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Online Ethnography Studies in Computer Science:
A Systematic Mapping
Andrei Garcia, Bruna Pereira De Mattos and Milene Selbach Silveira
PUCRS, Faculdade de Informática, Porto Alegre, Brazil
andrei.garcia@acad.pucrs.br, bruna.mattos@acad.pucrs.br,
milene.silveira@pucrs.br
Abstract. During the last two decades, online environments became rich grounds
for ethnographic studies. In the same period, online communities have become a
popular and broadly studied research topic. Along with online environments, the
growth of online communities brought by the Computer-Mediated Communica-
tions created a solid research field for online ethnography studies. Online ethnog-
raphy methods, such as virtual ethnography and netnography, are widely adopted
for qualitative research. However, it is not clear how Computer Science field is
using online ethnography for empirical studies. Thus, the main goal of this study
is to present how online ethnographic studies have been performed in Computer
Science. To accomplish this goal, we carried out a systematic mapping study re-
garding empirical studies on online environments. Through the analysis of 36
resulted papers, this systematic mapping provides a broad overview of existing
online ethnography studies in Computer Science and by identifying how these
studies have been performed considering adopted methods, collected and ana-
lyzed data, community characteristics, and researcher participation throughout
these empirical studies.
Keywords: Online Ethnography, Online Communities, Systematic Mapping.
1 Introduction
The majority of ethnographic studies are related to direct observation. However, inter-
views, questionnaires, and studying artifacts used in activities also feature in ethno-
graphic studies [1]. The basic tenets of ethnography are the recursive and inductive
depth observation of a culture or a community as well as open-ended interviews de-
signed to understand the perspectives of community’s participant [2]. In order to help
shape researchers’ participant depth observation, some ethnographic procedures are
used, such as making cultural entrée, gathering, and analyzing data, ensuring reliable
interpretation, conducting ethical research, and providing an opportunity for member
feedback. Furthermore, these procedures are completely known in ethnographies con-
ducted in face-to-face situations [3].
During the last two decades, online environments became rich and vital grounds for
ethnographic studies [2]. In the same period, online communities have become one of
the most popular forms of online services [4]. Online communities are essentially fo-
rums for meeting and communicating with others [5], or in a more detailed definition,
online communities are web-based online services with features that make the commu-
nication among members possible [4]. Along with online environments, the growth of
online communities brought by the Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) cre-
ated a solid research field for online ethnography studies [6].
Online ethnography adopts principles of ethnographic research molded in offline
environments and applies them to online environments with necessary adjustments [2].
According to Kozinets [7], online ethnography is a generic term for performing any
ethnographic research by using some sort of digital or online environment. Methods
such as netnography [8] and virtual ethnography [9] are widely adopted for qualitative
research. However, it is not clear how Computer Science domain is using online eth-
nography for empirical studies. Thus, the main goal of this study is to present how
online ethnographic studies have been performed in Computer Science.
To achieve this goal, we conducted a systematic mapping study regarding this meth-
odological approach on Computer Science. In the mapping herein presented, we fo-
cused on empirical studies using any online ethnography method that were carried out
on Computer Science discipline. In order to contextualize our findings, we present the
background about online ethnography methods in the next section. Afterwards, we de-
lineate the Research Method, including the research protocol. Next, in the Results sec-
tion, we present the report and our results’ analysis in order to answer our questions.
Finally, we state our discussions and conclusion.
2 Background
Ethnography is a qualitative orientation to research, which emphasizes the detailed ob-
servation of people in natural environments. Ethnography seeks to present a picture of
life seen and understood by those living and working within the domain in question,
through direct involvement of the researcher in the environment under investigation
[10]. The emergence of social media on the Internet provides qualitative researchers
with a new window into people's outer and inner worlds, their experiences and their
understanding of these [11]. The Internet has created many types of online communities
that not only exist in cyberspace, but can also be studied through the internet itself. As
collaboration and social activities became online, ethnographers adjusted their strategy
to take into account computer-mediated communication [12]. This movement had sev-
eral names, the most common being: Online ethnography [1], virtual ethnography [9],
or netnography [13].
