This document discusses approaches to digital ethnography and analyzing digital cultures and artifacts. It argues that to understand digital data and digitality, we must understand digital cultures. It explores doing digital ethnography by focusing on structural aspects and social contexts of digital environments. This involves using digital tools and frameworks to collect and analyze data within a digital space, while considering ethical implications. The document advocates understanding algorithms as part of culture and reconstructing contextual information, and sharing not just findings but also the tools used.

1. C O D I N G P U B L I C S A N D C O D E A S E T H N O G R A P H I C A R T E F A C T
S Y 0 6 : M A K E R C U L T U R E S , C O D E A N D P U B L I C N E S S -
E X P L O R I N G ( P O S T - ) D I G I T A L S P H E R E S A N D P R A C T I C E S
Dan Verständig | Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg/Germany
@danvers | ebdw.ovgu.de
‘Going Public‘? –Ethnography in Education and Social Work and Its Publics
October 31st – November 2nd, 2019
Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

2. W H Y ?
I N O R D E R T O U N D E R S T A N D D I G I T A L D A T A A N D D I G I T A L I T Y ,
W E N E E D T O U N D E R S T A N D D I G I T A L C U L T U R E S .

3. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin via http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/in_protest.html
a 2-dimensional relation
between researcher and the field

4. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin via http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/in_protest.html
#!/usr/bin/env python
import twitter, random
api = twitter.Api(consumer_key='xx', consumer_secret='xx', access_token_key='xx', access_token_secret='xx‘)
friends = api.GetFriends()
for friend in friends:
friendName = friend.GetScreenName()
friend2 = random.choice(friends).GetScreenName()
message = "%s wants to meet in the main public square tomorrow" % (friend2,)
api.PostDirectMessage(friendName, message)
api.DestroyFriendship(friendName)
Cox & McLean 2013, 97
articulation

5. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin via http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/in_protest.html
#!/usr/bin/env python
import twitter, random
api = twitter.Api(consumer_key='xx', consumer_secret='xx', access_token_key='xx', access_token_secret='xx‘)
friends = api.GetFriends()
for friend in friends:
friendName = friend.GetScreenName()
friend2 = random.choice(friends).GetScreenName()
message = "%s wants to meet in the main public square tomorrow" % (friend2,)
api.PostDirectMessage(friendName, message)
api.DestroyFriendship(friendName)
Cox & McLean 2013, 97
algorithmic articulation

6. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin via http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/in_protest.html
#!/usr/bin/env python
import twitter, random
api = twitter.Api(consumer_key='xx', consumer_secret='xx', access_token_key='xx', access_token_secret='xx‘)
friends = api.GetFriends()
for friend in friends:
friendName = friend.GetScreenName()
friend2 = random.choice(friends).GetScreenName()
message = "%s wants to meet in the main public square tomorrow" % (friend2,)
api.PostDirectMessage(friendName, message)
api.DestroyFriendship(friendName)
Cox & Mclean 2013, 97
a 3-dimensional relation
between researcher, field and digital architecture

7. “[…] publicness is constituted not simply by speaking, writing, arguing and
protesting but also through modification of the domain or platform
through which these practices are enacted, making both technology and
the law unstable.”
Cox & McLean 2013, p.93

8. H O W ?
D O I N G D I G I T A L E T H N O G R A P H Y B Y F O C U S I N G O N
S T R U C T U R A L A S P E C T S A N D S O C I A L C O N T E X T S
C H A P T E R I

10. – digital ethnography (?) follow the digital footprints.

11. Christiaan Colen https://flic.kr/p/wuu37e
Kozinets, R. V. (1998). On Netnography: Initial Reflections on Consumer Research Investigations of Cyberculture.
Miller, D., & Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: An ethnographic approach.
Marotzki, W. (2003). Online-Ethnographie – Wege und Ergebnisse zur Forschung im Kulturraum Internet.
Ardévol, E., & Gómez-Cruz, E. (2013). Digital Ethnography and Media Practices.
Brunton, F., & Coleman, G. (2014). Closer to the Metal.
Coleman, G. (2017). From Internet Farming to Weapons of the Geek.
Seaver, N. (2017). Algorithms as culture: Some tactics for the ethnography of algorithmic systems.
Cousineau, L. S., Oakes, H., & Johnson, C. W. (2018). Appnography: Digital ethnography for app-based culture.
Matzner. T. (2017). Opening Black Boxes is Not Enough – Data-based Surveillance in Discipline and Punish and Today
Hine, C. (2000). Virtual Ethnography.

