1997

Hamman, Robin

The Application of Ethnographic Methodology in the Study of Cybersex

http://www.cybersociology.com/files/1_1_hamman.html

Text based computer mediated communication (CMC) has recently been the focus of many ethnographic studies by social scientists. In my own research of cybersex, I followed the lead of these researchers and utilised ethnographic methods but encountered several significant difficulties. These difficulties include the lack of parameters for users of text based virtual environments, the necessity of online interviews rather than face to face ones, and the frequent misinterpretations that occur due to the narrow bandwidth of text based CMC.