Information Ethnography

INF2330H — Information Ethnography

Ethnography is the study and systematic recording of human cultures. A theoretical framework for inquiry and an associated set of research methods, ethnography originated in Anthropology, spread across the social sciences, and is now popular within Information Studies and its associated professions. This course adapts ethnography to the study of information phenomena, referred to as information ethnography. Over the semester, participants: learn central tenets of ethnography and then translate them to information-related questions, problems, and settings; analyze exemplar ethnographic studies of information; learn to conduct ethnographic fieldwork on information phenomena through observation, fieldnotes, interviews, visual techniques and other methods; and complete the ethnographic research cycle via analysis and writing. In addition to lectures, readings, in-class activities and discussions, students enact information ethnography first-hand, through an Information Ethnography Pilot Study in a context and population of their choice.

No pre-requisites as of January 2018

Former pre-requisite was INF1240H Research Methods
Note: 2012 – Title change: The Information Experience in Context. Formerly Special Topics… FIS/INF 2305H; no change in content

• Syllabus Winter 2024