Nethnography: A Naturalistic Approach Towards Online Interaction

Introduction

The introduction of computing technology in recent times produced deep changes on communication processes and practices. The first generations of analysts presented a range of positions regarding the study of these new media environments, evidencing very often the limitations of deterministic evaluations of these social facts (e.g. Lévy, 1993; Rheingold, 1993; Turkle, 1995). The concrete uses of these new technological resources created other negotiations regarding meanings and identities. The introduction of the personal computer connected to the worldwide Web brought new ways of dealing with old matters. The interaction protocols and the identity production devices presented by these phenomena demand proper techniques of interpretation. Far from the speculation about the impact of computing technology on human communication, this chapter wishes to present some ways to investigate the social uses of digital environments.

In ordinary interaction, face to face or by telephone, people know how to behave in order to sustain or to cause a certain impression among their acquaintances. Even if there are no formally codified rules, there are tacit methods (Garfinkel, 1967) that allow ordinary members of society to expect some specific responses during social situations. Computer-mediated communication (CMC), as a novel medium, demands from its participants a certain degree of improvisation when facing unexpected or new situations. In these cases, patterns of conduct taken from other contexts are adapted, in order to create new tacit rules for behavior within these settings. As these new social environments demand improvisation and adaptation from the participants to deal with unexpected situations, it is argued that it also demands from the analyst a combination or adaptation of methods originally designed to investigate different contexts, in order to fully grasp the specificity of CMC.

The study of social behavior on Internet environments presents a great methodological challenge. A first remark on method refers to the historical period in which the research takes place. These forms of interaction are recent phenomena, and they depart from individual and group strategies not inherited, but acquired through the use and adaptation of already-existing rules, taken from other relational contexts. Such strategies are applied on a case-by-case basis, according to situational demands, prior to an explicit formal or even tacit codification. These rules-in-the-making will consolidate later, as online cultural activities go on.

Thus, the aim of this chapter is to present a methodological perspective through which social interaction in online environments can be studied naturalistically, that is, focusing mainly on the observation of naturally occurring phenomena.

In order to explore the possibilities and limitations of an ethnographic approach applied to the study of online interaction, a brief history of ethnography will first be addressed, including its relation with anthropological theories, and its key methodological assumptions. Next, one of the most frequent methodologies applied to Internet settings is discussed, that is to treat logfiles as the only or main source of data, and some of its consequences are analyzed. In addition, some strategies related to a naturalistic perspective for data analysis are examined. Finally, an example of an ethnographic study is presented which involves participants of a Weblog to illustrate the potential for nethnography to enhance the study of CMC.