Digital Ethnography and Digital Collaborators

Presentation Location

David Student Union: Washington Room

Document Type

Event

Start Date

16-3-2024 10:30 AM

End Date

16-3-2024 12:00 PM

Description

(Julia Barnett, Session Chair)

  • Julia Barnett (University of West Georgia). Intangible Cultural Resources: Identity & Collaboration in the Digital Age
    Digital media is a new cultural resource, blurring the lines between tangible and intangible heritage. In today’s world, many people interact with digital media daily, but the changing landscape of legislation and ownership across the Internet threatens the longevity of some digital resources. Individuals use digital media to form profound emotional connections and develop collective identities, which have led some to create endeavors to preserve these endangered resources— endeavors that fall under the umbrella of cultural heritage management. This research defines digital resources and identifies who has ownership and stewardship by highlighting community-led projects and their connection to heritage management strategies. The importance of shared community and digital heritage provides a roadmap for interdisciplinary practitioners of heritage management. In this paper, I discuss how practitioners can begin to utilize digital engagement in their outreach programs.
  • Kendall Ussery (University of West Georgia). A MikuMikuDance Inquiry: Studies of Fandom, Technology, and Dance (1980s-Now)
    A globally popular Japanese manga/anime series called JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (1987) has a particularly interesting form of fan video art through the software MikuMikuDance, which has built up a niche community between the creators and viewers. Collecting data through a digital ethnographic method and from an autoethnographic perspective, I conclude that there are various levels of how positively the existence of “JoJo MMDs” are viewed by the fandom. To fully understand the creation of these videos in general, I examine anthropological perspectives connected to dance, technology, and fandom. This research contributes to digital anthropology through dance, technology, and fandom, while also highlighting the interactions within a specific digital community.
  • Chase Plante (Old Dominion University). Legitimacy as Societal Subsystem Integration
    “Political legitimacy” is the successful integration of the societal subsystems of polity with culture. “Culture” includes lived active thought and behavioral patterns; it is the expression of what people are doing and thinking. Government, in the Foucauldian sense, is active practice because its practitioners are actively governing. Ergo, government, in the sense of it being the result of active behaviors and thought, is “cultural.” To function, interconnecting social systems must align in their norms and practice. Where they are incongruous, there will be social dysfunction. Political legitimacy is thus enough congruence between culture and polity for political functionality. Engagement with law, for example, is sociocultural. Laws are only as powerful as they are followed and enforced. For a law to be truly effective, it needs to become not only a formal rule but also informal. Government, similarly, to be legitimate, needs to become not just a formal institution but also to integrate with the informal, the real cultural practice. Mechanisms of legitimacy, such as divine right to rule, are effectively culture producers attempting to mold the culture into something congruous with the polity.

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Mar 16th, 10:30 AM Mar 16th, 12:00 PM

Digital Ethnography and Digital Collaborators

David Student Union: Washington Room

(Julia Barnett, Session Chair)

  • Julia Barnett (University of West Georgia). Intangible Cultural Resources: Identity & Collaboration in the Digital Age
    Digital media is a new cultural resource, blurring the lines between tangible and intangible heritage. In today’s world, many people interact with digital media daily, but the changing landscape of legislation and ownership across the Internet threatens the longevity of some digital resources. Individuals use digital media to form profound emotional connections and develop collective identities, which have led some to create endeavors to preserve these endangered resources— endeavors that fall under the umbrella of cultural heritage management. This research defines digital resources and identifies who has ownership and stewardship by highlighting community-led projects and their connection to heritage management strategies. The importance of shared community and digital heritage provides a roadmap for interdisciplinary practitioners of heritage management. In this paper, I discuss how practitioners can begin to utilize digital engagement in their outreach programs.
  • Kendall Ussery (University of West Georgia). A MikuMikuDance Inquiry: Studies of Fandom, Technology, and Dance (1980s-Now)
    A globally popular Japanese manga/anime series called JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (1987) has a particularly interesting form of fan video art through the software MikuMikuDance, which has built up a niche community between the creators and viewers. Collecting data through a digital ethnographic method and from an autoethnographic perspective, I conclude that there are various levels of how positively the existence of “JoJo MMDs” are viewed by the fandom. To fully understand the creation of these videos in general, I examine anthropological perspectives connected to dance, technology, and fandom. This research contributes to digital anthropology through dance, technology, and fandom, while also highlighting the interactions within a specific digital community.
  • Chase Plante (Old Dominion University). Legitimacy as Societal Subsystem Integration
    “Political legitimacy” is the successful integration of the societal subsystems of polity with culture. “Culture” includes lived active thought and behavioral patterns; it is the expression of what people are doing and thinking. Government, in the Foucauldian sense, is active practice because its practitioners are actively governing. Ergo, government, in the sense of it being the result of active behaviors and thought, is “cultural.” To function, interconnecting social systems must align in their norms and practice. Where they are incongruous, there will be social dysfunction. Political legitimacy is thus enough congruence between culture and polity for political functionality. Engagement with law, for example, is sociocultural. Laws are only as powerful as they are followed and enforced. For a law to be truly effective, it needs to become not only a formal rule but also informal. Government, similarly, to be legitimate, needs to become not just a formal institution but also to integrate with the informal, the real cultural practice. Mechanisms of legitimacy, such as divine right to rule, are effectively culture producers attempting to mold the culture into something congruous with the polity.