Nethnography

İnsanlar fiziksel ve ruhsal varlıklarının yanı sıra aynı zamanda onu çevreleyen arkadaş çevresi ve sahip olduğu ev, araba, giysiler ve eşyalarının bir bütünüdür. Her sahip oldukları yeni meta onların benliklerinin genişlemesinin bir aracı haline gelir. Bu araçlar, kişinin hem kendini tanımlamasına hem de başkalarının onu anlamasına yardımcı olur Bu da sosyal uyum ihtiyacından dolayı kendi benliği ile grup kültürü arasında bir köprü yaratarak bir gösterişçi tüketim davranışına neden olur. Bu çalışmada temel amaç, pembe gelin kavramını tanımlayarak, bu kişilerin benliklerini genişletme sürecinde sosyal medyayı bir araç olarak nasıl kullandıklarını tespit ederek; bu süreçte beklentide oldukları sosyal onay ve sosyal kabul için gösterişçi tüketimi nasıl bir araç olarak gördüklerini kavramsallaştırarak belirlemektir. Bu çerçevede sosyal medyanın kullanımını göstermek için sosyal medya mecralarında yer alan gruplara üye olunarak ve çeşitli etiketlerinin takip edilmesi ile "yeni gelinler"in kendi içlerinde yapmış oldukları görüş alışverişleri, harcamaları ve aldıkları ürünleri birbirlerine sunumlar aracılığı ile göstermeleri üzerine bir netnografik analiz yapılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular Atlas.ti nitel analiz programı ile analize tabi tutulmuştur. Araştırma sonucu elde edilen bulgulara bakıldığında, kişinin sahip olduğu özgün kimliğin sosyal uyum ve sosyal statü isteği ile ilişkili olduğu ve sosyal uyumu arayan bireylerin sosyal medyada ifşa etmek için ritüelleri gerçekleştirme isteklerinin yüksek olduğu belirlenmiştir Anahtar Kelimeler: genişletilmiş benlik, gösterişçi tüketim, pembegelin, netnografi

In this paper, the Author introduces a methodology applied to online ethnographic research. In particular, the Author applies classical anthropological concepts to an online cultural analysis in relationship to Italian mothers that talk about problems link to the daily management of maternity and job. In this way, the Author can understand how, in general, people create imagined online communities that share particular cultural values and social experiences.

Resumen El artículo trata sobre el desarrollo de las ideas sobre eugenesia y " purificación de la raza " y su relación con el diseño basado en ideas de perfec-ción que persiguen las ciudades contemporáneas a través de la pretensión de ejercer un control en todos los aspectos de la vida de los ciudadanos. Se realizó una netnografía mediante el buscador Goo-gle para explorar sobre las imágenes que rodean a tales búsquedas de control y perfección de los escenarios de la vida y de los propios habitantes. Finalmente se reflexiona sobre los imaginarios que rodean a la búsqueda de una sociedad y una ciudad perfectas a través del mito de Hybris. Abstract The article deals with the development of ideas about eugenics and "purification of the race" and its relation with the design based on ideas of perfection pursued by contemporary cities through the pretension of exercising control in all aspects of the life of the citizens. A netnography was made using the Google search engine to explore the images surrounding such searches for control and perfection of the life scenarios and of the inhabitants themselves. Finally, we reflect on the imaginaries that surround the search for a perfect society and city through the myth of Hybris.

Drawing on Actor‐network theory (ANT), this paper develops a 'more‐than‐human' conception of netnography to extend current thinking on the scope, focus and methods of netnographic research. The proposed approach seeks to account more clearly for the role of human and non‐human actors in networked sociality and sets out to examine the interactions of people, technology and socio‐material practices. The paper critiques reductive applications of netnography, bound by proceduralism, and advocates research that embraces the complex, multi‐temporal, multi‐spatial nature of internet and technology‐mediated sociality. It challenges researchers to examine and account for the performative capacities of actors and their practices of enactment. By synthesising insights from ANT and emerging work in marketing and consumer research that adopts relational approaches, this paper outlines the challenges and opportunities in developing more‐than‐human netnographies as an approach to extend current netnography.