Developed by Robert Kozinets, netnography is a qualitative research methodology
which adapts ethnography research processes to study cultures and communities that
are emerging through CMC [3]. According to Kozinets [7], online ethnography is a
generic term for performing any ethnographic research by using some sort of digital or
online environment. As stated by Bengry-Howell et. al [14], the case study of netnogra-
phy sits within a broader methodological context of online ethnography. Online eth-
nography encompasses approaches for conducting ethnographic studies of online com-
munities. Normally, online ethnography includes observation of postings and threads
within an online forum and interviews with an online community. However, it can im-
plicate in data collection online as well as offline [9].
Another online ethnographic method is virtual ethnography [9]. Virtual ethnography
is a form of ethnography for studying online communities based on textual data [15].
However, it appears to allow for a composition of online and offline ethnographic ap-
proaches to have an understanding of the online phenomena [16]. Meanwhile, netnogra-
phy addresses online interactions and differ from other online ethnography methods by
offering a more systematic, defined approach to addressing ethical, procedural and
methodological issues specific to online research [17]. Nonetheless, both methods have
been applied on computer science discipline.
One example of virtual ethnography application is Margaret and Walt’s study [18].
In this research, the authors conducted an extensive virtual ethnography collecting data
over a period of four years. Their goals were to deeper understand the ideology and
work practices of free and open source software development, which is valuable to
software developers and managers who wish to incorporate open source software into
their companies. As an example of netnography, Di Guardo and Castriotta [19], applied
an exploratory qualitative case study using the netnography method in order to analyze
the open innovation experience and crowdsourcing of a large Italian company. Their
results imply the effective use of collective knowledge in innovation processes. Besides
software engineer applications, some studies also apply online ethnography for human-
computer interaction domain, that is the case of Hussein, Mahmud, and Noor [20].The
authors conducted netnographic approaches to investigate frustrations among practi-
tioners while incorporating user experience design discipline in software development
processes. Their findings provide insights to improve user experience design processes.
Therefore, in order to present an overview of how online ethnographic studies have
been performed in Computer Science, we conducted a systematic mapping that is de-
tailed in the next section.
3 Research Method
This study was carried out by following the established guidelines for conducting Sys-
tematic Mapping Studies suggested by Petersen et al. [21]. A Systematic Mapping
Study is a method designed to provide a wide overview of a research field by exploring
the research data existence and by providing the amount and classification of such re-
search data [22]. According to Petersen, the mapping process consists of planning, con-
ducting, and reporting. Next sub-sections detail how each phase was performed from
planning to conduction, delineating the research questions, search strategy, selection
criteria, and data extraction strategy. In addition, the report is presented in the results
section.
3.1 Planning
Before conducting the systematic mapping, we had forethought the research questions
and establish the research protocol. The protocol was delineated considering the steps
of search strategy, selection criteria, and data extraction strategy. As stated by Kitchen-
ham [22], a research protocol is essential for the sake of reducing chances of re-
searcher’s bias.
Research Questions. The main goal of this mapping is to present how online ethno-
graphic studies have been performed in Computer Science. To accomplish this goal,
we defined the following three research questions:
• RQ1 - Which areas of Computer Science have been using online ethnography re-
search method?
• RQ2 - Where are online ethnography studies published?
• RQ3 - How are online ethnography studies performed?
By answering these research questions, this study provides an overview of how online
ethnographic studies have been performed in Computer Science and we can understand
where these studies are headed.
Search Strategy. Search strategy comprises the identification of search terms for que-
rying applicable scientific databases. Seven relevant Computer Science databases were
selected for the search: ACM Digital Library, EBSCO Host, Elsevier ScienceDirect,
IEEE Xplore, ProQuest, Springer Link, and Web of Science. The search string was
composed based on well-known online ethnographic research methods such as
netnography [13], virtual ethnography [9], webnography [23], and cyber-ethnography
[24]. Therefore, in order to automate the search in the selected databases, we defined
the following search string with their corresponding logical operators: "online ethnog-
raphy" OR netnography OR "virtual ethnography" OR webnography OR "cyber-eth-
nography".
In addition, Springer and Web of Science databases provide a mechanism to filter
by the discipline of Computer Science, which was helpful and returned more accurate
results. For all other selected bases, the filter per discipline was performed manually
since they do not provide an interface to refine the search considering the discipline.
