The E-field. The Internet as a Source and Field of Ethnomusicological Studies

Peer-reviewed

Ewelina Grygier


University of Warsaw (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6072-2222

Abstract

This article provides an overview of a subject previously not discussed in the Polish ethnomusicological literature, namely, the phenomenon of e-fieldwork – ethnomusicological fieldwork on the Internet, discussed here from both the Polish and the global perspective. Based on the (mostly English-language) subject literature, as well as responses from a brief questionnaire conducted among Polish researchers, the author explains how ethnomusicologists use the Internet for various purposes, which include preparing for field trips, conducting research online, collecting materials and information, and maintaining contact with respondents (to explore the subject at greater length or to send recorded materials).

The author discusses issues relating to methodology (what to study and how, available techniques and methods), logistics and technology (contact with informants, access to data, identifying interlocutors), identity (who the researchers are and how they feel on the Internet) and terminology (terms currently used, particularly in English, relating to online ethnomusicological research practice). Some ethical and legal issues are also signalled (EU GDPR).

Citing ethnomusicological studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the author shows how that situation altered ethnomusicologists’ lives, what and how research was conducted in that period, and whether – and if so, how – the way people worked was modified in the changed circumstances.


Keywords:

e-field, e-fieldwork, virtual fieldwork, Internet, online studies

Abidin, Crystal, Gabriele de Seta. „Private Messages from the Field: Confessions on Digital Ethnography and its Discomforts”. Journal of Digital Social Research 2, nr 1 (2020): 1–19.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33621/jdsr.v2i1.35   Google Scholar

Alge, Barbara. „Review Essay: Ethnomusicology and the Use(fulness) of the Internet in 2011”. Yearbook for Traditional Music 43 (2011): 267–271.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5921/yeartradmusi.43.0267   Google Scholar

Alge, Barbara. „Blogs by Ethnomusicologists”. Yearbook for Traditional Music 41 (2009): 265–268.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0740155800004525   Google Scholar

Atkinson, Paul, Martyn Hammersley. Metody badań terenowych. Przekł. Sławomir Dymczyk. Warszawa: Zysk i S-ka, 2000.
  Google Scholar

Basudrak, Nil. „Listening to COVID 19 Pandemic Podcast Series”, https://ethnomusicology.music.utoronto.ca/listening-to-covid-19/, dostęp 9 III 2023.
  Google Scholar

Buliński, Tarzycjusz, Mariusz Kairski. „Pytanie o teren w antropologii”. W: Teren w antropologii, Praktyka badawcza we współczesnej antropologii kulturowej, red. Tarzycjusz Buliński, Mariusz Kairski, 9–23. Poznań: Uniwersytet im. Adam Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, 2011.
  Google Scholar

Cooley, Timothy, Gregory Barz. „Casting Shadows: Fieldwork Is Dead! Long Live Fieldwork! Introduction”. W: Shadows in the Field. New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, red. Gregory F. Barz, Timothy J. Cooley, 3–24. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195324952.003.0001   Google Scholar

Cooley, Timothy, Katharine Meizel, Nasir Syed. „Virtual Fieldwork: Three Case Studies”. W: Shadows in the Field. New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, red. Gregory F. Barz, Timothy J. Cooley, 90–107. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195324952.003.0006   Google Scholar

Dahlig, Piotr. Cymbaliści w kulturze polskiej. Warszawa: Instytut Muzykologii UW, 2013.
  Google Scholar

Doing Fieldwork in a Pandemic (Crowdsourced document initiated and ed. by Deborah Lupton in 2020; rev. by Deborah Lupton 5 July 2021), https://docs.google.com/document/d/1clGjGABB2h2qbduTgfqribHmog9B6P0NvMgVuiHZCl8/edit, dostęp 1 IV 2023.
  Google Scholar

Franzke, Aline Shakti, Anja Bechmann, Michael Zimmer, Charles Ess. „Internet Research: Ethical Guidelines 3.0 Association of Internet Researchers”, https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf, dostęp 1 IV 2023.
  Google Scholar

Grochowski, Piotr. Netlor: wiedza cyfrowych tubylców. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK, 2013.
  Google Scholar

Ilnicki, Dariusz, Krzysztof Janc. „Buszując w sieci”. Academia. Magazyn Polskiej Akademii Nauk 70 (2022): 10–11.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24425/academiaPAN.2022.142509   Google Scholar

Kaufmann, Jean-Claude. Wywiad rozumiejący, przekł. Alina Kapciak. Warszawa: Oficyna Naukowa, 2010.
  Google Scholar

Krawczyk-Wasilewska, Violetta. E-folklor w dobie kultury digitalnej. Szkice i studia. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2016.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/8088-337-6   Google Scholar

Lange, Barbara Rose. „Hypermedia and Ethnomusicology”. Ethnomusicology 45, nr 1 (2001): 132–149.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/852637   Google Scholar

Lysloff, René. „Musical Community on the Internet: An On-Line Ethnography”. Cultural Anthropology 18, nr 2 (2003): 233–263.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2003.18.2.233   Google Scholar

Nettl, Bruno. „Foreword”. W: Shadows in the Field. New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, red. Gregory F. Barz, Timothy J. Cooley, V–XII. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
  Google Scholar

Sleeboom-Faulkner, Margaret, James McMurray. „The Implementation of the GDPR and Ethics Governance and in the Social Science and Humanities”, Anthropology Today 34, nr 5 (2018): 22–23.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12462   Google Scholar

Reily, Suzel Ana. „Ethnomusicology and the Internet”. Yearbook for Traditional Music 35 (2003): 187–192.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4149330   Google Scholar

Szpunar, Magdalena. „Badania Internetu vs. badania w Internecie, czyli jak badać nowe medium – podstawowe problemy metodologiczne”. Studia Medioznawcze 29, nr 2 (2007): 80–89.
  Google Scholar

Wink, Lucas. „In the Virtual Field: Musical Performance and the New Dynamics of Bombos in Times of COVID-19”. Ethnomusicology Review 24 (2023): 143–158.
  Google Scholar

Wood, Abigail. „E-fieldwork: A Paradigm for the Twenty-first Century?”. W: The New (Ethno) musicologies, red. Henry Stobart, 170–188. Lanham, ML: Scarecrow Press, 2008.
  Google Scholar


Published
2023-12-29

Cited by

Grygier, E. (2023). The E-field. The Internet as a Source and Field of Ethnomusicological Studies . Muzyka, 68(4), 96–111. https://doi.org/10.36744/m.2446

Authors

Ewelina Grygier 

University of Warsaw Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6072-2222

Statistics

Abstract views: 164
PDF downloads: 95


License

Copyright (c) 2023 Ewelina Grygier

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The author grants the publisher a royalty-free nonexclusive licence (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Muzyka, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in "Muzyka" should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). By submitting an article the author agrees to make it available under CC BY 4.0 license.

Articles from 2018/1 to 2022/3 were published under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. During this period the authors granted the publisher a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in "Muzyka", retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.