Kits for Digital Methods Doing Sociotechnical Research

1. The Kits for Digital Methods Kit: Introduction - Angela K. VandenBroek and Nicole Taylor

Part I: Digital Engagement Kits

2. The Remote Fieldwork Kit - Valerie Black

3. The UX Researcher’s Identity Balancing Kit - Elizabeth Rodwell

4. The Programming as Participant Observation Kit - Samantha Breslin

5. The Friending as Participant Observation Kit - Nicole Taylor

6. The AI Impact Engagement Kit - Tamara Kneese, Meg Young, Ranjit Singh, Briana Vecchione, Emnet Tafesse, and Jacob Metcalf 

Part II: Digital Elicitation Kits

7. The AI Feedback Kit - Ritwik Banerji

8. The Making Together Kit - Liliana Gil

9. The Photostories Kit - Ricardo Gomez

10. The Collaborative Comics and Image Description Kit -  Barbara N. Carreras

11. The Participatory Analysis Kit - Angela K. VandenBroek

Part III: Digital Data Kits

12. The Purposeful Sample Kit - Patricia G. Lange

13. The Metadata and Mapping Kit - Grant Jun Otsuki

14. The Image Collage Kit - Rebecca Carlson

15. The Encountering Qualitative Data with STEM Students Kit - Elizabeth Reddy

16. The Academic Website Building and Optimization Kit - Matt Artz

17. The Kits for Digital Methods Kit: Conclusion - Angela K. VandenBroek and Nicole Taylor

Appendix: Kit Component Reference

Biography

Angela K. VandenBroek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University, USA.

Nicole Taylor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University, USA.

“Using “kits” as open-ended frameworks for practical innovation, this volume provides a remarkable foundation for digital methods. From images and video to AI; from collaboration to programming; from teaching STEM students to building an academic website—and so much more—it’s a true resource. I’ll use it for years to come.”

 

—Tom Boellstorff, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, United States

 

“Kits for Digital Methods brilliantly challenges and reimagines the technosolutionist concept of toolkit, offering instead a reflexive approach to critical engagement with sociotechnical systems. By treating kits as boundary objects, the volume helps spur methodological innovation through experimental, collaborative and ethical engagement with the shifting terrain of digital life.”

 

—Dominic Boyer, Social Design Lab, Rice University, United States

 

“Kits is a source of inspiration and guidance to social researchers exploring the intricacies of digital mediation. Through open reflections on their experiences, the authors offer valuable insights on how to engage with digital technologies in innovative ways. A must have for digital ethnographers as well as media and STS scholars.”

 

—Paula Uimonen, Department of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University, Sweden

 

“This kit of kits offers something rare for anthropologists interested in digital research: concrete advice! The chapters here will help researchers figure out how to approach fields from Facebook to YouTube or AI to UX, with well-considered guidance and reflection on what our methods are good for.”

 

—Nick Seaver, Department of Anthropology, Tufts University, United States

 

“Kits for Digital Methods is an invaluable resource. It will help all of those who are looking to innovate their methodologies and reconceptualize their toolbox into a blended format which keeps with the critical tradition of the social sciences and the humanities while at the same time drives forward the practical real-world engagement of living methods. Not only a must-read, but a must-implement book.”

 

—Lora Koycheva, Technical University of Brandenburg and founder of Robots, actually!, Germany

 

“This volume is a pick-n-mix of social research methods. From participatory approaches and reflexive methods, to modes of inquiry that use creative practice and emerging technologies, to kits that boost your data analysis; VandenBroek and Taylor have assembled an impressive range of contributors in this handbook for researchers and students.”

 

—Rebekah Cupitt, Digital Design, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom