CYBER
SPACE
ETHNO-
GRAPHY

Dr. Max Forte

CONCORDIA
UNIVERSITY

Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology

CLASS SCHEDULE

Week #1: Monday, January 5

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

[examine the website and course requirements very closely; set up a blog (your research journal for this course); please commence reading for the following week]

Week #2: Monday, January 12

VIRTUALITY, CYBERCULTURE, and VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHY

Readings:

Hine, Christine. (2000). Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525221/Hine?secret_password=qpbbu5ew2t4j408ir93
Hine, Christine. (1998). “Virtual Ethnography”. Paper presented at the Internet Research and Information for Social Scientists conference, University of Bristol, 25-27 March. At

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/archive/iriss/papers/paper16.htm

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525222/HINEiriss?secret_password=552teiq7xqojnsybxhz
Hine, Christine. (n.d.). Virtual ethnography.

http://www.cirst.uqam.ca/pcst3/PDF/Communications/HINE.PDF

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525223/HINEve?secret_password=qm1fh42j21qmzzb4qid
Silver, David. (n.d.) “Introducing Cyberculture”. Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies.

http://rccs.usfca.edu/intro.asp

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525177/Silver?secret_password=2kj8wcye7gt62iokofhh
Shields, Rob. (2006). “Virtualities”. Theory, Culture & Society 23 (2): 284-286.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525238/SHIELDSVirtualities?secret_password=ylsp7nxerajy7e71l6k

Week #3: Monday, January 19

DOING VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHIES, Part 1: VIRTUAL WORLDS

Film: AVATARA (72 mins.) -- shown in class, but you can also see it in advance by clicking on the title or watching it on the front page of this site (at the very bottom)

take notes on this film
discussion of pre-assigned questions about the film

Readings:

Forte, Maximilian C. (2004). Review of Avatara, (a “virtual ethnographic” film). Visual Studies, 19 (1), 116-118.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525234/Review-Avatar-A?secret_password=2jnzgiaq7iixide4tca6
Bell, Mark W. (2008). “Toward a Definition of 'Virtual Worlds'.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 1 (1) July.

http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/83/214

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525203/Bell?secret_password=hrxz8zdmg22wkvcbtto
Maffesoli, Michel. (2008). “Second Life and Hyperreality.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 1 (2), November.

https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/354/264

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525228/MAFFESOLI?secret_password=c2bs0ltbausyjc4112l
Boellstorff, Tom. (2008). Coming of Age in Second Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Ch. 3.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525211/boellstorff?secret_password=1s72dq662rmsph2b4nom

Monday, January 19, 2009

• Last day to add winter term courses

• Deadline for withdrawal with tuition refund from winter term courses

Week #4: Monday, January 26

DOING VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHIES, Part 2: RESEARCH ETHICS

Readings:

Ess, Charles and the AoIR Ethics Working Group. (2002). Ethical Decision-Making and Internet Research: Recommendations from the AoIR Ethics Working Committee. Association of Internet Researchers. (Read esp. pages 1-10)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525217/Ess?secret_password=1lv8e8elh64vwpoeur0b

Frankel, Mark S. and Sanyin Siang. (1999). “Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research on the Internet”. A Report of a Workshop, June 10-11, Washington DC. American Association for the Advancement of Science.

http://www.aaas.org/spp/sfrl/projects/intres/report.pdf

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525219/Frankel?secret_password=189hgzwf7i0u2i0yugg7
Danet, Brenda. (2002). “Studies of Cyberpl@y: ethical and methodological aspects.”

http://atar.mscc.huji.ac.il/~msdanet/cyberpl@y/

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525214/DANET?secret_password=ebd5axwbvp2ib8p9595

Research Paper Prospectus due in class
remember to include your completed ethics protocol form if you are doing an online ethnography – see the course website for the form

Week #5: Monday, February 2

DOING VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHIES, Part 3: METHODS, 1/2

Readings:

Paccagnella, Luciano. (1997). “Getting the Seat of Your Pants Dirty: Strategies for Ethnographic Research on Virtual Communities”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 3 (1).

