ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the logic behind developing a cohesive research methodology that is connected to a conceptual understanding of digital community through its environmental imprint. The intention behind this plain language approach is to assist the research practitioner in situating and deciding which ideas and data collection techniques are most likely to work at a conceptual level, as well as at a practical level, as effective tools through which to collect data across the open social structures of a digital community. While the notion of an assemblage may map well over emergent digital structures, it may not capture more long-term patterns of social continuity when thinking about mechanisms of cohesion within digital community. The exciting aspect of working with this literature is being on the edge of our understanding of the relationship between information and communications technology (ICT) innovations and the creation, adoption and appropriation of these technologies into social space.
