Digital methods for ethnography: analytical concepts for ethnographers exploring social media environments

The aim of this article is to introduce some analytical concepts suitable for ethnographers dealing with social media environments. As a result of the growth of social media, the Internet structure has become a very complex, fluid, and fragmented space. Within this space, it is not always possible to consider the 'classical' online community as the privileged field site for the ethnographer, in which s/he immerses him/herself. Differently, taking inspiration from some methodological principles of the Digital Methods paradigm, I suggest that the main task for the ethnographer moving across social media environments should not be exclusively that of identifying an online community to delve into but of mapping the practices through which Internet users and digital devices structure social formations around a focal object (e.g., a brand). In order to support the ethnographer in the mapping of social formations within social media environments, I propose five analytical concepts: community, public, crowd, self-presentation as a tool, and user as a device

Les défaillances du numérique : comme matière artistique

La numérisation des images ainsi que l’emploi du numérique pour la création ouvrent de nouvelles possibilités, non seulement pour le stockage du patrimoine culturel, mais également pour la production et la diffusion visuelles, en interaction, bien sûr, avec les autres médiums. Cependant, ces moyens technologiques imposent leurs contraintes et ne recouvrent pas tout à fait les possibilités des moyens plus traditionnels. Au lieu de concevoir ces aspects comme des limites, certains artistes s’interrogent sur la spécificité des nouveaux outils (appareil photo et caméra numériques, numériseur, etc.) et exploitent leurs défaillances comme matière pour leurs expérimentations. En illustrant par des oeuvres récentes déjà renommées ainsi que par des recherches plus jeunes, nous voudrions offrir une réflexion sur l’apport novateur des images numériques qui poursuivent et relancent l’héritage imagier dans lequel elles puisent.The digitalization of images as well as the use of digital systems for their creation open new possibilities, not only for the storage of cultural heritage, but also for production and visual distribution, in interaction with other media. These technological means impose their own constraints without covering all the possibilities offered by the more traditional means. Instead of considering these aspects as limitations, certain artists wonder about the specificity of the new tools trying to use the constraints themselves as a subject for their experiments. By referring to both renowned and less known works, this essay proposes a reflection on the innovative contribution of digital images and their relationship to the visual heritage on which they draw

Twiplomacy in the age of Donald Trump: Is the diplomatic code changing?

This study employs digital methods in conjunction with traditional content and discourse analyses to explore how the US President Donald Trump conducts diplomacy on Twitter and how, if at all, diplomatic entities around the world engage in diplomatic exchanges with him. The results confirm speculations that Trump’s diplomatic communication on Twitter disrupts traditional codes of diplomatic language but show little evidence that new codes of diplomatic interactions on social media are being constructed, given that other diplomatic entities around the world mostly remain within the confines of traditional notions of diplomacy in (not) communicating with Trump on Twitter

Ω−\Omega^- and Ωˉ+\bar\Omega^+ production in Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130 and 200 GeV

Mid-rapidity Omega and anti-Omega production in Au+Au collisions at RHIC is studied with the STAR experiment. We report preliminary results on yields and spectra at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 130 and 200 GeV. Production relative to negatively charged hadrons (h-) as well as thermal freeze-out and collective expansion are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Contribution to Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, France, July 200

Studying Instagram beyond selfies

Of approximately 40 billion photos posted on Instagram, only 282 million are selfies—just 0.7%. Thus, for all its zeitgeisty appeal, the selfie is in fact a niche phenomenon in the larger context of Instagram genres. Noting this fact, we identified an opportunity to engage with scholars from all over the world with the challenge of proposing new theories and approaches capable of unlocking the full socio-anthropological potential of Instagram. As the articles collected in this special issue testify, Instagram has an enormous impact on people’s everyday lives on many levels—socially, culturally, economically, and politically—and so, indubitably, it deserves rigorous academic attention. Given the scale and complexity of these impacts, studying Instagram poses different kinds of challenges and many gaps are still to be filled. With this special issue we don’t claim to resolve all the issues noted above. More modestly, our goal is to kick-start a fruitful conversation among social media scholars interested in furthering Instagram studies