EAGER: Extreme Ethnography: When Content and Tools Change Continually on Vast Scales, How Must Our Research Methods Change

在分布式网络空间的新时代，仅仅在本地服务器和存储站点上观察人类行为已经不够了。从探索在线视频到使用关键字搜索界面搜索庞大的信息空间，信息范围和社会影响发生了变化。因此，随着研究背景的变化，HCI研究人员需要新的策略来研究、响应和适应不断变化的环境。社会网络分析（SNA）和调查等定量方法是解决某些类型的在线社会空间中的一些研究问题的适当技术，但它们有局限性。对于一些研究来说，定性方法，特别是应用人种学，可能是深入了解网络社会数字生态中用户行为、意图和感受的唯一途径。本研究的目的是检查研究人员在试图使用人种学方法理解大型在线空间中不同类型的行为时遇到的问题。为此，我们将进行两个阶段的研究。第一阶段将对YouTube、Facebook、Twitter、Wikipedia和其他大型社会系统以及关键字搜索界面上的当前研究文献进行荟萃分析，以确定研究人员使用的方法，在什么假设下，以及这些研究报告了哪些结果。第二阶段将对HCI研究人员样本如何在这些巨大且不断变化的信息空间中进行定性研究，特别是人种学的案例研究进行扎实的理论分析。

In the new era of distributed online spaces it is no longer sufficient to look at human behavior just on local servers and storage sites. From exploring on-line videos to searching vast information spaces with keyword search interfaces, the information scope and societal impact have changed. HCI researchers therefore need new strategies to study, respond, and adapt to changing circumstances as the context for research changes. Quantitative methods such as social network analysis (SNA) and surveys are appropriate techniques for addressing some research questions in some types of online social spaces, but they have limitations. For some studies, qualitative methods, specifically applied ethnography, may offer the only way to deeply understand users' behavior, intentions and feelings within the social-digital ecology of the Web. The goal of this research is to examine the issues that researchers encounter when attempting to understand diverse types of behavior in large online spaces using ethnographic approaches. To accomplish we will conduct a two-stage study. Stage 1 will produce a meta-analysis of current research literature on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and other large-scale social systems, and on keyword search interfaces, to identify the methods that were used by researchers, under what assumptions, and which outcomes these studies reported. Stage 2 will produce a grounded theory analysis of case studies of how a sample of HCI researchers do qualitative research, particularly ethnography, in these vast and changing information spaces.