ABSTRACT
New waves of digital touch technologies are stretching the possibilities for how we “feel” the world around us and how we interact with each other, or with technologies such as robots. Sensory ethnography holds great, but relatively untapped, potential for researching this expanding landscape of digital touch. In light of this, this chapter introduces and reflects on the model of becoming a tactile apprentice that guided ethnographic research on the effects that new industrial robots have on manual laborers’ day-to-day experiences of touch. Methodological reflections foreground a set of challenges that were encountered when applying this hands-on participatory approach. Three touch filters are then offered as analytical and methodological concepts that were developed and applied to navigate these challenges. The chapter concludes by asserting the value of sensory ethnography, and in particular the model of becoming a tactile apprenticeship, when exploring new forms of digital touch.
