Book chapter 2022

Capturing Actions of Communities: Towards Virtual Ethnography and Digital Tools in Researching Organizations and Workplace Learning

Professional and Practice-based Learning
Journal · Vol. 33 · pp. 397-418
Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce the ethnographic research methodology as a starting point in organisational and workplace learning research. In approaching learning at work as a practice-based and communal phenomenon, this strategy has been found suitable for studying its nature and practices. We focus on new and innovative ways to conduct ethnography—especially virtual ethnography and digital tools. In this chapter, we first briefly describe the background of ethnographic methodology. We then move on to consider why workplace learning should also be studied in virtual environments and how digital tools, such as subjective cameras, can be utilized in conducting ethnographic research. Then, we present two empirical case examples. The first case illustrates the study of informal learning using ethnography in a virtual environment. The second case illustrates the use of subjective cameras in a subjective, evidence-based ethnographic process. Using these case examples, we show how the basic principles of ethnography can be strengthened and applied in virtual environments and with the help of digital tools in workplace learning research. We also consider some potential ideas for further ethnographic research on workplace learning alongside ethical matters related to ethnographic and virtual ethnographic research. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Keywords

Author Keywords

workplace learning Ethnography Organization ethnography Subjective evidence-based ethnography Virtual ethnography

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Department of Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyvaskyla, Central Finland, Finland
Psychology and Counseling Department, Webster University, St. Louis, MO, United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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