Final Project Draft: Algorithmic Ethnography
Linked on this blog post is a website that I began building to address a method of virtual ethnography that I want to explore in my final project. For the past few weeks, I have tried to immerse myself in the complete media environment of my research subjects: members of QAnon. As part of that work, I am equally attempting to immerse myself in their digital environment. On a separate cellphone, I have installed apps and created accounts all to act as if I were a QAnon follower, watching their YouTube videos and searching for things in the news that they are discussing. I am terming this method “algorithmic ethnography,” based on the prevalence of algorithms in determining digital experiences and some literature on the cultural powers of algorithmically-driven user experience.
In my final project, I will lay out the terms of algorithmic ethnography, looking at its potential as a form of research, and explaining how I feel it should be done. To make this multimodal, I will be using the publicly available data from my QAnon research as a case study of algorithmic ethnography. This will include YouTube videos, tiktoks, tweets, and podcast audio, as well as whatever else comes my way. I see this as a way of enacting archives, rather than simply gathering media for analysis. Inhabiting the space of QAnon in real time as the community unfolds online.
Here is the website in its current form:
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Peter, this looks very interesting! I must admit after your description, I was skeptical of the Googled, what shows up when searching algorithms as a way to introduce algorithmic ethnography… how much of what shows up for you searching algorithm is related to or tailored to your digital presence?
This is a very interesting project. The idea of “algorithmic ethnography’ is really intriguing to me. I think that it would be really interesting to explore how the users of these platforms actually understand the algorithm as a special sort of object. In my experience as a user, I find myself referring to “the algorithm” as an almost mythical thing as opposed to a digital/computer infrastructure.
Hi Peter, this is a very ambitious and promising project! I have looked through the word “algorithmatic” several times as it emerged more often in the title, as you mentioned, but still feel confused. After reading it in your website, I am glad to have a clear idea. Your analysis focuses on method rather than result sounds practical and widely-applied. I hope to follow your project to know more about algorithmic ethnography by your case study, and what’s the new insights of this proposed terminology compared to the traditional or normal way.
I really like the idea of algorithmic ethnography, and unpacking that method sounds like a great project. You mentioned Twitter’s banning of QAnon accounts in class, and I think that might be an interesting to include. I don’t know if that would fit into what you’re thinking of here, but I’m really interested in how those kinds of interventions affect where people are directed online. (To what extent does it prevent engagement with that content, and to what extent does it just move that engagement elsewhere?)
It is so cool that you are engaging exclusively with these online environments and using algorithmic ethnography to do so. What I think is most interesting is that this specific method allows content to come to you as opposed to you specifically seeking it out, which I think truly echoes the experience of QAnon members and potential members as they traverse the internet. I am interested to see the kinds of data that emerges from your pursuit, especially any that may come from interactions with actual QAnon members in these public spaces.
This project seems really cool! Also the website is beautiful. I am completely ignorant though, so maybe for people like me who are less well-versed in this you could include a little more about what QAnon is? I really appreciated all the info on what algorithmic ethnography is. This seems like a really cool project and I can’t wait to see the end result!
I’m so glad you’re doing this project because it touches on several things I’ve been thinking about myself! I think it’s very smart of you to be using a separate phone, and I wonder whether in the future, you might be using several different phones, each functioning under different perspectives because of distinct algorithms. In terms of participant observation and navigating the cyber world, this seems like a very rich project.