The Virtual Ethnographer: Fieldwork in Distributed Electronic Environments

This article draws on two studies—one in a distributed corporation and one of an online master's degree program—to outline some of the questions these settings raised and ways in which the ethnographers addressed them in the field.

Abstract

The venues in which we carry out our fieldwork increasingly intertwine real and virtual activities as participants move materials and interactions online. This change in the nature of the field sites we observe requires an enhancement or even rethinking of traditional methodologies for studying work. This article draws on two studies—one in a distributed corporation and one of an online master's degree program—to outline some of the questions these settings raised and ways in which the ethnographers addressed them in the field. Technology-mediated settings require us to rethink concepts of presence and colocation, just as those we study must rethink them in the course of their own day-to-day interactions.