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol3/issue1/paccagnella.html

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525233/PACCAGNELLA?secret_password=1vi8ifidzjjjhwxvi1bi
Garton, Laura; Haythornthwaite, Caroline and Barry Wellman. (1997). “Studying Online Social Networks”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 3 (1) at

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol3/issue1/garton.html

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525220/Garton?secret_password=1ziozr4bkhh0gq6gv0ea
Rybas, Natalia & Gajjala, Radhika (2007). “Developing Cyberethnographic Research Methods for Understanding Digitally Mediated Identities.” [33 paragraphs] Forum: Qualitative Social Research 8 (3)

http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/282/619

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525236/RYBAS?secret_password=17h01ywy7g2fq0u8a589
Megens, Helen and Brian Martin. (2003). “Cybermethods: An Assessment”. First Monday at

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1035/956

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525229/MEGENS?secret_password=cp15fjh17u0tkrflcuv

Week #6: Monday, February 9

DOING VIRTUAL ETHNOGRAPHIES, Part 4: METHODS, 2/2

Readings:

Kivits, Joëlle. (2005). “Online Interviewing and the Research Relationship.” In Christine Hine, ed., Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet, pp. 35-50. Oxford: Berg.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525224/kivitsch3?secret_password=26u5w5t1wg373mvpnlu1
Rutter, Jason and Smith, Gregory W.H. (2005). “Ethnographic Presence in a Nebulous Setting.” In Christine Hine, ed., Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet, pp. 81-92. Oxford: Berg.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525235/ruttersmith6?secret_password=1dhca6e5g3sp284vk2qg
Beaulieu, Anne. (2005). “Sociable Hyperlinks: An Ethnographic Approach to Connectivity.” In Christine Hine, ed., Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet, pp. 183-198. Oxford: Berg.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525201/Beau-Lieu-11?secret_password=14ptjj5zspjyl03xgl40

Week #7: Monday, February 16

CYBERSPACE COMMUNITIES & IDENTITIES

Readings:

Kollock, Peter and Marc A. Smith. (1999). “Communities in Cyberspace.” In Marc Smith and Peter Kollock, eds., Communities in Cyberspace, pp. 3-25. London: Routledge.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525225/KOLLOCK?secret_password=qv73qjahr0kdgi3kmer
Turkle, Sherry. (1995). Life on the Screen. New York: Simon and Schuster.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525198/Turkle?secret_password=p3jukmyif5kfl13vddb
O’Brien, Jodi. (1999). “Writing in the Body: Gender (Re)production in Online Interaction”. In Marc A. Smith and Peter Kollock, eds., Communities in Cyberspace, pp. 76-104. London: Routledge.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525231/Obrien?secret_password=tuw2xi66r4hqqyifuga

Optional:

Nakamura, Lisa (n.d.). “Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet”. Online paper archived at

http://web.archive.org/web/20040411215217/www.hnet.uci.edu/
mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525230/Nakamura?secret_password=2973vzzz4pti1tmf1dzx

Week #8: Monday, February 23

Mid-Term Break

Friday, February 27

President’s Holiday: University closed

Week #9: Monday, March 2

SOCIAL NETWORK SITES: SOCIAL CAPITAL, SURVEILLANCE

Readings:

boyd, danah m. and Nicole B. Ellison. (2007). “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (1), at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525213/Boyd?secret_password=1s91e2qdzt0e2sqhqycy
Ellison, Nicole B.; Steinfield, Charles and Cliff Lampe. (2007). “The Benefits of Facebook ‘Friends’: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12: 1143-1168.

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525216/Ellison?secret_password=26ba8v5nf1265madw7kj
Lange, Patricia G. (2007). “Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social networking on YouTube”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (1) at

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/lange.html

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525226/Lange?secret_password=1ggvhndspy5qbvhh0ut2

Week #10: Monday, March 9

ONLINE NARRATIVE NETWORKING

Readings:

Doostdar, Alireza. (2004). “ ‘The Vulgar Spirit of Blogging’: On Language, Culture, and Power in Persian Weblogestan.” American Anthropologist 106 (4): 651-662.

http://www.doostdar.com/articles/vsob.pdf

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525215/DOOSTDAR?secret_password=ksy1oudd065dy7t5maa
Schmidt, Jan. (2007). “Blogging Practices: An Analytical Framework”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12: 1409-1427.

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/schmidt.html

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525237/Schmidt?secret_password=t1lsav6fj7cyrhgs2o2
Baker, Nicholson. (2008). “The Charms of Wikipedia.” The New York Review of Books, 55 (4), March 20.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9525199/Baker?secret_password=27o7wg3duvzsrnzsl8pj

(presentations will be scheduled for the following weeks, on March 9)

Week #11: Monday, March 16

PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

4-5 consecutive presentations
approx. 10 mins. each
break
questions to presenters and general discussion

Monday, March 16, 2009

• Last day for academic withdrawal from two-term and winter-term courses.

Week #12: Monday, March 23

PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

4-5 consecutive presentations
approx. 10 mins. each
break
questions to presenters and general discussion

Week #13: Monday, March 30

PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

4-5 consecutive presentations
approx. 10 mins. each
break
questions to presenters and general discussion

Week #14: Monday, April 6

PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

4-5 consecutive presentations
approx. 10 mins. each
break
questions to presenters and general discussion