Ethnography is typically understood as a methodology marked by explorative engagement”. (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007) And this is exact;y what I will be doing within my niche. I shall be entering the field in which I can explore the social interactions, understand the interactions and reflect on the interactions of my online persona.
To accurately conduct the autoethnographic research I will be following six steps; My field site and media niche have already been determined. Therefore the next steps I will take include participation and consequently observation within the art community, of which I will document and reflect on each experience as this journey proceeds. Epiphany identification will come next, reflecting my personal escapade. From this information gathered, background research on common experiences of scholars will help me communicate and interpret my findings. Lastly, analysis of my data collection will be necessary, providing comprehensible grounds to mediate and communicate the findings to an audience beyond my niche.
Observation will be my key research method however it is important to note “Most observation is routine— largely unconscious and unsystematic. It is part of living, part of our commonsense interaction with the world. But just as casually conversing with someone differs from interviewing, so too does this routine observation differ from research observation” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Therefore the use of observation as a research tool in my digital artifact, will begin with the issue of what to observe. In my case this is how art tutorials inspire and promote creative thinking and doing. Another systematic observation will be the relationship between the observer (myself) and the observed (my niche). These findings will contribute to the research development of my digital artefact.
Timeline for production schedule
| WEEK 6 | BACKGROUND RESEARCH + CONTENT CREATION |
| WEEK 7 | OBSERVATION + CONTENT CREATION |
| WEEK 8 | ANALYSIS OF CURRENT OBSERVATIONS AND UNDERSTANDINGS. DOCUMENT |
| WEEK 9 | IDENTIFY ANY EPIPHANIES + CREATE CONTENT |
| WEEK 10 | MEDIATE AND COMMUNICATE OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS. BEGIN DRAFT |
| WEEK 11 | COMPLETE DRAFT |
| WEEK 12 | MAKE ADJUSTMENTS IF NEEDED, THEN SUBMIT |
MAP OF FIELD SITE
References
Hammersley, M & Atkinson, P 2007, “Ethnography: Principles in practice”, no.4, Routledge.
Ladner, S 2014, “Ethical Ethnography. Practical Ethnography: A Guide to Doing Ethnography in the Private Sector”, Left Coast Press: CA.
DIGITAL ARTEFACT INSTAGRAM; @artbykyrag
Kyras blog 
This is a really thought out blog post, I enjoyed reading it and listening to your pitch video. It is very visually appealing and kept me entertained whilst I read. After reading your post a couple of times I only came across minor grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that would have easily been overlooked. I felt that the blog post itself was very professional and informative, it flowed and showed consistent engagement with our weekly lecture and key readings. There were however a lack of hyperlinks throughout the post itself, however they were evident in the referencing section. Having more hyperlinks may have shown readers what supporting media you used during your research. Overall it was a great blog to read and I feel that you did a great job.
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Hi Kyra,
Your DA sounds great! Lovely idea for creating art tutorials as it is definitely a media niche that has great potential, and with a platform like Instagram I think it will do very well. The pitch was easy to understand and very informative about your DA and media niche. I thought the references were also great as well, your production schedule is also very well planned as well as your field site.
Are there any other examples of this type of content creation around Instagram already? It might help to look into how they produce their content (e.g. through reels or IGTV) this could be something to experiment with and use ethnographic observation to understand and analyze how best to engage with the community, not only through participant observation but content creation as well.
Looks like a great DA, good luck and I can’t wait to see how you do!
– Jess
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Hey Kyra! Your Pitch looks amazing, you have such great visual content, your project schedule clearly shows what you will be doing and when, and I have a clear idea of what DA and content is.
You have shown an in-depth understanding of your observation techniques, however, your understanding of persona isn’t too clear, you mention how you will be developing your persona, but not what your persona is, and while the ethnographic approach is clearly defined, it isn’t clear how it will be used, as it’s a little vague in terms of who exactly you will be observing. Your pitch involves a great use of sources and lecture concepts, however I was confused as to why you discuss anonymity(which I noticed you stumbled trying to say in your video, it may be worth looking up how to say it correctly), as part of ethics, instead of persona.
Your field site seems to cover most of the different aspects involved with art tutorials, but remember there are other things involved that you don’t see at the surface level, including the technology or equipment needed to create the content such as OBS, Computers, Cameras, art supplies and tools, online art tools/apps, etc. that are required to create these posts and reels, that you will need to figure out if you are to make content, and decide what you will be using to create and record your content.
From this Pitch, it is clear you have a firm grasp on your DA and you know which relevant concepts will be applied, but you may need to expand your understanding on how each concept will be applied to your research and DA.
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Hey Kyra, you’ve done a good job describing what your DA is and the niche it works around. Your references to readings and other course content such as moments of epiphany demonstrate a good understanding of the course content, however I think a little more detail on your persona would strengthen the post. The pace of the video was calm and controlled which helped your points come across clearly. Some subheadings or underlining could have segmented each section within the blog but overall it flowed well and I’m keen to see how your page will grow.
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