Furthermore, names of the computer science disciplines were not added as part of the
search criteria in order to comprehend all possible computer science areas and avoid
inaccurate results.
Selection Criteria. We assessed each publication returned from the automated search
after selecting whether or not it should be included by considering the selection criteria.
The selection criteria were composed by inclusion and exclusion criteria. In a first filter,
we included/excluded papers based only on titles and abstracts. In a second filter, we
ensured a full-text reading. Thus, the following inclusion criteria were applied in the
first filter:
• Studies should be published in the computer science area.
• Studies should present reference(s) of use of online ethnography methods.
Publications that met at least one of the following exclusion criteria were removed:
• Books.
• Duplicated papers.
• Studies written in any other language other than English.
• Studies presenting summaries of tutorials, panels, poster sessions or workshops.
• Conference covers and table of content.
During the full-text reading stage, we analyzed all paper content. The goal of this stage
was to select the studies according to the following inclusion criteria:
• Studies should present references of online ethnography methods application, being
that a unique method or part of a mixed method.
• Studies should describe the methodology application.
Data Extraction Strategy. The data extraction strategy was based on defining a data
set that should be collected in order to answer the research questions. RQ1 could be
answered by defining the Computer Science area or sub-discipline which the study be-
longs to, such as User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction, Software Engineer-
ing, and so on. RQ2 and RQ3 data set are composed of a conjunction of data as shown
in Table 1.
Table 1. Data extraction for each research question.
Research Question
Data Set
Examples / Details
Which areas of Com-
puter Science have
been using online eth-
nography research
method?
Computer Science areas
User Interfaces and Human Computer
Interaction;
Software Engineering;
Database Management;
...
Where are online eth-
nography studies pub-
lished?
Title
Content Type
Content Type name
Year
Author(s)
Study’s title
Journal or Conference
Journal’s or Conference’s name
Study’s year
Study’s author(s)
How are online eth-
nography studies per-
formed?
Research methodology
Mixed Methods (if any)
Application domain
Number of communities
Community size
Timeframe
Collected data
Researcher involvement
Netnography, Virtual Ethnography, etc.
Netnography + Survey + Interview, etc.
Human Behavior, UX, Robotics, etc.
Number of included online communities
Number of community members
Study’s timeframe
Text, Video, Image, etc.
Active or Passive
3.2 Conduction
We searched for papers in the selected databases during April 2017. The first results
led us to a set of 853 studies (Table 2). After the results' compilation, we applied the
exclusion criteria, resulting in 762 publications. Afterwards, a total of 62 were selected
in accordance with the inclusion criteria from the first stage, where only the title and
abstract were considered. Finally, in the full-text reading stage, 36 publications were
selected. The selection process is shown in Figure 1.
Fig. 1. Selection process
Table 2. Number of publications per database
Database
Search
Inclusion/Exclusion
Criteria
Final Set
ACM
17
7
3
EBSCO
89
6
3
Elsevier
362
17
6
IEEE
16
13
10
ProQuest
232
9
6
Springer
84
5
3
Web of Science
53
5
5
Total
853
62
36
4 Results
4.1 Computer Science Areas Applying Online Ethnography Methods
The results for question RQ1 – Which areas of Computer Science have been using
online ethnography research method? – revealed that 83% of result set studies applying
an online ethnographic method are classified in User Interfaces and Human Computer
Interaction area. The remaining studies are categorized in Software Engineering, Da-
tabase Management, and Artificial Intelligence and Robotics areas, as shown in Figure
2.
Fig. 2. Computer Science areas applying online ethnography methods
4.2 Published Online Ethnography Studies
Results for question RQ2 – Where are online ethnography studies published? – revealed
that 55.60% of result set studies are published as articles in journals and 44.40% are
conference proceedings. All studies’ references are shown in Table 3, which also shows
the number of publications per year. The complete list of periodic and conference
names is displayed in Table 4.
