Searching Anthropology and Twitter Do “new” fields require new tools? Erlend J. Tollaas Masteroppgave i Sosialantropologi Vår 2018 UNIVERSITETET I OSLO 15.05.2018 II Searching Twitter and Anthropology Do “new” fields require new tools? Erlend Jong Tollaas III © Erlend Jong Tollaas 2018 Searching Anthropology and Twitter – Do “new” fields require new tools? Forfatter: Erlend Jong Tollaas http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo IV Summary This thesis is focused on the role of social media in anthropology today, and in the future. It has changed from an initially “classic” fieldwork centred thesis, to the literature-based thesis it is today. As social media is a broad subject, I’ve elected to focus especially on Twitter. I chose Twitter partially based on it being a media I knew, but also due to the original aim of the thesis. As a literature-based thesis, my empirical data is presented in the form of experiences. I draw upon my own experiences, as well as those of authors I mention, linking them to texts ranging from Bronislaw Malinowski and Erving Goffman, to Devin Gaffney & Cornelius Puschmann and Michael Beurskens. Through the various authors I refer to, I attempt to cover a broad spectrum of different topics relating to opportunities and challenges between anthropology and Twitter. As such, this is no “deep dive” into any one opportunity or challenge. The thesis is constructed around the idea of opportunities, challenges and ethical questions. I approached these ideas through initially questioning our anthropological tools. Authors like Yarimar Bonilla & Jonathan Rosa and Alice E. Marwick offer practical examples of Twitter studies. Annette Markham raised some questions regarding the purpose of fieldwork, and questioned why we second-guess digital (anthropology)data. This was largely inspirational for how I approached thinking opportunities and challenged with Twitter. Judith Okely, on the other hand, has covered the ideas and advantages of for example physical presence. This forced me to consider the challenged carefully and try to place Twitter in relation to classic fields and fieldwork. There are also technical reads, touching upon the basic tools which we should apply to these studies. As I argue in the text, these are added both to enlighten the reader to how these technical aspects actually work, but also highlight just how complex it is to understand. The ethical aspects are both tied to law, anthropology and general concerns that have arisen of late. As social medias popularity rises, we must also make more ethical considerations. Some of these are obvious and familiar, such as anonymity and privacy, but others, such as navigating Twitter laws or bots and trolls, are harder to grasp. My conclusion tries to tie together all the opportunities and challenges and as they have been presented. Through the understanding I’ve built up of how to approach these, I question the way we (anthropologists) think about social media. V VI Preface The purpose of this thesis is to question how anthropology can relate to new social media platforms. It had what I assume is an unusual beginning, even for a subject where we are encouraged to explore and study something unfamiliar in an (for us) unfamiliar setting. Through almost two earlier iterations, it changed from fieldwork-based to a form of literature analysis. As someone who has studied for three and a half years getting ready to perform and write about a fieldwork, it was challenging to “reset”. On top of this came the half year spent on the fieldwork, and half a year figuring out the new direction (including the short Twitter case study) which eventually added up. When approaching it anew, I carried over certain key elements from the initial research proposal, and thus maintained a connection to the things I found interesting. Discussing things that touched upon the experiences I did have, allowed me to engage with the material on a more personal level than I initially thought possible. While I at times questioned the validity of using myself as I have done, I attempted to find the right balance between my experiences and the arguments presented by others. Throughout the writing process my “goal” or aim also changed. Initially I thought answering the hypothesis would round the thesis off, but as I worked with it, its scope broadened. The texts I’ve selected, and the themes I discussed are a product of what I’ve experienced in light of the knowledge I now have. While new texts on social media emerge seemingly every day, I remain with a question; Why does this still appear unfamiliar or “new” to us? VII VIII Innhold Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Personal anecdotes and ”fieldwork experience” .................................................................... 1 Questioning the hypothesis .................................................................................................... 3 The Scotland fieldwork .......................................................................................................... 4 The Case Study of the American Presidential Election ......................................................... 5 Chapter 1: The idea of Twitter, field and its purpose ................................................................. 9 Barnard and brief exploits from anthropological history ..................................................... 10 Gupta and Ferguson – ideas of field ..................................................................................... 12 Okely – fieldwork and ethnography ..................................................................................... 13 Markham and why we do what we do .................................................................................. 15 Marcus and Candea – Geography and ethnography in the multi-sited debate ..................... 17 Kozinets Netnography .......................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: The opportunities .................................................................................................... 21 Gaffney & Puschmann “Data Collection on Twitter” .......................................................... 22 Burns & Stieglitz and Metrics for Understanding Communication on Twitter ................... 26 Bonilla & Rosa #Ferguson ................................................................................................... 29 Marwick “Ethnographic and Qualitative Research on Twitter” .......................................... 32 Classical fieldwork data and Twitter data ............................................................................ 35 Chapter 3 – The Challenges ..................................................................................................... 39 Postill & Pink “Social Media Ethnography: The Digital Researcher in a Messy Web” ...... 39 Data – a flood of data or a stream of information ................................................................ 41 The Matter of Representation ............................................................................................... 46 Informants and source criticism ........................................................................................... 49 Bots, trolls and “fake news” ................................................................................................. 52 The sense of “being there” – can it be done none-physically? ............................................. 54 The Relationship Conundrum .............................................................................................. 57 Summary of the Challenges – Viewing Critically ............................................................... 59 Chapter 4: The Ethics ............................................................................................................... 61 Michael Beurskens: Understanding the legal framework .................................................... 61 Twitters position ................................................................................................................... 64 Is this public? Posting on Twitter ......................................................................................... 66 Issues of Truth, representation, bots, trollfactories and “fake news” return ........................ 68 IX Echo-chambers or cross-communication ............................................................................. 69 Notes on the current standing of law .................................................................................... 71 Chapter 5: Summary ................................................................................................................. 73 The debunking of the mystical ............................................................................................. 74 Placing myself in the thesis .................................................................................................. 76 The final barriers .................................................................................................................. 77 Bibliography: ............................................................................................................................ 81 Online Links - Links to sites referred to (not press/media): ................................................ 84 Media/press links to sites referred to: .................................................................................