Research, Research, Research!

So, I am taking a module in Trinity on Ethnography and part of the preparation for the module if to write a blog about my online ethnography. As I already write a blog I have decided to post here instead of starting a new one. I also thought that as I haven’t really written about my research here thus far it might be interesting to those of you who read my posts. Some methodological reflections might also be useful for those of you who are in the process of finishing up your thesis at the minute.

I really should be blogging more often in general but I am going to make a concerted effort in the next few weeks to blog about my research. As a little reminder I am doing my PhD in the Sociology dept. of Trinity College Dublin and my PhD is an ethnographic study looking at how technology had impacted on the Dublin Music Scene.

So I have been trying to get back into my field work which is always a challenge more so than ever this semester. Unfortunately due to the move to Carroll’s which is looming ever closer I seem to have double the amount of meetings to attend that I usually have. Between sorting out the tenders for equipment and all the other planning things have been a bit mad. The second part of the semester always seems to give me a little more space for my research as i have all my teaching planning for the semester finished and exam papers written. I am also looking forward to the Easter break so I can get a run at things.

But here I go again three whole paragraphs and I am making excuses and talking about what I am going to do but not a mention of what I have actually been doing. It’s like being in a meeting with my supervisor, who I had a full and frank exchange with when we met on Friday. She “put a bomb” under me and told me to stop making excuses and living in the future and just get on with it. Sound advice and she is most definitely right.

So a quick summary of where I am at. I have completed all of the interviews with those who have been involved in the Dublin Music Scene for ten years or more. When I say completed I mean they have taken place, they are transcribed and I have also coded them some by hand and some using Nvivo. This was all completed in December.

From these interviews a number of themes have emerged that I wanted to explore with younger members of the Scene. The younger members of the scene are the one that are really important to me because they are the one who are living it. They are also digital natives and have grown up using technology. The old fogeys (as I am sure most of the younger cohort imagine anyone in their late twenties early thirties to be) were only really a test group. If I am going to talk about how technology has impacted on the scene I need to know what it was like before technology was ubiquitous.
So the second batch has begun I have conducted and transcribed two interviews and have three more scheduled for this week. I am really hoping to get them out of the way asap.

What has really struck me though was the unwillingness of all concerned to conduct interviews online. When arranging the interviews I offered all of them the option of meeting me in town or arranging a time online. All went for an in-person meeting. I am very disappointed to be honest, for no other reason than it would have been good to reflect on the interviews from a methodological standpoint. But I have to do whatever people feel comfortable.

I also intend to conduct some participant observation in Facebook before I conduct my interviews, time permitting!
The real challenge I find when I am conducting ethnography online is the sheer volume of activity that is taking place, and I am always conscious that most of the time people are doing exactly as I am lurking. All of my field work so far has backed up what I thought to be the case, that lurking can be an important part of people involvement in the scene just as going to a nightclub or a gig. But how do I capture this? I am considering asking people to keep a diary but I wonder will they? Or maybe I could just go and sit in their bedrooms and watch them on the Internet. I am only half joking with that last comment.

I am finding some interesting contrast in views and habits between the young cohort and the older ones. Some which surprise me and some that don’t. As I have only coded two I am not going to comment on them just yet as they could well be exceptions rather than the norm but hopefully later in the week I will be able to go into things in a bit more detail. It does at last give me something to go with.

In other news I just sent circa2000 words to my supervisor only about another 8000 to go before I meet with her again but its start.

Also Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there, I know my mammy does not read my blog but just in case she stumbles across Love you Mam!

Don’t have time to go into it now but some very interesting debate around a few things this week of International womens day. The Irish times published a special on Women to mark the occasion Friday week last. It seems to have upset a lot of people both men and women in fact there was a whole page of the comments published in this weeks edition of the Ticket. Una Mulally in the Tribune today mentioned it in her column and as usual had a quite astute assessment of the whole thing.

Probably the most watched clip on youtube over the weekend was the video for the Lady Gaga and Beyonce collaboration Telephone. 13m views since Friday morning! I have to say it was not the murder, the semi nakedness or the fact that it implied the two ladies were lovers that got my attention but all of the product placement. It actually made me think I was watching some remixed version because it was so blatent. But seemingly no. Seeing as I am pretty fond of both the Gaga and Beyonce I was a little disappointed if the truth be told.

I’m sure you’ve all seen it already but just in case