Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses possibilities for visual ethnography of intimate spaces. It examines specific circumstances that demand adaptation and creative use of visual technology and research methods. In addition, it addresses the possibilities of visual penetration into intimate spaces and more specifically the problem of analysis of thus gained visual information.

Paper long abstract:

The paper discusses video ethnography techniques used in research of intimate spaces of early childhood. The subject of the study are routines parents create for their children and lullabies they sing during bedtime, and the role of such rituals in human interaction, communication and socialization were the subject of the study.

Various techniques and approaches were developed and used to collect visual data and special text, context and textuality based form to enable analysis and comparison of thus gained visually recorded data. Video ethnography included video recordings made by researcher during participant observation, visual recording made by parents and video-elicitation interviews.

The paper discusses possibilities for visual ethnography of intimate spaces. It examines specific circumstances that demand adaptation and creative use of visual technology and and development of specific-field accommodated visual research methods. In addition, it addresses the possibilities of visual penetration into intimate spaces, the role of informants and more specifically the problem of analysis of thus gained visual information.