The 24 hours in cyberspace project examined how the internet affects people’s lives. It is a bit shallow, but it’s a good start to examining the issues. Great pictures too.

No, then The internet, an ethnographic approach (2000), an ethnographic study with some interesting conclusions:

– There is no such thing as the Internet. There are a number of different media and contents which people assemble into ‘their’ Internet. There is however a clear debate about the Internet.

– Our findings directly contradict the concepts of virtual reality and cyberspace, which assume a radical separation of on-line and off-line worlds. Instead we propose four perspectives for understanding current developments.

– The Internet has considerably strengthened the nuclear family throughout the Trinidadian Diaspora, allowing closer relations between parents and children and between siblings. It has had an equally strong impact on the extended family.

I’m doing the Open University course on ethnography:

-Ethnographers are very conscious of the ethical implications of their work. But then they seem to think that getting permission solves that. As if.

-Ethnographers are slow. A typical project takes a few years. Partly, that’s because of the academicness of it: grants have to be applied for, literature has to be studied. Sometimes I can’t help thinking; just get on with it!

-Ethnography is fun for the same reason usability is fun. You get to deal with people.