In August 2017 two brave researchers embarked on a journey to try a novel approach to collect data at the Dirty Dancing Festival at Lake Lure, North Carolina, United States. Our hope was to utilize qualitative data collection methods to empower the attendees at the festival to share their lived experiences of the festival through their lens. We asked them to upload their photos using social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, several unforeseen circumstances, including lack of wireless internet, impaired the data collection. Even with a backup of ipads for data collection, our efforts were challenged. In this paper, we will share our challenges with novel approaches to data collection and offer suggestions for future data collection
