The application of ethnographic method in the study of digital media

Abstract

Digital media raise methodological issues of some relevance. The following article tries to be a contribution to the qualitative analysis of Social Networks through the use of media ethnography. We deal with issues such as time and space and with how these dimension get transformed in digital environments; the very definition of environment and social network; an effective communication; the constant flow between online and off-line activities; the role of the “digital” researcher, his/her influence on the subjects’ actions, his/her actual competence about the media and the balance of the management of situations that cross online and off-line environments, ethics and the protection of privacy. The figure of the ethnographic researcher changes, while ethnography represents – perhaps – one of the most effective methods for a research that maintains a phenomenological basis, helping to understand the meaning and value that certain tools, used for specific purposes, can take on for the youngest users.