Visionado colectivo de cine en la red social Twitch por parte de centennials: estudio de caso

The network Twitch hosts a novel form of collective viewing of audiovisual products, whose audience is centennials. We analyse the case of Watch Parties, which allow users to watch films in real time with a streamer. Taking three Watch Parties of the streamer Lynx_Reviewer as a case study, a methodological triangulation is carried out: virtual ethnography, content analysis and semi-structured interview. By exploring the phenomenon, a model of analysis of collective consumption of content is constructed thanks to a descriptive systematisation of the audience’s consumption habits and uses by analysing the conversations and messages generated in the transmissions. The results obtained show that, despite the disparity of content and channels broadcasting on Twitch, this format follows a common pattern of broadcasting, participation, interface and type of messages. It is a leisure experience based on the collective construction of content developed synchronously with the interaction of the audience, which uses its own references and expressive codes to communicate, using films as a means of interaction within the community.

Hatenography: An Analysis of Hate Speech on Facebook in 2019 Indonesian Presidential Campaign

This article discusses hate speech on Facebook from two groups of supporters for the presidential candidates in the 2019 Presidential Election in Indonesia. The study used a virtual ethnography approach to analyze cultural groups or communities through their conversations on the Facebook platform. Data collection was conducted by observing and collecting words, phrases, and sentences in the Official Facebook account of two presidential candidates in the 2019 Presidential Election and statements of both presidential and vice-presidential candidates in 2019. In addition, researchers also observed three voluntary group accounts for each candidate. Therefore, the total number of accounts observed was eight. Data was analysed with Nvivo 12+ to obtain statistics on the strength of the chosen speech word and the dominant phrase or word that appears. The result shows that specific phrases or terms to intimidate each supporter of both parties in massive numbers appeared in the form of hate speech during the campaign. The purpose of the hate speech is to insult/humiliate, intimidate or accuse others of doing something inappropriate or evil (accusation which involves sarcasm and foul language directed to the opponent. Candidates also provoked each other by accusing the other party of being stupid, disgusting, pathetic, ugly, and retarded. The implication was that hate speech has disunited the public on the social media space. Accusing and attaching bad characters to other groups through hate speech has strengthened inter-group stereotypes and formed an unhealthy democratic climate. Keywords: Provocation, hate speech, verbal message, virtual ethnography, communication.

Through the screens: interaction for learning in virtual environments

The digital technologies mediation, supose particular forms of knowledge construction which claim deep explorations, especially the interaction between actants and their ways of learning on virtual platforms. This article presents the results of an investigation situated at the crossroads between Education, Communication and Visual Design, carried out from a qualitative analysis of interpretive position. Starting from a case study based on virtual ethnography, the research is based on in-depth interviews, from which successively organized data were obtained from the emerging categories of the research itself (uses, skills, preferences and relationships). The conclusions suggest the need for a system of its own for on line education –that exceeds comparisons–, in which the assemblages disclosed here were considered and particular resources proposed that promote the participants learning.

Selecting relationship and uploads: mediatisation studies on Indonesian migrant worker’s media engagement

Indonesian migrant workers use social media for various needs. Workers’ engagement on social media is usually related to their hometown and socio-culture abroad. This study draws on Couldry and Hepp’s idea of ​​mediatisation to examine the interrelation of communication practices and media use to socio-cultural dynamics. The author argues that media engagement is related to socio-cultural context, especially workers’ socio-cultural group. Applying virtual ethnography, the author analysed media types, actor constellations, communication themes, and practices. The findings show that workers select relationships, posts, and types of social media, and their social media engagement is strongly related to their hometown socio-culture. Workers use Facebook to present hardworking, collectively, and homely self-images, WhatsApp to connect to intimate relationships or close family, while young workers choose, and Instagram to construct a modern, successful, and expressive self-image. Additionally, workers join local group accounts to update news and maintain a sense of belonging to the hometown.

Virtual Communities of Anglo and Spanish Migrants in Chile. A Multiple Case Study

This article characterizes and analyzes the development and construction of virtual communities of Anglo and Spanish migrants living in Chile. We selected some of the most popular and active sites among them and analyzed hem using virtual ethnography methods and discourse analysis in its textual and contextual dimension, as well engaging with the discourses of its creators. The socialization process that occurs in these communities is oriented towards sharing experiences and accomplishing objectives in common among the members, like meeting other migrants and locals, learning a language and obtaining useful information about the country of current or future residence, among others. The bloggers and web admins interviewed build transnational social spaces through their use of new digital media. We found a clear connection between the communities analyzed and the political, economic and social reality of the nation-states—of origin and destination—in which they are rooted.

