{"id":5684,"date":"2015-09-10T20:06:21","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T03:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=5684"},"modified":"2015-09-10T20:06:21","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T03:06:21","slug":"is-there-a-definition-of-ethnography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/is-there-a-definition-of-ethnography\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there a definition of Ethnography?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I approached this new book Doing Visual Ethnography<\/strong> by Sarah Pink, I attempted to do everything that I learned in the previous book about how to read a book. \u00a0I read the introduction; I read the acknowledgement and table of contents. \u00a0One of the things that I desperately needed to discover was what did the word ethnography mean? \u00a0Especially in the context of this book, what did it mean? \u00a0On page twenty-two I finally had my answer. \u00a0Ethnography is a methodology, as an approach to experiencing, interpreting and representing culture and society that informs and is informed by different disciplinary agendas and theoretical principles. \u00a0Rather than a method for collection of data, ethnography is a process of creating and representing knowledge about society, culture and individual that is based on the ethnographer\u2019s<\/em> own experiences.\u00a0The next phrase really caught me and I believe it is a theme throughout the book. “It does not claim to produce objective or truthful accounts of reality but should aim to offer versions of the ethnographers experiences of reality that are as loyal as possible to the context, negotiations and intersubjectivities through which the knowledge was produced.”[1]<\/a> \u00a0What a license is given to the ethnographer! \u00a0It is based on your experiences.<\/p>\n

Immediately my mind went to the most current encyclopedia of ethnography, Facebook! \u00a0 Isn’t this exactly what this generation is completely in to? \u00a0 Each ethnographer has only his or her own experiences to post. \u00a0And boy do they post away usually with a commentary. \u00a0So there really is a name for a Facebook user! \u00a0An Ethnographer! \u00a0The concept of offering your own experiences without any boundaries except for your own experience is completely the language of this generation. \u00a0 Which if you are not following me on Facebook you can do that at www.facebook.com\/knxtreme. \u00a0You can observe me doing visual ethnography.<\/p>\n

If you are in the know, Instagram (knxtreme) and twitter (knxtreme) and even snapchat (knxtreme) are the more preferred platform for ethnography for this current generation. \u00a0 Periscope (knxtreme) \u00a0brings in the elements of chapter four, video. \u00a0Live streaming what you are experiencing at the moment so others can do the same with you is the latest thing. \u00a0On page ninety-seven the author makes this statement “I write with the assumption that most contemporary video ethnographers will be using digital camcorders.”[2]<\/a> \u00a0 Isn’t it amazing how quickly things have changed. \u00a0The most modern ethnographic tool is simply your smart phone; it can take video, pictures and write the story on any platform that you choose to use. \u00a0Wow, how forward thinking was Sarah Pink to see this as a field for out of the box thinkers.<\/p>\n

I like the careful and lengthy conversation that is had about informants. \u00a0Defining\u00a0the terminology for a field that you are creating is something that I believe as a minister and as a D-min student that I have to be open to doing. \u00a0There has been much damage done to the terminology of the church and of Christianity that is offensive to this generation. \u00a0 So to redefine the language to fit the relationships that are developed is key. \u00a0 What a powerful concept. \u00a0To move from “informant, respondent or research subject” to “research participant and interlocutor” is a major shift because of relationship.[3]<\/a>\u00a0I like that this simple introduction to being so aware of the culture that even the defining words are\u00a0addressed is truly impressive.<\/p>\n

YouTube (knxtreme) is the culmination of the approach. \u00a0I believe that the author hits it completely on the head, ” Different people interpret the same footage differently, giving their own meanings to its’ content.” \u00a0This is written in response to “talking with video and a “media ethnography” approach to the informants viewing practices.” \u00a0 The simple number of hours that students and adults spend pouring over YouTube videos is astounding. \u00a0 According to Time, “more than 400 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute<\/em><\/strong> (that’s 65 years a day!), three times as much as was posted two years ago. \u00a0That means sharing and more engagement.”[4]<\/a> \u00a0This book has really pushed me to think creatively and to think in the abstract of what is possible in truly communicating with this generation.<\/p>\n

The last thing that I take away from this book is the power in using photos or video to make a point. \u00a0It can be my point but it is always open to interpretation by the viewer. \u00a0Editing the video and the photo to most strongly present my own experience or point of view is validated. \u00a0It can be persuasive and very powerful. \u00a0If I want a message to come across I can combine the different media to convincingly tell my experience. \u00a0This is an incredible handbook for modern communication in this digital age. \u00a0 I have become an ethnographer and I just didn’t know it (knxtreme).<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>Sarah Pink.\u00a0Doing Visual Ethnography.<\/em>\u00a0Sage Publications, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC.,2007. p.22.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> IBID, p.97.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>IBID, p. 38.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Belinda Luscombe, \u00a0“YouTube’s View Master,” TIME, \u00a0<\/em>Sept 7, 2015,75.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I approached this new book Doing Visual Ethnography by Sarah Pink, I attempted to do everything that I learned in the previous book about how to read a book. \u00a0I read the introduction; I read the acknowledgement and table of contents. \u00a0One of the things that I desperately needed to discover was what did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[675,666,279],"class_list":["post-5684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dmlgp6","tag-knxtreme","tag-pink","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5684"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5686,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5684\/revisions\/5686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}