No particular prior knowledge is required

This laboratory is designed to give students knowledge and ability about methods and tools to undertake qualitative research on digital environments. The main objective of the laboratory is to offer theoretical knowledge and technical skills related to digital ethnography and qualitative social research on digital spaces.
As a result of taking this course, the students will be able to: a) demonstrate knowledge of theoretical and methodological approaches in the field of digital ethnography; b) demonstrate the ability to organize a digital ethnographic study based on social network analysis and content analysis applied to social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well as social media environments, such as online forums and blogs; c) demonstrate the ability to detect, collect, organise, analyse, interpret digital data and to present the results appropriately.

The course aims to provide the student knowledge, methods and techniques to interpret contemporary networked identities and subjectivities, such as digital consumer identities and cultures. In detail, the course focuses on theoretical and practical techniques for doing qualitative research on social media environments.
Week 1 (2 lectures): Introduction to Online social formations and Digital tools
The first lecture introduces students to some key concepts, such as digital data, digital devices, affordances, social media platform.
Different methods for digital network and content analysis developed in social and cultural research are outlined.
The second lecture illustrates the main social formations appearing in digital environments and explains the practical applications of their study. Students are introduced to the actual toolkit to undertake qualitative research across social networking platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. It will be applied the main free-to-use digital tools that can be utilised to extract data from social media.
Week 2 (2 lectures): Doing digital ethnography/1 Social network analysis
This session illustrates the uses and applications of social network analysis and network visualisation for digital research.
The first lecture introduces students to the analysis of the network formations that pertain to online social spaces.
The second lecture is a practical application of social network analysis. It is proposed group work assignments regarding Twitter-based/Instagram-based research.
Week 3 (2 lectures): Doing digital ethnography/2 Qualitative content analysis
The first lecture focuses on applications of qualitative content analysis to digital text.
The second lecture is a practical application of the content analysis of digital data. It is proposed group work assignments regarding Twitter-based/Instagram-based research.
Week 4 (1 lecture): Group presentation
The final lecture is dedicated to group work presentations. Group work assignments and results are illustrated and discussed.
During the lectures, an in-depth analysis will be dedicated to the topic "Health and digital media at the time of Covid 19: communicative, ethical and organisational issues".

• 1.  (A) Caliandro A., Gandini A. Qualitative Research in Digital Environments: A Research Toolkit Taylor & Francis, New York, 2017 » Pagine/Capitoli: pp. 228

The slides projected during the lectures are available on the webpage of the course.
It is required to produce a project work, of 3.500 words. The project work should illustrate the results of a digital ethnography study, by presenting the fieldwork methods and the findings. In the event of difficulties to attend the course, students are kindly invited to contact the teacher by email.

• The methods of instruction employed in this course include: interactive lectures; case study analysis; teacher-led computer labs; classroom presentations of the results of students' independent investigations; an interdisciplinary seminar on the topic: "Health and digital media at the time of Covid 19: communicative, ethical and organisational issues".

• The course will be formally assessed by means of a project work, of 3.500 words, on the case study each student has carried out during the course. The project work should illustrate the results of a digital ethnography study, by presenting the fieldwork methods and the findings. Additional details about the form and structure of the project work will be discussed during class lectures. In the event of difficulties to attend the course, students are kindly invited to contact the teacher by email.

Inglese

Inglese