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Short abstract:

Screenshots seem to play a crucial role as digital research practice and data, however, they remain largely invisible in methods sections. We critically reflect on the use of screenshots along the research process focussing on their ethical, epistemic, and practical limitations and potentials.

Long abstract:

This project spotlights a digital practice that has spilled over from everyday media use to qualitative research: taking screenshots. While we presume that screenshots are frequently employed as digital research method and data, they are rarely mentioned or discussed in methods sections. We argue that both the ethical uneasiness of taking and using screenshots for research and their apparent bulkiness among other digital methods may have led to this methodological invisibility.

At the same time, screenshots hold great potential for digital fieldwork. For example, they can contain rich information about affordances and aesthetics of a digital fieldsite, enable the capture of increasingly ephemeral digital cultures, allow for rare shared insights into opaque algorithmic systems, and provide context to the researcher’s positionality. Working with screenshots is also a simple and therefore highly inclusive data collection practice, which allows for generative interactions with research participants.

Drawing on experiences from our own research – and inviting others to share theirs – we will outline and critically reflect on the use of screenshots in qualitative research and ethnographic practice along the research process, from data collection to analysis and illustration. This includes critical reflections on research ethics, positionality, and the limitations and potentials of such visual artefacts in digital research designs.