Women’s Studies in Communication, 25(2), 223-253.

Music clubs

[6.3.109]

[6.3.110]

[6.3.110a] Musicfanclubs.org: fan clubs
[6.3.110b] Enst.Web: Music fan clubs
[6.3.110c] Simplythebest: Music fan clubs
[6.3.110d] Yahoo: Music fan clubs
[6.3.110e] Teen Zone: Music fan clubs
[6.3.110f] Band Blogs
[6.3.110g] Blog: Behind the Lyrics
[6.3.110h]  Randolph Schmid, popularity of hit songs influenced by “bandwagon effect”

For further reading:

Berger, H. M. (1999). Metal, rock, and jazz: Perception and the
Phenomenology of Musical Experience. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Shank, B. (1994). Dissonant identities: The rock’n’roll scene in Austin, Texas.
Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Thornton, S. (1995). Club cultures: Music, media and subcultural capital. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Sports events/rock concerts

[6.3.111] Emmons, M. (2002, June 23). A question of culture: UC-Santa Cruz student examines the drive behind NASCAR fans' loyalty. San Jose Mercury News.

[6.3.112] Field ethnography

[6.3.113] NASCAR

[6.3.114] Family of NASCAR fans (fan site)

[6.3.115] Wright, J. (1999). Fixin' to git: One fan’s love affair with NASCAR’s Winston Cup. Durham, NC: Duke University Press (read update since the 1999 publication:

[6.3.116]

For further reading:

Brown, A. (Ed.). (1996). Fanatics!: Power, identity and fandom in football. New York: Routlege.

Carney, G. (Ed.) (1995). Fast food, stock cars, and rock-n-roll: place and space in American pop culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Cavicchi, D. (1998). Tramps like us: Music and meaning among Springsteen fans. New York: Oxford University Press.

DeNora, T. (2001). Music in everyday life. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Jenkins, H. (1997). “Never trust a snake!': WWF wrestling as masculine melodrama. In A. Baker and T. Boyd (Eds.). Out of bounds: Sports, media, and the politics of identity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (cited also in Chapter 4).

Maze, S. (2001). Professional wrestling: Sport and spectacle. Oxford, MS: Mississippi University Press.

Queenan, J. (2003). True believers: The tragic inner life of sports fans. New York: Henry Holt.

Real, M. (1996). Exploring media culture: A guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (chapter on Super Bowl fans).

Vass, J. (2003). Cheering for self: An ethnography of the basketball event. New York: iUniverse.com

Theme or amusement parks/shopping malls

Theme or amusement park sites:

[6.3.117] Disney Destinations
[6.3.118] Disney World
[6.3.119] Mickey Mouse Monopoly
[6.3.120] Six Flags
[6.3.121] Universal Orlando
[8.3.122]
[6.3.123] Paul Bunyan Center

[6.3.124]

[6.3.125] Course syllabus: Susan Seizer, Scripps College, Malls, Movies, and Museums: The Public Sphere in Modern America

[6.3.126]

[6.3.127] Webquest: A Place to Advertise

For further reading:

Campbell, C., & Falk, P. (1997). The shopping experience. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Farrell, J. (2003). One nation under goods: Malls and the seductions of American shopping. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press.

McDowell, L. (1999). Gender, Identity, and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Miller, D. (Ed.). (1998). Shopping, place and identity. New York: Routlege.

Pahl, J. (2003). Shopping malls and other sacred spaces: Putting God in place. New York: Brazos.

Underhill, P. (2004). Call of the mall: The author of Why We Buy on the geography of shopping. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Wrigley, N., & Lowe, M. (2002). Reading retail: A geographical perspective on retailing and consumption spaces. London: Arnold.

Space/Place

[6.3.128]

From an ethnographic perspective, the question is how audiences’ perceptions of place and space are influenced by media representations. For example, if audiences believe that casinos are places for entertaining, “fun”/”fantasy” experiences, do they accept that representation and how does that representation influence their perceptions of gambling.

[6.3.129] Part of the interest in the influence of representations of place on people’s practices stems from environmental concerns with how people perceive environmental destruction through global warming, as portray in, for example, the science fiction film, The Day After Tomorrow.

[6.3.130]

[6.3.131]

[8.3.132] Sacred Space: Learning About and Creating Meaningful Public Spaces

[6.3.133] Perception of Place

[6.3.134] The Evolution of Cultural Landscape

[6.3.135] Explore the Spatial Patterns of Your Hometown

[6.3.136] Cultural Symbols and the Characteristics of Place

[6.3.137]

[6.3.138] Street as Method: Teaching documentary and observation techniques

[6.3.139] Course on surburbia

[6.3.140] Lots of links on topics related to suburbia

[6.3.141]

[6.3.142] Betti-Sue Hertz and Lydia Yee Urban Mythologies: The Bronx Represented Since the 1960

[6.3.143]

[6.3.144] Geo-literacy: Forging New Ground

[6.3.145] Document Durham: Neighborhood Projects

[6.3.146] Exploring Your Community (grades 6-6).

[6.3.147] Webquest: studying an urban neighborhood

[6.3.148] Activity: Observing shoppers in a mall

For further reading on place/space in film/literature:

Couldry, N. & McCarthy, A. (Eds.) (2003). MediaSpace: Place, scale and culture in a media age. New York: Routledge.

Davis, M. (1999). Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster. New York: Vintage.

Gauntlett, D. (1997). Video Critical: Children, the Environment and Media Power. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Hochman, J. (1998). Green Cultural Studies: Nature in Film, Novel, and Theory. Boise: University of Idaho Press.

Ingram, D. (2000). Green Screen: Environmentalism and Hollywood Cinema. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.

Lauter, P. (2001). From Walden Pond to Jurassic Park: Activism, Culture, & American Studies. Durham: Duke University Press.

Low, S. M., & Lawrence-Zuniga, D. (Eds.). (2003). The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture. New York: Blackwell.

MacDonald, S. (2001). The Garden in the Machine: A Field Guide to Independent Films about Place. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Martin, D. G. (2000). Constructing place: Cultural hegemonies and media images of an inner-city neighborhood. Urban Geography 21(5), 380-405.

Owens, L. (1997). Mixedblood Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Rosembaum, J. (1995). Moving Places: A Life at the Movies. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Scharff, V. (Ed.). (2003). Seeing Nature through Gender. Lawrence: U of Kansas P.

Wilson, C., & Groth, P. (Eds.). (2003). Everyday America: Cultural landscape studies after J. B. Jackson. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Zonn, L. (Ed). (2000). Place Images in the Media: A Geographical Appraisal. Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield.