Digital cultures are sets of beliefs, value systems and behaviors adopted, practiced and displayed in mediums including digital devices, online spaces and computer-mediated communication. These cultures come in various forms and can revolve around different artifacts from games, to fan communities and social media platforms. In this seminar we'll be looking at the consumer-oriented and commercialized practices which manifest in these digital cultures.
Due to the digital nature of these cultures, virtual ethnography is one of the most fitting qualitative methods to study and document their intricacies. Throughout the seminar students will observe and study a variety of digital cultures, utilizing relevant media and communication theories and frameworks such as the metaprocesses of commercialization and mediatization (Krotz, 2007). In the end, students will learn how to practice virtual ethnography and will conduct a short ethnography of a digital culture of choice.
- Trainer/in: Ahmed Elmezeny