The aim of this session is to create an exchange between two groups, the Digital Anthropology Lab (DA Lab) at the University of Tübingen and the Digital Ethnography Initiative (DEI) at the University of Vienna. The session starts with a brief introduction of both groups, followed by short presentations by members of the DEI and the DA Lab. There will be six presentations with a length of 5-10 minutes each, followed by brief round of questions. The presentations will have a thematic focus on methods. The session ends with a general discussion. The workshop is open for all.

Time: 28 November 2024, 16.15-17.45
Place: Online (please send an e-mail to info(at)digitalethnography.at) and at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute, Burgsteige 11, Tübingen

Programme

Suzana Jovicic will introduce We:Design, an interdisciplinary research project which explored challenges of labour market access for young people, particularly with regard to digital inequalities. The topic was examined collaboratively through interviews and short films, while young participants also helped co-develop APPly, an open-source, free and low-threshold smartphone app for creating job/apprenticeship applications.

Philipp Budka will present an overview of his research at the nexus of digital ethnography, media anthropology, and archival work. This will be based on an article currently in progress.

Lukas Griessl will talk about the inclusion of generative AI in the creation of interview questions. This relates to current field research in the project “Hybrid Epistemic Practices”, exploring the transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence within the qualitative social sciences and
humanities.

Ann-Marie Wohlfarth will present on the topic of creating “Ground Truths” through Ethnography. The interdisciplinary project “Curating the Feed” investigates how the socio-technical entanglements of digital practices, user interfaces, and algorithmic systems co-curate image feeds on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. Our ongoing collaboration between cultural anthropology and computer science involves developing a machine learning system that classifies posts to determine whether posts are perceived as perpetuating idealized notions of beauty. This input briefly summarizes the sociomaterial practices of producing and annotating datasets and conceptualizing ‘ground truths’ in an interdisciplinary setting.

Pia Schramm will present on the topic of co-designing digital technologies in ethnographic settings. The international project „Challenging Populist Truth-Making in Europe“ focuses on the impact of populism on the museum landscape. Building upon ethnographic research on both digital technologies in and the emotional affordances of museum spaces, we developed a museum app in collaboration with young museum visitors to critically reflect upon contemporary political developments. The input reflects upon the development process and the potentials and limits of collaboratively designed technologies in museums.