Abstract
This chapter is an examination into the process of creating a digital ethnography using ethnographic videos combined with visualized datasets and textual information. The focus on process is a means to discuss the various considerations that emerge while contending with new forms of digital data. Throughout the chapter I trace how my dual goals, to use the material for ethnographic insights and to use the material as part of my collaboration with participants, drove my efforts, but how at the same time the technological realities of dealing with the materials pushed back, shaping not only what I created but also the questions and insights that emerged. These three considerations—the anthropological, participatory, and technological—each continuously influenced my decisions at each stage of gathering, manipulating, and presenting digital materials. This project is still a work in progress, so I have not resolved the tensions between these three forces. In this chapter I aim to outline my process of working through and contending with these forces at different stages in the project.
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- 1.
The videos discussed in this chapter are all digital. I use the term video to refer to these products. I use the term footage to refer to raw and unedited video material. I use the terms filming and filmmaking to refer to the process of creating videos.
- 2.
The role of creative production as a source of gaining social knowledge is increasingly recognized as a form of practice-based research both within the artistic world and the anthropological world (Campbell 2011; Finkelpearl 2012; Grimshaw and Ravetz 2005; Helguera 2011; Leavy 2015; Mjaaland 2009; Schneider and Wright 2013; Sullivan 2010). Also, in some programs, practice-based research is becoming an accepted form of dissertation work (Candy 2006).
- 3.
- 4.
FCP version 7 was created in 2009 and last updated in 2010.
- 5.
Clips are independent files of video footage. When filming digitally, clips are automatically formed based on the start and stop of a moment of recording. Editors can choose to shorten the start and stop points of a clip when transferring the files from an SD card to a hard drive, or within an editing program. I transferred the full length of my filmed clips to my hard drive and into FCP 7.
- 6.
According to the USDA, 55% of Black Principal Operators of farms have access to the internet, versus 70% of all principle operators (USDA NASS. (2014). Black Farmers: Highlights. ACH12–10).
- 7.
There are other GIS applications that can provide more capabilities, but programs such as ArcGIS are prohibitively expensive for individual users and have a much higher learning curve. In creating this platform, I was deliberate to choose applications that could also be accessed by the Federation, so as not to recreate the inability to share material as had resulted through my edits in FCP.
- 8.
This limitation is based on the free version that I used at the time of building this project. Carto has since updated to allow eight layers for its free version.
- 9.
This response happened both during feedback sessions with participants and during conferences and workshops with academics.
- 10.
For example, Klynt supports integration of multiple types of materials and interactive images and menus. However, Klynt also costs more money.
- 11.
My initial attempts have led me to the conclusion that I may have to abandon my pursuit of a free platform to use for creating this project.
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Franzen, S. (2020). Digital Transformations: Integrating Ethnographic Video into a Multimodal Platform. In: Crowder, J., Fortun, M., Besara, R., Poirier, L. (eds) Anthropological Data in the Digital Age. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24925-0_7
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