Abstract

This chapter outlines the range of approaches to online ethnography that have emerged as the Internet has evolved and examines in detail some methodological challenges that have been encountered as ethnographic principles are applied within online settings. Having outlined the development of online ethnography the chapter then explores the decisions that ethnographers face in defining the field site. In addition to field sites contained wholly online, a variety of more spatially complex ethnographic field sites have emerged, enabling ethnographers to explore the complex and contingent connections between online and offline social spaces. The chapter then considers a further set of key methodological issues focused on ethnographers’ embodied experiences as they traverse online and offline interactions and highlighting the contribution that autoethnographic approaches can make to understanding of online fields. The final section considers the challenges on the horizon for ethnographers as new platforms for online interaction are developed.