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Paper short abstract:

When the subject of anthropological research concerns people's mobility practices and digital media use, one needs to adjust ethnographic methodological toolkit, which leads to a reconceptualization of ethnographic terms, such as "field", "insider"/"outsider" and the ethnographer's "positionality".

Paper long abstract:

When it comes to researching mobility practices that are intertwined with social networking sites, the use of social, mobile and digital media (e.g. among commuters, business travelers and users of platforms such as AirBnB and Workaway), practices are often more individualized. It can be extremely difficult to follow a single extant offline community. When the subject of anthropological research concerns people's mobility practices and their use of digital media when they are on the move, one is frequently compelled to adjust one's ethnographic methodological toolkit. This can lead to a reconceptualization of ethnographic terms, including the "field", "insider"/"outsider" nature and the "positionality" of the ethnographer. This paper builds on 15 months of ethnography researching Workaway, a long-term hospitality site, as a means of investigating new forms of mobility, sociality and conviviality. During this period, my home became my field site. Once guests' departure, I followed many of them digitally (although some also returned), complemented a traditional ethnographic study with digital content shared across the Workaway website as well as on various social media (Reddit, Youtube), and interviews via Skype. The digital content (unobtrusive data) and Skype interviews were necessary to overcome the shortcomings of conducting "fieldwork at home", and of being an "insider", a user of the platform, and a host.