In The Game: AoIR pre-conference workshop Proposal deadline: 9 May http://www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl/projects/in-the-game.php This event will be a pre-conference workshop at Internet Research 9.0: Rethinking Communities, Rethinking Place, to be held on 15 October 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. For information about the conference, please see the AoIR website (http://conferences.aoir.org/). It is co-organized by Anne Beaulieu (Virtual Knowledge Studio), Marinka Copier (Utrecht University), and T.L. Taylor (IT University of Copenhagen). Thematic background A core issue for ethnography is the ethnographer's relationship to her object of knowledge. Although the web as a context of research, and net-mediated sites in general, have been heralded as an opportunity for the ethnographer to become the invisible 'fly on the wall', our experience leads us to emphasise the contrary. The participant pole of the participant -observer continuum remains crucial, even in mediated settings. Indeed in some online contexts there is no research stance outside of that of engaged participant. The existence of relationships between the ethnographer and other participants is essential to ethnographies that want to maintain a focus on meaning and culture. The opportunities and challenges posed by pursuing ethnographies in mediated settings may be other than claims to having achieved objectivity, and may consist in a re-examination and re-valuation of particular attachments to the ethnographic tradition. This event seeks to explore the particular textures and implications of ethnographic relationships in mediated settings. The ethnographic relationship is understood inclusive here, as a complex and evolving relationship that changes over the course of fieldwork and through the various aspects of knowledge production and dissemination. To structure the discussion of such a complex issue, four themes have been identified and will frame the various sessions. These themes are detailed below. :: Contiguity :: What happens when the field and our scholarly activities are very close in time, space and media? What are the ways of leaving the field, if any? Is this still a useful, important, necessary move? What does such a loop of mutual observation and feedback between researcher and object imply? How does it differ from other forms of interaction or multiple roles of more traditional ethnographies? :: Accountability :: Does mediation increase the accountability of the researcher? How do the settings, with their porous/networked boundaries, differ or resemble other settings? How does accountability change over time, or in relation to different relationships? And when the researcher is a contributing member to the group, how is the notion of accountability enlarged beyond a research ethics definition to a participatory one. Because of the traces left by the researcher, is the accountability not actually greater than in face to face settings? What are the (necessary) boundaries of the researcher's responsibilities? When do we go too far? And how does time (often such a fast moving artifact online) intervene in the issues we have? How do ethnographic relationships change over time, time of the object studied vs. research and publication time. :: Affectivity and embodiment :: Despite the rhetoric that sometimes surrounds mediated environments, how as researchers are we still always engaged with affective embodied practice, both that of ourselves but those in the communities we study? How can these be important resources for our work, and what special challenges might they pose. In the context of games and virtual environments for example, the avatar issue is always at work, but there remains the way as researchers we still find our corporeal bodies enrolled in our work - our anxiety at a raid, the neck problems from all the computer use, the way our understanding of our sites is itself mediated through our embodied experience. Closely tied to this are the ways affectivity works within the domain of ethnography - the unguardedness of play, the frustration, the pleasure or frustration within the fieldsite. :: Scholarly practices :: How do relationships to the object shape what counts as research? For example, what is the role of the cultural status of the 'object' in making something legitimate scholarly enquiry? What is at stake when doing ethnographies of activities that are sometimes considered to be antithetical to 'research' - for example, gaming or playing, researching intimate activities, youth culture (where the accusation that one is just "hanging out" rather doing serious work may always loom). How do we articulate the relation between expertise and practice? Is ethnography being brought too close to home? Which new skills are needed? How is our practice of research interwoven, often in complex and unanticipated ways, with the socio-technical objects and agents in the field. Participants and structure The workshop is aimed at researchers who have already pursued fieldwork in mediated environments. They are invited to submit a paper proposal (1500 words) before 9 May 2008 to Marinka Copier (marinka.copier@let.uu.nl). The proposal should present elements of prior ethnographic material and a reflection on that work from the perspective of one of the proposed workshop themes: continuity, accountability, affectivity & embodiment, and scholarly practices. The goal of this process is to bring together practicing ethnographers for an in-depth discussion of some key issues within the domain, simultaneously grounded in concrete projects. The workshop will have a maximum of 15 participants to enable in-depth discussion, and respondents will be assigned for each paper. Submissions will be selected on the basis of peer-review, which will be coordinated by the organisers of the workshop. Final papers (5000-6000 words) will be due at the beginning of September and will be distributed in advance to all workshop participants. Important dates Deadline for submissions: 9 May (mail to marinka.copier@let.uu.nl) Announcement of paper acceptance: 30 May Deadline for full papers (5000-6000 words): 1 September Pre-conference workshop: 15 October