Lecture on Digital Ethnography for Engaged and Ethical Research (hybrid)

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Practical information

Practical information

The Utrecht crosscutting Sectorplan ‘welfare, Participation, and citizenship in a digital world’ and the Utrecht Sectorplan Society and Behavior are joining forces to organize a lecture series on research methods in a digital world.

We would like to invite you to the first seminar on ‘Digital Ethnography for Engaged and Ethical Research’ by dr. Donya Alineyad. Digital ethnography is a research approach that helps us understand how people use and make sense of digital technologies. Ethnographic methods involve the researcher being curious about, and deeply immersing themselves into, the ordinary settings in which research participants live their everyday lives. Using ethnography to study digital technologies can involve anything from interviewing a respondent in an online game world, to observing how a respondent uses their smartphone while at home.

The ethnographic mode of investigation can reveal subtle insights that are inaccessible through many other methods and research techniques (such as surveys, experiments, content analysis, and data mining). This session aims to spark and guide a conversation about how digital ethnographic approaches can serve publicly engaged and ethical research in/about digital societies.

LEVEL: Basic/medium

METHOD: Qualitative

ABOUT THE LECTURER: Donya Alinejad researches the role of digital media in society and culture. With a background in social and cultural anthropology and a focus on social media platforms, Donya has conducted ethnographic field research and used mixed methods to study digital media in multiple countries. Donya is currently Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Society at the Media and Culture Studies Department at Utrecht University. She is investigating how social media platforms shape public communication about scientific expertise around politically contested issues such as climate change and Covid-19.

PREREQUISITES: No prior knowledge is required.

REGISTRATION: If you wish to attend the seminar, please register here.