Anthropology and Ethnography of the Internet in Everyday Life 3002-2K1ANM4
During the course of workshop, we will engage in theoretical groundwork (reading of texts), but above all in practice: participating in everyday digital practices and studying them. The issues addressed in class will largely concern methodological tools, research ethics, and the definition of key analytical categories in the context of the internet, digital culture, and user practices. The course description is indicative and will include, among others, the topics listed below, but may be adjusted to the research interests of the participants.
1. Are we living in cyberpunk? The Internet, digital discourses, and framing analysis.
2. Always-on: (Auto)ethnography of networked practices.
3. Where is the field, and how do we study it? An overview of key terms and research approaches.
4. Hybrid spaces and networked objects: An ethnographic walk in search of interactions with networks.
5. The forgotten metaverse? Ethnography of virtual worlds.
6. How to study social media.
7. Digital genres? Visuality and internet practices.
8. AI and LLMs as research methods and as objects of study.
9. Making and experimenting: Towards the medialab.
10. Research ethics: Hacking and trolling as research methods?
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
The student knows and is able to apply in practice the methods and tools of digital ethnography and digital sociology, and to select appropriate theoretical and methodological approaches to the phenomenon under study.
The student is able to use the methodological knowledge acquired to design their own research, identify areas and phenomena that are under-researched in existing scholarship, and formulate research questions.
The student is prepared to critically assess their own knowledge and the content they encounter. They understand the need to incorporate ethical reflection into the process of designing research in and on online environments.
Assessment criteria
The primary requirement for passing the semester is attendance. Absences must be justified with the lecturer. A student is allowed up to two justified or unjustified absences per semester. If a student has between three and five absences, they must make up for them in a manner determined by the lecturer (on an individual meeting during office hours to review the missed material). Absences (even justified ones) from more than five classes will result in disqualification from passing the course — only students with an Individual Study Arrangement approved by the BOK may have an increased absence limit, but no more than up to 50%.
A prerequisite for passing the workshop is active participation in class (60%) and completion of a final assignment consisting in designing a research project and presenting it (40%).
The use of artificial intelligence tools in theses, written assignments, and presentations is regulated by the provisions of § 3 and 4 of Resolution No. 98 of the University Council for Education of December 8, 2023, regarding guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence tools in the educational process.
Bibliography
Essential readings:
Boellstorff, Tom, Dojrzewanie w Second Life: antropologia człowieka wirtualnego, tłum. Agata Sadza, Kraków: Wydawnictwo UJ, 2012.
Filiciak, Mirosław i Paweł Starzec, ‘Kto ma sprawczość?’, Widok. Theories and Practices of Visual Culture, nr 38, 2024
Hjorth, Larissa, Heather Horst, Anne Galloway i Genevieve Bell (red.), The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography, New York: Routledge, 2017.
Jemielniak, Dariusz, Socjologia Internetu, Warszawa, 2019.
Kamińska, Magdalena, Memosfera. Wprowadzenie do cyberkulturoznawstwa, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2017.
Lindgren, Simon, Digital Media and Society, 2nd ed., London: Sage, 2025.
Makowska, Marta, Agnieszka Maj i Katarzyna Sacharczuk, AI w badaniach jakościowych: Praktyczny przewodnik dla badaczy i analityków społecznych, Warszawa: CeDeWu, 2025. (Wybrane fragmenty)
Quan-Haase, Anabel i Luke Sloan (red.), The SAGE Handbook of Social Media, London: Sage, 2022.
Selected excerpts from the assigned readings will be used.
The list of texts will be adjusted to the interests of the participants.
All materials will be made available via Classroom.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: