Reimagining the Representation of Ethnographic Knowledge: The Philosophy and Methodology of a Digital Humanities Project
Abstract: In this essay, the authors--a faculty-student team--ask how ethnographers might harness the power of digital tools affiliated with the Digital Humanities to explore new ways to share ethnographic knowledge. Using the project, Song in the Sumatran Highlands, as a model, we help readers think through the possibilities of the digital, including the digital affordances that offer exciting and novel possibilities to re-envision the shape of ethnographic stories and expand potential audiences for them. For example, digital platforms let ethnographers move away from logocentrism and to play with the presentation of stories by exploring non-linear formats. They offer visualization tools that enable new ways of conceptualizing and seeing the data. They provide a series of interactive tools, like maps and timelines, that allow users to make discoveries for themselves. They enable the integration and annotation of multimedia, bringing users as close as possible to seeing, hearing and sensing the place, people, and sounds. They also allow for collaboration and polyvocality, addressing the issue of authority and voice. In short, using a digital platform offers a different way of hearing, seeing, experiencing, and ultimately understanding ethnographic research and offers one modality for ethical engagement in and dissemination of scholarship.
Connections: Ideas about how to connect his article to others in our collection, with links out to the other articles.