Mobile Virtual Ethnography: Studying Interactive Travelers Online and On-the-Move

Abstract

This case study focuses on the forms of social life that emerge at the intersection between travel and technology. Focusing on three empirical examples of interactive travel—couchsurfers, travel bloggers, and worldschoolers—the case presents an innovative methodological approach called mobile virtual ethnography. This case will describe how mobile virtual ethnography adapts conventional ethnographic techniques, such as immersion and participant observation, to the study of mobile social life and enables researchers to gain a deeper understanding of how individuals and communities interact both online and on the move.

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