Table 3. Selected papers
Year
References
1999
[24]
2000
[5]
2008
[25] [18] [26]
2009
[27] [28] [29]
2010
[30]
2011
[31] [15]
2012
[32] [33] [34] [35]
2013
[36] [19] [37] [38] [39]
2014
[40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46]
2015
[47] [48] [49] [16]
2016
[20] [50] [51]
2017
[52] [11]
1
2
3
30
AI and Robotics
Database Management
Software Engineering
UI and HCI
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Table 4. Periodic and Conference names where studies are published
Type
Name
Periodic
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
Calico Journal
Computers in Human Behavior
Ethics and Information Technology
Identity in the Information Society
Information and Organization
Information and Software Technology
Information Systems Journal
Information Systems Research
Information Technology & People
International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies
International Journal of Technology Management
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Journal of Documentation
Journal of Information Technology
Journal of the Association of Information Systems
Online Information Review
Procedia Computer Science
Procedia Technology
Conference
Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Hawaii International Conference on System Science
International Conference in HCI and UX
International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies
International Conference on Advances in Social NetworksAnalysis and Mining
International Conference on Computing, Communication and Security
International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society
International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics, and Informatics
International Professional Communication Conference
International Scientific Conference eLearning and software for Education
International Symposium on Open Collaboration
International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication
Panhellenic Conference on Informatics
4.3 How Online Ethnography Studies are Performed
Considering the applied methodology, the results for RQ3 – How are online ethnogra-
phy studies performed? – exposed that the majority of the studies on Computer Science
(86.1%) followed virtual ethnography and netnography methods. Only one study
adopted cyber-ethnography method and four studies called specifically online ethnog-
raphy with no distinction for a specific method. Figure 3 shows the adopted methods
on the selected set of studies.
Fig. 3. Adopted methods
Another outcome related to studies’ methodology is that 15 studies employed mixed
methods, using virtual ethnography or netnography plus interviews, surveys or experi-
ments. Most of these studies applied two methods, except for Rozas’ study [40], which
applied virtual ethnography, interviews, and survey, and Bauer, Franke, and
Tuertscher’s study [46] which applied netnography, survey, and experiment.
As stated by Bengry-Howell et al. [14] researchers have used online ethnography
methods to study a particular online community, which is aligned with our mapping
outcome. The majority of selected papers have used only one community to perform
their studies. Only eight studies have adopted two or more communities to perform
their studies, and one study has not provided this information. Figure 4 details the num-
ber of communities per study. In addition, the number of community’s members, for
those studies that informed this data, vary from a few members [33] to more than 1
million registered members [40].
The period performing an online ethnography study, for those studies that asserted
this information, vary from 1 week [36] to 5 years [18]. One year or less is the most
common period, stated in 17 studies. Two studies conducted a 2 years research, and
other two studies conducted a 4 years research. While running an online ethnography
research, the collected and analyzed data is mostly text-based. All studies have col-
lected and analyzed text-based data. However, besides text, some studies also collected
and analyzed videos [15][31][36] and images [11][51][46].
1
4
15
16
Cyber-Ethnography
Online Ethnography
Netnography
Virtual Ethnography
0246810 12 14 16 18
Cyber-Ethnography Online Ethnography Netnography Virtual Ethnography
Fig. 4. Number of communities per study
Depending on the participation of the researchers in the community, an online ethnog-
raphy research can vary from non-participatory (passive) to participatory (active) [17].
The results from our mapping show that 58.7% of the researchers played as passive,
while 41.3% participated as active.
5 Discussion
The primary goal of this systematic mapping study is to present how online ethno-
graphic studies have been performed in Computer Science. Based on our analysis of 36
resultant papers, it is evident that Human Computer Interaction is the Computer Science
area that most takes advantage of online ethnographic methods. Furthermore, these
studies have been published in diverse conferences and periodic. However, the main
thoughts and considerations were bounded around the online ethnographic methods ap-
proaches that have been used in Computer Science studies.