12. Christiaan Colen https://flic.kr/p/wuu37e
Kozinets, R. V. (1998). On Netnography: Initial Reflections on Consumer Research Investigations of Cyberculture.
Miller, D., & Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: An ethnographic approach.
Marotzki, W. (2003). Online-Ethnographie – Wege und Ergebnisse zur Forschung im Kulturraum Internet.
Ardévol, E., & Gómez-Cruz, E. (2013). Digital Ethnography and Media Practices.
Brunton, F., & Coleman, G. (2014). Closer to the Metal.
Coleman, G. (2017). From Internet Farming to Weapons of the Geek.
Seaver, N. (2017). Algorithms as culture: Some tactics for the ethnography of algorithmic systems.
Cousineau, L. S., Oakes, H., & Johnson, C. W. (2018). Appnography: Digital ethnography for app-based culture.
Matzner. T. (2017). Opening Black Boxes is Not Enough – Data-based Surveillance in Discipline and Punish and Today
Hine, C. (2000). Virtual Ethnography.

13. Algorithms in culture
“They may shape culture (by altering the flows of cultural material), and they may be
shaped by culture (by embodying the biases of their creators), but this relationship is like
that between a rock and the stream it is sitting in: the rock is not part of the stream, though
the stream may jostle and erode it and the rock may produce ripples and eddies in the
stream. In this view, algorithms can affect culture and culture can affect algorithms
because they are distinct.“
Seaver 2017
Michael Mueller https://flic.kr/p/SYpMQs

14. Algorithms as culture
”algorithms are not technical rocks in a cultural stream, but are rather just more water. Like
other aspects of culture, algorithms are enacted by practices which do not heed a strong
distinction between technical and non-technical concerns, but rather blend them
together.“
Seaver 2017
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center https://flic.kr/p/976zug

16. “Understanding what we‘re seeing.”
- Christine Hine (today)

17. @Trump2Cash
https://github.com/maxbbraun/trump2cash

19. Toyota’s NYSE:TM stock price on January 5th 2017

20. Toyota’s NYSE:TM stock price on January 5th 2017
matters
Contextuality

23. H O W ?
U S I N G D I G I T A L T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S T O W O R K
W I T H I N A D I G I T A L E N V I R O N M E N T
C H A P T E R I I

24. 1 tweet is more than 280 characters.
D A T A C O L L E C T I O N ?
U S I N G E X I S T I N G T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S

25. 1 tweet is more than 280 characters.
D A T A C O L L E C T I O N ?
U S I N G E X I S T I N G T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S

26. 1 tweet is more than 280 characters.
D A T A C O L L E C T I O N ?
U S I N G E X I S T I N G T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S
{
"created_at":"Thu Apr 06 15:24:15 +0000 2017",
"id": 850006245121695744,
"id_str": "850006245121695744",
"text": "1/ Today we’re sharing our vision for the future of the Twitter API platform!nhttps://t.co/XweGngmxlP",
}

27. 1 tweet is more than 280 characters.
D A T A C O L L E C T I O N ?
U S I N G E X I S T I N G T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S
"place":
{
"attributes":{},
"bounding_box":
{
"coordinates":
[[
[-77.119759,38.791645],
[-76.909393,38.791645],
[-76.909393,38.995548],
[-77.119759,38.995548]
]],
"type":"Polygon"
},
"country":"United States",
"country_code":"US",
"full_name":"Washington, DC",
"id":"01fbe706f872cb32",
"name":"Washington",
"place_type":"city",
"url":"http://api.twitter.com/1/geo/id/0172cb32.json"
}

28. D A T A C O L L E C T I O N ?
U S I N G E X I S T I N G T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S
We can collect the data.

