Digital ethnography

Digital ethnography is a way of portraying real communities through narrative in digital media. Interactive, computer-based storytelling lets audiences experience another culture firsthand instead of only learning facts about it. The book is written for social scientists who want to strengthen their ethnographic practice.

It draws on cultural anthropology, folklore, digital humanities, and digital heritage studies. Its core is a set of case studies that examine applied projects in depth, including efforts that combine cultural heritage with computer games. Web links provide multimedia examples and supporting materials such as project plans and design documents for planning and carrying out digital ethnography work.

The book also explains newer tools, including database development and XML coding, and connects the literature on cyber-ethnography to practical examples. It addresses the digital divide among researchers, which few books in the field do. It argues that technological resources can widen research beyond the quantitative methods usually associated with technology.

A central theme is that studying culture involves feeling and sensing as well as thinking. The authors contend that the digital age supports this kind of understanding rather than getting in its way.