Digital ethnography is a way to study human behavior through participant participation in observation. As a technology, digital anthropology can stimulate the original intention of researchers to digitize and provide a specific method for studying human online culture. Participant observation is the core method of digital anthropology. It requires researchers to enter a specific environment to observe people. Interaction with people. The author Tom Boellstorff did not use numbers as research objects, but as methodologies. He hopes to rethink digital anthropology by studying the relationship between virtuality and reality.
The current digital world of the Internet tells development that people are relying on the Internet in any way. “Second Life” is one of the biggest games in these virtual worlds. There is no doubt that the game of Second Life is the place of human culture realized through the Internet and computer programs. One of the greatest advantages of the ethnographic method is that researchers can adapt to specific environments at specific times. The author Tom Boellstorff hopes to study the behavior of people in the virtual world in this game through digital ethnography . The author introduces his personal experience in the Second Life Ethnography, which allows us to better understand the virtual and practical boundaries and relationships. Residents of Second Life create communities, buy property and houses, attend concerts, party in bars, attend weddings and religious ceremonies, buy and sell virtual goods and services, find friendship, fall in love-the possibilities are endless, and everything meets through computer screens To. On this virtual platform, people can put aside the shackles of reality and express themselves more realistically, which helps researchers to better collect data and better study human culture. In connection with today’s special situation, due to the spread of the global epidemic, almost everyone took the initiative to isolate themselves at home. The original behavior order in real life was broken, but another game became popular. Animal Crossing is a series developed by Nintendo Intelligence Development Headquarters and released by Nintendo. In the game, players live in a village inhabited by anthropomorphic animals and carry out various activities. The series is famous for its openness, and it uses a lot of built-in clocks and calendars of game consoles to simulate real time. The virtual world in a special period can better reflect people’s potential behavior habits from the side.
However, digital ethnography does not bring accuracy. In the research process, even if each virtual world participant is a real person, people may be more willing to express more real ideas without exposing their identity to the public, but at the same time, people are also easier Hide your real language and body expressions. The author Tom Boellstorff sees digital anthropology as a framework that avoids the notion that researchers are at risk during research and conceptual errors that unconsciously depend on their own cultural background, Especially when it comes to the future. I suspect that people, things and things in the virtual world may reflect reality and predict reality to some extent.
Reference:
Boellstorff, Tom. 2012. “Rethinking Digital Anthropology.” In Digital Anthropology, ed by. Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller. 1st ed. 39-60. Bloomsbury Academic. <http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~tboellst/bio/Rethinking.pdf>.
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