29. D A T A C O L L E C T I O N ?
U S I N G E X I S T I N G T O O L S A N D F R A M E W O R K S
We can collect the data.
But when should we and what
are the ethical implications?

30. C O D I N G P U B L I C S A N D C O D E A S
E T H N O G R A P H I C A R T E F A C T
A ( T E M P O R A R Y ) C O N C L U S I O N

31. Ethnography: Understanding algorithms as culture.
There is not only one definition of algorithms and that‘s fine.
Gathering data might technically work, but reconstructing contextuality might not.
Open Science: using/dev. digital methods to get and share not only findings but also the tools.

32. C O D I N G P U B L I C S A N D C O D E A S E T H N O G R A P H I C A R T E F A C T
THANK YOU!
Dan Verständig | Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg/Germany
@danvers | ebdw.ovgu.de
‘Going Public‘? –Ethnography in Education and Social Work and Its Publics
October 31st – November 2nd, 2019
Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

33. Ananny, M., & Crawford, K. (2018). Seeing without knowing: Limitations of the transparency ideal and its application to algorithmic accountability. New Media & Society,
20(3), 973–989. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816676645
Ardévol, E., & Gómez-Cruz, E. (2013). Digital Ethnography and Media Practices. In A. N. Valdivia (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies (p. 498–518).
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444361506.wbiems193
Bollig, S., Honig, M.-S., Neumann, S., & Seele, C. (Eds.). (2015). MultiPluriTrans in educational ethnography: Approaching the multimodality, plurality and translocality of
educational realities. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Brunton, F., & Coleman, G. (2014). Closer to the Metal. In T. Gillespie, P. J. Boczkowski, & K. A. Foot (Hrsg.), Media Technologies (S. 77–98).
https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262525374.003.0004
Coleman, G. (2017). From Internet Farming to Weapons of the Geek. Current Anthropology, 58(15), 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1086/688697
Cousineau, L. S., Oakes, H., & Johnson, C. W. (2018). Appnography: Digital ethnography for app-based culture. In D. Parry, C. W. Johnson, & S. Fullagar (Eds.), Digital
Dilemmas: Transforming gender identities and power relations in everyday life (p. 95–117). Palgrave Press.
Hoffmeister, A., Marguin, S., & Schendzielorz, C. (2018). Feldnotizen 2.0. Über Digitalität in der ethnografischen Beobachtungspraxis. Artikel des Sonderbandes 3 der
Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften. Available under http://www.zfdg.de/sonderband/3. https://doi.org/10.17175/sb003_007
Kozinets, R. V. (1998). On Netnography: Initial Reflections on Consumer Research Investigations of Cyberculture. ACR North American Advances, NA-25. Abgerufen von
http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/8180/volumes/v25/NA-25
Marotzki, W. (2003). Online-Ethnographie – Wege und Ergebnisse zur Forschung im Kulturraum Internet. MedienPäd. Retro: Jahrbuch Medienpädagogik 3, 149–165.
http://dx.doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/retro/2017.07.09.X
Matzner, T. (2017). Opening Black Boxes Is Not Enough – Data-based Surveillance In Discipline and Punish And Today. Foucault Studies, 0(23), 27–45.
https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i0.5340
Miller, D. (2012). Das wilde Netzwerk: Ein ethnologischer Blick auf Facebook. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Miller, D., & Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: An ethnographic approach. Oxford ; New York: Berg.
Munger, K., & Phillips, J. (2019). A Supply and Demand Framework for YouTube Politics. Available under: https://osf.io/73jys/download
Parry, D. C., Johnson, C. W., & Fullagar, S. (2019). Digital dilemmas: Transforming gender identities and power relations in everyday life. Abgerufen von
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-95300-7
Seaver, N. (2017). Algorithms as culture: Some tactics for the ethnography of algorithmic systems. Big Data & Society, 4(2), 205395171773810.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717738104
R E F E R E N C E S