This contribution presents a conversation between four researchers on online ethnography as a research methodology in disciplines such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and education. The exchange reflects on the possibilities and tensions involved in researching linguistic practices in digital contexts, as well as on the still persistent prejudices towards this approach in certain academic communities. The conversation seeks to transfer to the disciplines mentioned reflections and questions already debated in other disciplines, addressing the interconnection between offline and online spaces, the need to adapt traditional methodological tools to the complexity of digital environments and to analyse them from an interdisciplinary perspective, as well as the ethical challenges of working with people in these contexts. It also insists on the importance of a critical and situated gaze on these spaces, and vindicates the epistemic value of online ethnography as a legitimate and powerful way to investigate language as a social practice.
This contribution is accompanied by a recorded conversation.
Part 1 (00:00 - 59:59): https://tobira.unibe.ch/!v/KZRVbhmNyZd
Part 2 (59:59 - 2:00:04): https://tobira.unibe.ch/!v/IuJmVmI_i1v