The paper explores the role of online communities and its impact on marketers in making strategic decisions. The research focusses on the perception of brand communities and interest communities. The purpose of the research is to contribute an understanding about the reasons members join online communities and how a marketer can gain insights from the community discussions. The research is conducted into three phases. The first phase provides the review of literature and insights gained from the examples of well-known brands. The next two phases are explored by conducting Focus Group Discussion and Short interviews. The outcomes of the research might help marketers in taking decisions that may help achieve competitive advantage.

Resumo C om o principal objetivo de verificar como o conjunto de representações so-ciais constrói o efeito do sentimento de tribo em uma comunidade virtual de marca, este estudo netnográfico analisou, na comunidade peladeiro.com. br, padrões de discurso que refletem tal sentimento. A análise baseou-se na intensidade das interações entre insiders e devotees e, na teoria das representações sociais, o processo de ancoragem originou os discursos do sujeito coletivo. Evidenciou-se na comunidade um comportamento de tribo em função das peladas, emergindo nos achados os elementos encontrados nas relações sociais de uma comunidade virtual que a transformam em uma tribo. Palavras-chave: Teoria das representações sociais. Tribos de consumo. Dis-curso do sujeito coletivo. Netnografia. consumer Tribes: social represenTaTions in a virTual communiTy of brand Abstract W ith the main objective to verify how the set of social representations builds the meaning of tribes at a virtual community of brand, this netnographic study analyzed in a virtual community called peladeiro. com, the discourses patterns that reflecting the feelings. The analysis was based on the intensity of interactions between Insiders and Devotees, where, in the Theory of Social Representations, the process of anchoring originated the Collective Subject Discourse. It became clear in that community, a tribal behavior dependent on the informal soccer game, where the found elements emerged from the social relations of virtual community that transform it in a tribe.

This paper reports on 2 weeks nethnographic (online) observation of 4 online gift-exchange communities – virtual platforms, where participants conduct barter exchange of different daily objects such as books, children's products, furniture, home ware and others. These communities as case of informal economy initially do not have formal attributed rules. It is essential to find out 1) which rules and mechanisms exist in this type of economy; 2) what motivates people who are not acquainted with another to exchange gifts and 3) understand the way this communities exists.
The conclusion is drawn that social capital is the basic engine of investigated communities. The social capital accumulated by users increases the community commitment and cohesion by interpreting gifts as a set of resources to distribute fairly. The giving, the receiving and the exchanging are forms of communication that cause further communication and interworking outside of gift-giving situations. These gift-exchange communities are mainly based on the communication and consumption solidarity among individuals.

Summary of  the research project

This interdisciplinary and cross national pilot research project aims to explore the intersection of transnational relationships and identities through new media. It explores the role of the new media in constructing collective identity, shared experience, sense of belonging and building (digital) social capital among the UK "Iraqi"-Kurdish young people who are looking for employment opportunity in Iraq, especially in  Kurdistan Autonomous Region.

The theories of social capital pay too much attention to physical private and public spaces, rather than virtual spaces. Indeed the virtual spaces become a kind of sociological “superglue” which contributes to building of multidimensional networks for migrants, diasporas and ethnic minorities across borders and boundaries. These social networks (ties, nodes and relationships) constitute material and non-material resources (information, social, economic and emotional supports, time, expertise and so on) and consist of the flow information and transfer of resources that may help “connected” individuals to have access to opportunities and overcome certain disadvantages.  In the literature, far too little attention has been paid to the online interaction of young people with BME background with their "homeland".  This research will use traditional (in-depth interviews) and innovative (ethnography of computer mediated communication) to analyse the UK "Iraqi"-Kurdish young people’s online communication with their homeland to build and accumulate (digital) social capital.

