Reframing Digital Ethnography as Research-Creation: A Review of Exploring Digital Ethnography

Authors

• Luis Miguel Dos Santos, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong KongFollow

Abstract

This review of Exploring Digital Ethnography: From Principles to Practice (Underberg-Goode & Otañez, 2025) argues that the book redefines digital ethnography as research-creation. This edited book not only explores social worlds through digital worlds, but it also shows how the design and production of multimodal creations establish how ethnographic knowledge is created and shared. Discoveries and guidelines are discussed, including examples of ethnographic comics, interactive autoethnographic narratives, participatory digital heritage designs, activist photography of bidi labor, organic theater, worldbuilding pedagogy, and collaborative smartphone storytelling with sexual minorities seeking asylum. This edited book shows how digital methods can allow deliberation (reflection, collaboration, co-analysis) and can materialize findings in public-facing forms. The edited book’s contributions include its revelation that form, and ethics are inseparable, especially in regard to anonymity, accessibility, authorship, and platform selection. It also highlights previously unresolved challenges, including the institutional evaluation of research-creation, the sustainability of digital projects, and the inequities in participation under conditions of unequal risk and access.

Keywords

anonymity, digital ethnography, ethics, multimodal, participatory, research-creation

Author Bio(s)

Luis Miguel Dos Santos is an Associate Professor at Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong. He is an editorial board member of TQR. His research interests include qualitative research, social stigma and discrimination, immigration, teachers’ professional development, sexual minorities, and career development and decision-making processes. Please direct correspondence to luismigueldossantos@yahoo.com           

Publication Date

5-19-2026

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Recommended APA Citation

Dos Santos, L. M. (2026). Reframing digital ethnography as research-creation: A review of exploring digital ethnography. The Qualitative Report, 31(5), 5930-5936.

ORCID ID

0000-0002-4799-8838