Al Thompson
Moderator Emeritus
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Studying The High Road
- Thread starter DrJ0NES
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More about the project...
There seems to be a lot of interest in the scope of the project so I will further elaborate.
The project is what's called a virtual ethnography. Most of the virtual ethnographies that have been done up to this point have covered online game communities and cell phone usage. This area of anthropology is really a recent development so it seemed like an interesting class.
The project for this class is to complete an ethnographic research project of a group that either communicates entirely through a virtually mediated medium, like a forum, or a group that utilizes both online and offline forms of interaction. The project consists of observing the community to try and identify its unique culture. Culture in this case refers to any set of learned behaviors or ideas held collectively by members of a community. As well as conducting interviews to develop what we call the "emic," or insider, perspective.
Subjects that are commonly focused on in this sort of study are, power dynamics, types of media used for communication, relationships between virtual and face to face interactions, and interpersonal and group ecologies.
For my project I'm going look at, reasons people joined the high road, common interests between members, power dynamics between staff and members, and unique cultural traits of the group (use of the term "highroad" is something I find pretty interesting).
As to the purpose of the project, other than to pass the class
, It is to understand the communication ecologies of a group whose communication is entirely virtually mediated. Also, Profs. havent mentioned it but I get the impression that the purpose of these senior level undergrad projects is to help students build connections and skills for graduate level work.
To all of the fine folks willing to help me with my study, and there have been more than a few, Thank you! Unfortunately I will not be able to interview all of you. I will try to schedule interviews over the course the upcoming week. Again thanks for the all the support.
About my handle, no I'm not a doctor... yet! Its actually a reference to an impromptu survey one of my classmates had about the most common responses we get when we tell people we're studying anthropology. My most common response is something along the lines of, "Oh thats cool, I love Indiana Jones!" Which in my book is enough of a compliment to overcome the longstanding feud between anthropologists and archaeologists.
@r1derbike, DrJONES was already taken, and HenryJonesJr doesn't have the same ring to it.
Also to all those who responded to this thread I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my lack of response to questions on this thread. I was not aware of the level of engagement that is expected on this forum. The moderators made it crystal clear to me that more than 12 hours without a response is unacceptable. again I sincerely apologize.
Thanks for the continued interest folks!
-Evan
There seems to be a lot of interest in the scope of the project so I will further elaborate.
The project is what's called a virtual ethnography. Most of the virtual ethnographies that have been done up to this point have covered online game communities and cell phone usage. This area of anthropology is really a recent development so it seemed like an interesting class.
The project for this class is to complete an ethnographic research project of a group that either communicates entirely through a virtually mediated medium, like a forum, or a group that utilizes both online and offline forms of interaction. The project consists of observing the community to try and identify its unique culture. Culture in this case refers to any set of learned behaviors or ideas held collectively by members of a community. As well as conducting interviews to develop what we call the "emic," or insider, perspective.
Subjects that are commonly focused on in this sort of study are, power dynamics, types of media used for communication, relationships between virtual and face to face interactions, and interpersonal and group ecologies.
For my project I'm going look at, reasons people joined the high road, common interests between members, power dynamics between staff and members, and unique cultural traits of the group (use of the term "highroad" is something I find pretty interesting).
As to the purpose of the project, other than to pass the class
, It is to understand the communication ecologies of a group whose communication is entirely virtually mediated. Also, Profs. havent mentioned it but I get the impression that the purpose of these senior level undergrad projects is to help students build connections and skills for graduate level work.To all of the fine folks willing to help me with my study, and there have been more than a few, Thank you! Unfortunately I will not be able to interview all of you. I will try to schedule interviews over the course the upcoming week. Again thanks for the all the support.
About my handle, no I'm not a doctor... yet! Its actually a reference to an impromptu survey one of my classmates had about the most common responses we get when we tell people we're studying anthropology. My most common response is something along the lines of, "Oh thats cool, I love Indiana Jones!" Which in my book is enough of a compliment to overcome the longstanding feud between anthropologists and archaeologists.
@r1derbike, DrJONES was already taken, and HenryJonesJr doesn't have the same ring to it.
Also to all those who responded to this thread I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my lack of response to questions on this thread. I was not aware of the level of engagement that is expected on this forum. The moderators made it crystal clear to me that more than 12 hours without a response is unacceptable. again I sincerely apologize.
Thanks for the continued interest folks!
-Evan
Al Thompson
Moderator Emeritus
Interestingly enough, the web site name came (IIRC) from a Denton County resident.
Meeting up
Hey all thanks for your continued help with the project. I will probably do one more interview this week. But something interesting came up during one of my interviews and if any of you have any experience with the topic, your contributions would be greatly appreciated.
The topic is face to face meet ups. If any of you could offer an anecdote about a High Road meet up you participated in that would be awesome. Primarily: what setting it was in? IE a range session, a gun show, a camping trip, etc. what was your experience of meeting other High Roaders face to face? Did your level of engagement on the high road increase after the meet up?
Thanks for your help and support everybody,
I literally couldnt do this without you .
-Evan
Hey all thanks for your continued help with the project. I will probably do one more interview this week. But something interesting came up during one of my interviews and if any of you have any experience with the topic, your contributions would be greatly appreciated.
The topic is face to face meet ups. If any of you could offer an anecdote about a High Road meet up you participated in that would be awesome. Primarily: what setting it was in? IE a range session, a gun show, a camping trip, etc. what was your experience of meeting other High Roaders face to face? Did your level of engagement on the high road increase after the meet up?
Thanks for your help and support everybody,
I literally couldnt do this without you
.-Evan
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