Gejolak Fujoshi Dalam Media Sosial (Peran Media Twitter Dalam Pembentukan Identitas Kelompok Fujoshi)

This study discusses the phenomenon of fujoshi, a popular culture from Japan. Fujoshi is a woman's passion for manga or comics genre boys love, where the manga tells the story of the love relationship between men. This research was conducted using a qualitative research method with a virtual ethnography method approach, where the researcher traced twitter accounts that were actively uploading about the manga boys love. This study tries to describe how the identity of fujoshi is formed which shows the manga boys love fondness on social media, especially in twitter. The result of this study is that fujoshi still be considered as an abnormality and also considered to violate the norms of the society. However, social media is able to provide space for free expression to show the identity of their preferences without getting any social sanctions. Social media also builds the fujoshi identity which was initially considered a deviation, has now been accepted and spawned more works and formed a community that has the same passion for manga boys love that is bigger than before.

Shall WeChat? Switching between online and offline ethnography

Drawing on the ethnographic work conducted inside the digital platform WeChat, this article contributes to the ongoing discussion about the multi-sited ethnographic tools and the digital methods available for investigating virtual worlds and online practices. It analyses the communications, interactions, sociality, and economic activities produced on the application WeChat by Chinese migrant women, together with the same practices constructed offline in Taiwan. Taking a close look at the offline context from which these digital practices are generated, the article shows that when studying online practices, it is essential to understand what corresponds to them in the offline worlds. By updating the four Goffmanian interactionist fieldwork sequences, this research provides some reflections on the necessity to mix and merge online and offline ethnographic techniques in order to apprehend the new practices and scales of interaction at the crossroads where online and offline social spaces intersect. Virtual ethnography cannot be exclusive. Rather, it needs to be designed and performed in dialogue with ‘physical’ observations.

Australia’s Crisis Responses During COVID-19

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global international education sector has been fraught with multiple, intensifying stressors, which have severely affected international students’ lives and study. Host government policies on international education can make a critical difference for this vulnerable population during the pandemic. Australia’s crisis response policies during the pandemic have been closely tracked and vigorously discussed amongst Chinese international students. This study examines how Australia’s crisis responses addressed the needs of international students during the pandemic, and how these policies impacted Chinese international students’ experiences and perceptions of studying in Australia. We collected qualitative data through interviews with Chinese international students, parents and migration agents, virtual ethnography on WeChat, and analysis of Australia’s policy responses. Our thematic analysis highlights participants’ experiences and views of Australia’s crisis responses in the four areas of financing, third-country transit, visas and immigration, and pandemic management. We discuss these findings in relation to the historical context of Australia’s higher education funding reforms during the 1980s and 1990s.

Life Disrupted and Regenerated: Coping With the ‘New Normal’ Creative Arts in the Time of Coronavirus

A global pandemic caused by COVID-19 virus since December 2019 has developed into a fearsome situation more than any common global contagion. In combating COVID-19 worldwide, governments instigated a precautionary cordon sanitaire in various degrees. Live music, cinema and film festivals were inevitably cancelled, causing artists to become alienated from their audience. This paper aims to illuminate how practitioners of the creative industry cope with the drastic disruption due to the COVID-19 outbreak as well as the means of regenerating ‘life’, which refers to that of a creative artist in a narrower sense, and to that of the industry in a broader sense. Adopting a combined methodology of autoethnography and virtual ethnography, the authors explore their encounters with the informants and the development of the creative arts scene. The subject of disruption and regeneration in the creative arts industry is approached through feasible methods and tools they could render in this unique lived experience. They hope to construct a view containing some perspectives on the transcendence of creative practitioners from the disruption to the survival of the pandemic’s impact, as well as the regeneration of how creative arts would persevere in the ‘new normal’ of the post-COVID-19 era.

Urban Project in Rural Crisis: Responding to Coronavirus in Bulgarian Villages

The unprecedented situation of COVID-19 has created a unique response from village-based projects in rural Bulgaria. My research from 2019-2020 followed three projects that facilitate urban-rural intergenerational connection as a form of rural reinvestment. With project planning uncertain and interactions between generations discouraged due to the pandemic, my research, and the cultural work I am following, took an unexpected turn. Rather than fulfilling their core missions of connecting young and old, rural and urban people together to pass on rural culture, these projects transformed their rhetoric and practices to support the elderly in a time of crisis. By drawing on my experiences in the field throughout Bulgaria’s early onset of pandemic and lockdown measures as well as “virtual ethnography” (being in the virtual spaces where communication and online events are happening), I explore how two of the intergenerational projects aimed at heritage-based rural reinvestment in Bulgaria have adapted and organized to fill different needs in a time of crisis. During the coronavirus pandemic, these projects served as a well-poised mechanism for responding quickly to shifting needs and contexts.