Week 6 Summary
Hands writing on the ‘Circulation, Networking [and] Flattening’ came to mind this week and can be related to a virtual community. My chosen community is brought together by the belief that the members are equipped with political, moral and spiritual ideologies that can better the world and make it sustainable. As Hand says, cyberspace reduces the limitations of being a lone, lost voice by enabling people that are geographically distant to join together to form a larger, empowered body of people. The possibilities of the cyberculture restructuring boundaries created by a democratic world tied up in bureaucracy are intriguing. I also hold some cynicism that people can hide behind a persona that is not representative of them in the ‘real world’. This is something I wish to investigate further.
Much of this week has been spent observing the multi-faceted dimensions of my community and taking snap shots of what I feel represents the community. Ethically, I feel I have addressed the essential thinking related to being the ethnographer (as outlined on the AoIR website and course content). However, as I become more acquainted with the community I cannot help but make personal assumptions and question whether I agree with/support their practices. For my participation within the community my participation is not guided directly by the literature but something that I am personally, morally comfortable with. I’d go as far as to suggest that whilst my ethnography is conducted with a benevolent attitude I find myself repeatedly questioning whether in fact I may interfere and inadvertently alter the natural dynamics of the community. Undoubtedly, I have found this aspect the most challenging part of ethnography and have therefore decided not to contribute but attempt to make unbiased observations.