Today I had the random idea to search YouTube.com for the keyword “ethnography” to see what, if anything, it would come up with. The first two videos that were listed intrigued me. The videos are products of Kansas State University’s anthropology department. The students and faculty of that department have created an on-going project focusing specifically on digital ethnography.
I think this type of project is so exciting and can come up with really interesting results. The videos are short and to the point but can also inspire further research or interest. I myself recently, for the first time, created a short ethnographic video. The analysis done in the video editing stage is valuable practice. There is something about merging, cutting, and pasting video clips together that feels more “hands on” than working in a 2D surface compiling data and writing reports. The results can be seen by a larger audience of people who may not be willing to sit down and read a book-length report on your research. In fact, the video may work well as a tool to get people to want to read further into your research. In the second video, “A Vision of Students Today”, the research team could have compiled their data and analysis in a long detailed report, however, their message is still strongly conveyed in this five minute video. Digital ethnography is definitely going to be an important tool of future research and communication and hopefully more projects like Kansas State University’s are soon implemented at other colleges.
Introduction to the project —
A Vision of Students Today…
There is more information about the project at: http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=119