Conducting digital fieldwork: challenges and new possibilities?

Monday 01 March 2021, 9am - 11am

Teams

Join the talk here.

When thinking about research with human participants (especially in Social Sciences and Humanities), in-person fieldwork often first comes to mind, whether via more or less long-term fieldwork, locally or internationally, through conversations and interactions of various kinds. However, in-person research is not the only way to conduct fieldwork, and researchers have started to explore digital opportunities for some time now. Digital technologies offer multiple forms of access to archives, online resources, communication means, social media, discussion forums, remote interviews, and so on. 

In contexts where in-person fieldwork proves difficult due to safety concerns, lack of financial means, political instability, or particularly so in the current Covid-19 pandemic, digital fieldwork offers opportunities to overcome these challenges, and can even prove a productive means to creatively think about your research.

In this event, a number of speakers, from PhD researchers to early career and more senior academics, will share their experiences of how they conduct digital fieldwork. They will reflect on the process of conducting online research and digital fieldwork, discussing the methodologies they work with or often had to create, as well as the opportunities and possible obstacles they encounter in their work, and how they may have overcome these challenges. This will lead to what we hope will be a fruitful conversation with the audience, gathering practical advice and useful tips. We aim to create a safe space for sharing experiences and engaging in a respectful conversation, where everyone is invited to actively contribute and exchange. 

 

Speakers:

Dr Nadine Zubair

Nadine is the Digital Humanities Manager in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and recently (2020) received a PhD from AMA, in Art History and World Art Studies. Prior to returning to academia for this higher degree, she studied in Pakistan (MA Archaeology), and America (UPenn: MA Art History; Carnegie Mellon University: MSPPM in Information Systems Management). She also worked in the private sector for a few years (Deloitte Consulting USA) and took time to have and look after 2 children. Her PhD project was funded by the South Asia Decorative Arts and Crafts Collection (SADACC) in Norwich, and was an investigation into fragments of wood-carved architecture from the Punjab. Her dissertation ended up being nothing like what she had proposed. She wants to share some of that experience with you! 

 

Claire McGee

Claire is a PhD researcher within the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas (AMA). Her research interests include world arts & anthropology, subcultural studies, costuming and performance. Her research focuses on the heavy metal subculture of Botswana, Africa, which is largely known for its distinctive, and sometimes elaborate, cowboy-style costuming. She will discuss her experiences of digital fieldwork and how this has aided her research exploring how the online community of the Botswana metal scene has experienced a global pandemic, and how the scene is represented online.

 

Dr Harry Dyer

Harry is a digital sociologist and educational researcher at the University of East Anglia. His research broadly explores the impact of social media on culture, public knowledge, and education. Most recently, his work has been published as a monograph with Springer Nature (2020) in which he proposes a new theoretical framework to consider the relationship between social media and identity. He serves as editor of Digital Culture and Education, and is a co-convener of the British Sociological Association’s Digital Sociology Study Group. He will be discussing some of the recent developments in digital methods and some of the practicalities around data collection online.

 

Dr Lorna Richardson

Lorna is a Lecturer in Digital Humanities in IIH. Her research is an exploration of the interface between digital communications, social media, and concepts of elitism and academic/professional expertise. Her work explores how digital media can support, exclude and contain alternative ideas and lived experience. She will reflect on her current research on endometriosis, and will be talking about traumatic fieldwork and experiences from the Endo Project.

Join the talk here.

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