ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on ethnography for the Internet, rather than ethnography of the Internet, because the Internet cannot be grasped as a complete entity that one could study in its entirety. It explores the different kinds of contribution that an ethnographer’s participation in mediated communications can make to his or her understanding, and how different forms of understanding gained from different media can be reconciled, or maintained in a productive tension. The book deals with a review of the potential contribution of ethnography to understanding the Internet, and then deals with each of the three aspects of the contemporary Internet in turn, reviewing recent literature and highlighting consequent methodological challenges. It discusses research based on Freecyle, Freegle, and other related mailing lists that enable the free exchange of unwanted goods which would otherwise be destined for landfill.