Longer Description

The theories of social capital (Granovetter 1973, Coleman 1988, Bourdieu 1996, Portes 1998, Putnam 2007) key to understanding an individual and/or a community's social interactions, civic engagements and widening participations (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1990; Putnam, 2000). The concept of social capital may be briefly described as ‘a collective asset made up of social networks based on shared norms and trust and mutuality’ (Gilchrist 2004: 4).  These networks constitute resources which can help individuals and groups to fulfill their social needs and contribute to the improvement of their livelihood (Keles 2015a; Erel 2010; Ryan et al, 2008).  However the theories of social capital pay too much attention to physical private and public spaces, rather than virtual spaces (Putnam 1993, 2000; Thompson 1995), yet networked communities are part of the globalized world and boundaries between virtual and offline communities have become blurred which has led to interlocking offline and online relationships among people, in particular among diasporas who, diaspora studies emphasize, reside forcibly outside of their homeland, but claim a legitimate political and economic aspiration for their homeland. Key arguments that scholars have put forward to explain diasporic identifications have been the role of collective memory, a sense of loss, forced expulsion, displacement from their homeland, a strong sense of ethnic affiliation, belonging, and a narrative, vision and the myth of return (Keles 2015b, Holgate, Keles et al 2012, Vertovec 2005b).

The political and economic advances in post-conflict countries have increasingly become pull factors for migrants to repatriate to their country of origin and play a crucial role in post-conflict reconstruction and “consolidate the process to which they have contributed from abroad” (Al-Ali et al. 2001b:617) .  Returning home has attracted in particular young people born and/or educated in diaspora where they may experience discrimination, unequal opportunity in the labour market.  A good example is the return migration of the British-Kurdish young people, born and/or educated in the UK to Iraq. (King, D, 2008). The majority of them work for oil and gas companies and for Federal Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government’s public sectors such as universities, health and tele-communication sectors and diplomacy and international policy (Keles at al 2013). However very little is known about the transnational mobilization of the UK Iraqi-Kurdish young people’s reasons why young people give up life in the UK, their motivations, hope and expectations  and how they use the internet in particular social media to build and accumulate digital social capital to improve their livelihood. The UK is important diasporic space for "Iraqi"-Kurds since the 70s.

‘Social capital’ has become a relevant theoretical concept for understanding the way in which migrants (don’t) get access to resources  and participate in social, economic and political life in their settlement country and beyond (Engbersen, van San, and Leerkes, 2006; Lancee, 2012). Social networks are a tool to enhance social mobility and to help overcome disadvantage among marginalized individuals and communities  (Anthias, 2007; Ryan et al ,2008; Valdez, 2008; Zontini, 2010; Bloch 2013) such as undocumented migrants (Bloch 2013) and diasporic groups from conflicted regions (Keles, 2015a).  A key aspect of diasporas is strong ethnic group consciousness, mutual trust and solidarity which play a central role in “bonding” and accumulating social capital in real and virtual communities.  In the case of “connected migrants” (Diminescu, 2008), in particular social media (social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Skype and so on) has re-connected geographically dispersed Diasporas (Keles 2015a, Baltaretu and Balaban, 2010). This new network capital may contribute to building (digital) social capital amongst the transnationally connected young people born/educated in their settlement countries and may contribute to the improvement of their life. This includes the possibility of finding new social orientations and employment opportunities in "their" country of origin.  Yet, this working hypothesis is based on analysing the literature and needs to be complemented by empirical research to systematise our evidence. The internet, in particular social media can provide a unique insight into mapping of the individuals and communities networks, conversation, self-presentation and negotiating cultural, ethnic identities and the multiple meaning of  images, texts disseminated online (Reips and Buffardi 2012).

The key research questions are:
1. The question is to what extent does the internet contribute to the UK "Iraqi"- Kurdish young people’s sense of belonging, and help them “bridging” and accumulating social capital, offering them access to the overseas employment opportunities as well as influence their mobility and decision to return to "their" country of origin? To examine critically the contested and problematic concept of social capital in relation to the inequalities of power relations of class, gender and sexuality ( Gilchrist 2004, Zontini 2010, Christoforou and  Davis 2014), access to information, cultural/elite power, individual socioeconomic, political status.
2. To what extent does the UK "Iraqi"-Kurdish young people (female and male)’s political engagement lead to the employment opportunities in "their" country of origin? What’s about the question of the “digital divide” (Norris 2001) between “those in possession of the information globe and those that are not” (Greco and Floridi 2004: 75).
3. How do young people reciprocally generate new types of identities and knowledge about homeland and diaspora in “virtual communities”? Do the young people with diverse age, gender, political affiliation, education, class, occupation and length of migration and/or settlement (first, second and third generation) think in similar way or are there significant differences between young people coming and living indifferent geographical spaces?