The majority of reviewed studies have adopted virtual ethnography or netnography
methods to achieve their goals. For instance, Sigfridsson and Sheehan [15], used virtual
ethnography method for studying free and open source software communities, which
contributed assessing multiple and interlinked dimensions and interpreting the context
of communities’ activities. Another example is Synnott, Coulias, and Ioannou study
[52], which applied virtual ethnography method as part of their multi-method approach
to provide a case study analysis of a group of alleged Twitter trolls. In their case, the
method provided the research engagement as observational and participatory in a spe-
cific online community. Additionally, Teixeira [45], has applied netnography method
to delineate how patients use open source disease control software developed by other
patients. Despite the fact that netnography has his roots in Marketing discipline, it has
been adopted by other disciplines, including Computer Science.
27
4
2
1
1
1
1 Comm.
2 Comm.
3 Comm.
4 Comm.
5 Comm.
N/A
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Communities
Studies
Since online ethnography methods adopt principles of ethnographic research, such
as user observation and researcher participation, they can easily be part of a mixed-
method approach being used in combination with interviews, surveys or experiments
for example. Online ethnography combined with interviews can provide a deep under-
standing of a specific raised theme.
Findings of this study show that most of the resulted publications focused to study a
unique online community, depending on the particular researcher’s interest and mainly
on the research goal. However, there is no right or wrong regarding the number of com-
munities included in a study, but it is important to bear in mind the criteria to select the
appropriated community to perform the research. In general, as stated by Kozinets [3],
online communities should be selected to have a focused topic relevant to the research
question, higher number of posts and interactivity, heterogeneity, and rich in data.
The interactivity and number of posts commonly depend on the numbers of commu-
nity’s members. The number of members in a community vary from study to study and
is related to the study goals and the selection criteria used to select the community.
Another consideration is the period of time performing this sort of qualitative study.
Such methods require researcher’s immersion into the online community long enough
to become familiar with the community’s culture [53][3].
After the researcher becomes familiar with community’s culture, it is possible to
begin collecting data. Since online communities data is predominantly text-based, re-
searchers can benefit from the practically automatic transcription of gathered posts [3].
While all resulted studies from this mapping collected and analyzed text-based data,
few studies additionally explored videos and images as part of their data collection and
analysis. Furthermore, there are two important elements of data collection, which in-
volves the straight gathered data from online communities members’ communication,
and the data the researchers address related to their participant observations and inter-
actions with members’ community [3].
Related to researchers’ participation in the online communities, the applied methods
can vary from passive participation to active participation. A passive participation
means that the researcher is a member of the community but observes the group without
interacting with people. On the other hand, an active participation implies that the re-
searcher is actively engaged and involved in community’s activities [54]. To conclude,
active researcher participation aid to obtain rich data but it is not always an easy pro-
cess.
6 Conclusion
In the research herein presented, we focused on how online ethnographic studies have
been performed in Computer Science. Through a systematic mapping study about
online ethnography methods, we deepen our understanding not only about the domain
areas on Computer Science but also about the main processes applying these methods.
The mapping study presented that four Computer Science areas have been using
some sort of online ethnography method, being them User Interfaces and Human Com-
puter Interaction, Software Engineering, Database Management, and Artificial Intelli-
gence and Robotics areas (with 30, 3, 2, and 1 citation(s), respectively). In addition,
from the mapped online ethnography methods, we can highlight virtual ethnography
and netnography, which also are often used in mixed-methods in combination with in-
terviews, surveys, and experiments for example. Furthermore, the community selection
is an important stage, where the researcher shall bear in mind its relevance to the re-
search goals, activity, interactivity, heterogeneity, and rich in data. Additionally, the
number of members in a community and period of time performing these qualitative
methods vary according to each study. To complete, the researcher participation can be
passive, when the researcher does not interact with the community, or active when the
researcher interacts with the community members. For both researcher participation
modes, the data collection and analysis are mostly grounded on text-based data, but it
can also be supported by video and images.
The analyzed studies show us that the data analysis can be a challenge due to the
large volume of data collected on online communities. Even when the researcher par-
ticipates as passive, it is important to use a qualitative data analysis software to organize
and filter the data. In addition, the use of online communities leads to ethical challenges
for qualitative research, which is another perspective to be studied and we shall extend
our understanding.
7 Acknowledgment
These results were achieved in cooperation with HP Brasil Indústria e Comércio de
Equipamentos Eletrônicos LTDA. using incentives of Brazilian Informatics Law (Law
no 8.2.48 of 1991).
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