The Cyber Field and the Search for Methods of Virtual Ethnography (Using the Example of Ethnic Identity Research)

Abstract

The study of digital identity began with the proliferation of computers, the Internet, computer games, and various communication tools such as chats, messengers, and online mailings. By the end of the 1990s, the analysis of network interaction became a separate phenomenon of research discourse. One of the topics of discussion was the development of a methodology for conducting ethnographic field research. This article is written in line with this discourse, it is devoted to the study and search for methods of cyberethnography. Based on her own experience of fieldwork in the virtual field, the author concludes that today’s virtual environment offers broad opportunities for research — the application of qualitative and quantitative methods, conducting surveys, and compiling databases. At the same time, working in the cyber field reveals a number of problems: the need to supplement it with offline research; the presence of a huge amount of data that requires ordering and structuring; the rapid obsolescence of the material; ethical issues. The “digital” and “physical” fields are complementary today — combining methods from the repertoire of cyberethnography and traditional ethnography makes it possible to conduct a full-fledged ethnographic study with its specifics, details, and contexts. Cyberspace is becoming a challenge and offers additional opportunities for both communities and researchers, and the latter need time to accept new conditions for development, adapt methods and apply them to scientific research.