民族誌學應用於網路研究的契機、問題，與挑戰

Notes on the Ethnography of the Internet: Opportunities, Challenges, and Problems

正如在20世紀裡出現的其他新傳播科技一般，網際網路擔負了許多對於這個新科技如何衝擊社會生活的想像與疑慮。網路在人類日常生活中扮演的角色，因為科技本身的發展尚未定型，也因此保留了許多想像的空間。民族誌學對於陌生人事物的好奇，與對於產出微觀資料的執著，都成了填補網路社會與文化意涵想像空間的最佳工具。民族誌學對於特定生活環境的敏感度，以及尊重不同文化的相對價值，都使其不會偏廢「人使用網路溝通」所產生的多元社會文化意涵。本文探討民族誌學應用於網路研究的契機、問題，與挑戰。討論主要區分為三個部分：第一部份先處理民族誌學的認知轉變。其主要目的在於探討民族誌學在建立「何謂代表他者的知識」過程中，如何因應外在環境的轉變與學門內方法論的反省而產生的論述抗詰。第二部分則討論網路的科技的特殊性與普遍性，重點在於強調網路在時空觀念、主體認同，與社群意涵上，有其相異於過往傳播／溝通模式之處，但此相異處不應被認定為網路社會「自成一格」的證據。第三部份則探討民族誌學用於觀察網際網路的技巧與問題，包括田野觀察的時空條件、身份建構的真實性，以及研究價值與倫理的兩難。

Like most communication technologies that appeared before it, the Internet bears upon itself imaginations and anxieties concerning its impact to our social life. With its still developing technological format, the Internet leaves much room for ethnographic imagination about its enriched social and cultural implications. The article explores the opportunities, problems, and challenges of applying ethnographic methods to the study of the Internet culture. The first part deals with the 'hermeneutic turn' of ethnography in the past decades. It mainly concerns how ethnographic methodology copes with global social transformations, as well as the calls for reflexivity within the discipline concerning the authority of representing Others. The second part discusses the particularities and generalities of the Internet technologies, focusing on time-space construct, identification, and concepts of community. The last part explores the techniques and problems of ethnographic methods, including problematic fieldwork, the factuality of virtual identity, the ethical dilemma, and the balance between microscopic and macroscopic meanings.