1st Edition
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 Angela K. VandenBroek and Nicole Taylor 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 Angela K. VandenBroek and Nicole Taylor 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 Angela K. VandenBroek and Nicole Taylor 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
