How to study social media practises in converging library spaces. Making the case for deploying co-­presence ethnography in studies of 2.0-­libraries

Summary, in English

Ethnographically inspired methods have in recent years been successfully applied in Information Science (IS) research on different forms of social media related practices (c.f. Sundin & Francke 2009a; 2009b, Kjellberg 2010). This paper aims to contribute to an emerging discussion on the use of this methodological approach for analysing and comprehending consequences of the 2.0-turn in public libraries. Drawing on the experiences of a one-year long ethnographic study of everyday work-related social media practices in a Swedish public library, I suggest that there are significant epistemic benefits of using the ethnographic approach in this field. By shifting focus to everyday practices and routines in local settings, new features of the 2.0-phenomena are accentuated, contributing to different understandings of the role of social media in public library development.

• Author: Hanna Carlsson
• Editor: Isto Huvila; Kim Holmberg; Maria Kronqvist-Berg
• Department/s: Division of ALM, Digital Cultures and Publishing Studies
• Publishing year: 2011
• Language: English
• Pages: 83-90
• Publication/Series: Information Science and Social Media. Proceedings of the International Conference Information Science and Social Media ISSOME 2011, August 24-26, Åbo/Turku, Finland
• Document type: Conference paper
• Publisher: Information Studies, Åbo Academy University, Finland: Åbo
• Topic: Information Studies
• Keywords: Library 2.0; Public libraries; Ethnography; Convergence
• Conference name: International Conference Information Science and Social Media ISSOME 2011
• Conference date: 2011-08-24 - 2011-08-26
• Conference place: Åbo/Turku, Finland
• Status: Published
• Research group: Information Studies
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 2242-0495