Dr Agata Stepnik discusses digital ethnography

In this video interview, Post-doctoral research fellow Dr. Agata Stepnik talks about the importance of digital ethnography as a research method and the need for situated and observational methods in understanding digital cultures.

Transcipt

“I was exploring how everyday users of social media try to shape what appears in their feeds, and whether that influences the amount of news content they encounter. Often, we learn about the world through informal sources—friends, family, influencers, celebrities—so I wanted to understand how much of the information people receive is professional news versus cultural commentary.

By directly observing how people use social media, I could see how often news appeared in their feeds, where it came from, and whether they noticed or engaged with it. Since social media content can come from anyone, this raised questions about what counts as public content. Posts from celebrities or public figures are clearly public, but what about content from friends or family with private accounts? If a participant has access to that content, it’s not truly public, yet I was still seeing it.

This made it essential to consider how to manage the research ethically—not just to protect participants, but also the people whose content might be visible. In my study, I took notes by hand while observing. Participants could also keep a personal archive of screenshots between sessions, but they were only allowed to share those on screen after redacting any identifying information, unless the content was from a public figure.

To ensure transparency, each participant posted a pinned message or story on their social media account explaining that they were part of a research project and that a researcher might be viewing their content. We also provided a guide on how to make content private if they didn’t want it seen between sessions. Importantly, participants always had the option to say, “I don’t want to show you this,” or “Let’s skip this account today.”