Research methods

This research uses a multi-method approach to explore British Iraqi-Kurdish young people’s online communication and the written and audio-visual contents of their conversation in relation to build and accumulate digital social capital to return and have access to employment opportunities in Iraq. I will undertake the virtual ethnography for this study (Hine 2000). Virtual ethnography is also described as nethnography, ethnography of computer mediated communication (CMC), internet and cyber ethnography (Hine, 2000; Ignacio, 2005; Leung, 2005; Mann and  Stewart, 2006; Smith and Kollock, 2001).  As a “new” form of research method, virtual ethnography is “the process of conducting and constructing an ethnography using the virtual, online environment as the site of the research” (Evans, 2010:11). It examines the constructed identities, communities and cultures through computer-mediated social interaction, “the impact of CMC on social interactions and the presentation of the self-online” as well as pattern of economic and social behaviours (Mann & Stewart, 2006:4). Virtual ethnography is important for this study to reach and interact with a larger number of people with diverse backgrounds including class, gender, ethnicity, age, different geographical spaces and to understand the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness, gaining and accumulating social capital within the virtual communities. 20 highly skilled Iraqi-Kurdish young people from the UK from three different Facebook groups will be chosen and examined their conversations over a period of 4 months to understand how the young people construct their identities and sense of belonging across the national borders and build social capital to overseas employment through computer-mediated social interaction.
The research will also be based on in-depth interviews with 20 Kurdish young people of diverse age, gender, occupation, education in the UK who I follow on social media. The in-depth interviews will be done to collect more rich and detailed empirical data.

In this article, I approach motorcycling as a learning process. The main concept used is that of the social career, as advanced by Erving Goffman and David Matza. I highlight the specific
bodily practices and risks that occur in the successive stages of a motorcyclist’s social career. Throughout their career as motorcyclists, riders learn how to manage successive risks. The riding body may be approached as a case of voluntary risk-taking, a structural factor identified in many contemporary societies. Motorcycling is thus similar to hang gliding, skydiving, scuba diving or rock climbing. The study is based on data gathered from the main online motorcycling forum in Romania, participant observation carried out among motorcyclists in Romania in 2008 and 2009, and conversations and interviews with motorcyclists. I suggest that the risk implied by using motorcycles depends on the stage that a person is at in his or her social career.

No processo de popularização das redes sociais online, destaca-se a adesão dos brasileiros ao site de relacionamento orkut, com o registro de mais de 50% dos participantes. A pesquisa mostra como os brasileiros, sobretudo, os que vivem no exterior, apropriam-se dessa plataforma para realçar a marca cultural do seu povo. O orkut funciona como um não-lugar de natureza global e pós-moderna, capaz de gerar reterritorializações do lugar Brasil e de modos de ser de brasileiros imigrantes conectados via rede.

Designers have always wanted to understand the “needs and wants” of products or service users. One of the methods that have received an important attention in the design practice is the ethnography.
Nevertheless, if its importance has been highly recognized, there are numerous drawbacks that limit its use in a business setting. An example would the time constraints facing a designer in a company, versus the need of a long immersion for the ethnologists to ensure familiarity with the observed and analysed situation.
In order to overcome these limitations, the authors have tested a new setting, where all observations and analysis done by the ethnographic team are offered on a live basis to an innovation team (marketing, innovation and in-house anthropologist). One of the Groupe SEB’s innovation team served as a test group for an ethnography done in Malaysia and based on blogging ethnography.
Results are highly promising: they allowed to cut the time needed to provide a coherent ethnological report, offered a great interactivity between the ethnographers and the innovation team, interactivity that lacks in the normal methodology and could lead to critical gap between initial request made by the innovation team and the one after one month due to business or industrial issue.
In terms of future research, it is extremely challenging: numerous questions are raised around the type of information that should be proposed on a blogging basis, the ones that should wait for analysis, the design of a specific framework to increase the reliability of the process, the role of the innovation team and the impact they should or not have on the observational setting etc. Those issues will be discussed in the paper.