Okay, so the activity guidelines were quite specific:
“Find a public space that interests you and spend a few hours (over a period of a few days, ideally) making some field notes about what you see going on. The following questions might be useful as a guide to your field notes:
- Where are you? – describe the setting in as much detail as you can.
- Why did you choose this setting?
- What activities are people undertaking? What interactions are occurring?
- What sparks your curiosity about where you are and what is going on?
- If you were new to this culture, what might you wonder about?”
Now, I had neither the time nor the inclination to complete this activity in the traditional sense (check out Helen Walker’s great post) but was inspired by Peter Tate’s blog post describing his ethnographic experience of a Facebook group. So, with the following question in mind, how would I address the above questions with regard to what people in a specific LinkedIn group (nameless for now owing to ethics considerations) are saying about the sustainable development goals.
“If you were to pursue an ethnographic approach in this space further, how might you approach this?”
- Where are you? – describe the setting in as much detail as you can.
This question refers to traditional participant observation but in going with the flow my response to this would be quite specific, describing the formality (laptop at desk) or informality of my location (iPad sitting in the lounge!).
- What activities are people undertaking? What interactions are occurring?
Networking sites are typically about sharing information, engaging in dialogue, offering opinions. The group I’m observing is representative of this, no formal pattern and probably a low level of contributions given the size of group membership.
- What sparks your curiosity about where you are and what is going on?
The rules of the group are clearly presented and its focus is on sustainability and environmental issues. There are many interesting posts but very few responses. Why would this be the case?
- If you were new to this culture, what might you wonder about?
I was new to this culture less than two years ago and became a member of this group to look for and share information. It would seem to me that the group owner has a responsibility to comment on more of the posts than is actually happening and this in turn would encourage participation.
The challenge to be overcome is how best to move what was traditionally an ‘in-person’ research method to a virtual one successfully – more reading on this topic to follow!
Sandra Flynn 
Thanks for linking to my post, Heather! As one myself, I’m fascinated by Linkedin lurkers…I wonder if the lack of contributions is connected to feeling professionally exposed?
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