Digital Technography: A Methodology for Interrogating Emerging Digital Technologies and Their Futures. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Berg, Martin
• Other Names: Pink Sarah guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Qualitative inquiry. Volume 28:Number 7(2022)
• Page Start: 827
• Page End: 836
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: digital technography -- ethnography -- emerging technologies -- digital ethnography -- digital platforms -- digital social research; Social sciences -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/10778004221096851
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8004

Abstract

This article introduces "digital technography" as a methodology to interrogate and voice emerging digital technologies and their anticipated futures. I demonstrate, with reference to recent research on wearable self-tracking devices, digital food technologies, and platforms for work automation, how one can gain an understanding of these technologies by attending to the materials in which they are promoted; and actively engaging with them imaginatively and self-reflexively as a social scientist. This article outlines a digital technographic methodology centered around the three conceptual anchors of specification, valorization, and anticipation, all of which pertain to how a digital technology aims and perhaps even aspires to become a part of everyday life.