DIGITAL ETNOGRAPHIES: ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IN AND THROUGH THE INTERNET

Abstract

In this article, I intend to reflect on the relevance of anthropological perspective and ethnography to
address the interactions that develop in and through the web. To do this, I will discuss some
characteristics of the digital objects and its analysis by the social sciences. I will also analyze the
ways of conceptualizing the Internet. Finally, I will detail some aspects on the application of the
ethnographic method to the study of digital spaces, recurring to my fieldwork experience with fandoms
in Argentina. I maintain that anthropology is not only able to analyze the practices and bonds that
revolve around the Internet: it must do so. Nowadays, it has become necessary to ethnograph virtual
and physical spaces to think about any contemporary social phenomenon. The Internet must be
thought through its uses, in its context, and the online and offline fields must be built in continuity,
adapting the main ethnographic techniques.