Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography
Visuality is central in social media experiences, but complex to research. In this paper, we introduce aggregated autoethnography for nuanced analysis of socially mediated visual practices. The approach starts from guided autoethnographies which help to empower participants to explore their own expe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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FQS
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Forum: Qualitative Social Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/4182 |
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| author | Katrin Tiidenberg Annette N. Markham Maria Schreiber Andrea Schaffar |
| author_facet | Katrin Tiidenberg Annette N. Markham Maria Schreiber Andrea Schaffar |
| author_sort | Katrin Tiidenberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Visuality is central in social media experiences, but complex to research. In this paper, we introduce aggregated autoethnography for nuanced analysis of socially mediated visual practices. The approach starts from guided autoethnographies which help to empower participants to explore their own experiences and build thick descriptions, and moves through multiple levels of aggregation, integration and synthesis (from individual autoethnographies to national datasets of coded snippets, to datasets specific to arguments emerging out of multinational patterns). The aggregated autoethnography approach makes unexpected topics accessible; offers dynamic, rather than static insight; makes visible that which is routine and tacit, as well as that which is experienced as ambivalent. Further, aggregation allows synthesis of multiple perspectives, revealing patterns across contexts that are otherwise difficult to detect. The approach detailed here is used to move back and forth between the singular pieces of visual content and the flows they are part of; to remain loyal to the situational perspective that the visual communication becomes meaningful in; to capture relevant artifacts as well as people's practices; and to be mindful of the affective, embodied and material aspects of ways of seeing with social media.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e5d8f8cf80dd4231b46a13a3a31f9a77 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1438-5627 |
| language | deu |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | FQS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forum: Qualitative Social Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-e5d8f8cf80dd4231b46a13a3a31f9a772025-08-20T02:38:18ZdeuFQSForum: Qualitative Social Research1438-56272025-05-0126210.17169/fqs-26.2.4182Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated AutoethnographyKatrin Tiidenberg0Annette N. Markham1Maria Schreiber2Andrea Schaffar3Tallinn UniversityUtrecht UniversityUniversity of SalzburgUniversity of SalzburgVisuality is central in social media experiences, but complex to research. In this paper, we introduce aggregated autoethnography for nuanced analysis of socially mediated visual practices. The approach starts from guided autoethnographies which help to empower participants to explore their own experiences and build thick descriptions, and moves through multiple levels of aggregation, integration and synthesis (from individual autoethnographies to national datasets of coded snippets, to datasets specific to arguments emerging out of multinational patterns). The aggregated autoethnography approach makes unexpected topics accessible; offers dynamic, rather than static insight; makes visible that which is routine and tacit, as well as that which is experienced as ambivalent. Further, aggregation allows synthesis of multiple perspectives, revealing patterns across contexts that are otherwise difficult to detect. The approach detailed here is used to move back and forth between the singular pieces of visual content and the flows they are part of; to remain loyal to the situational perspective that the visual communication becomes meaningful in; to capture relevant artifacts as well as people's practices; and to be mindful of the affective, embodied and material aspects of ways of seeing with social media. https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/4182autoethnographyaggregated autoethnographysocial mediavisuality |
| spellingShingle | Katrin Tiidenberg Annette N. Markham Maria Schreiber Andrea Schaffar Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography Forum: Qualitative Social Research autoethnography aggregated autoethnography social media visuality |
| title | Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography |
| title_full | Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography |
| title_fullStr | Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography |
| title_full_unstemmed | Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography |
| title_short | Patterns of Surprise and Ambivalence: Studying Social Media Visuality by Way of Aggregated Autoethnography |
| title_sort | patterns of surprise and ambivalence studying social media visuality by way of aggregated autoethnography |
| topic | autoethnography aggregated autoethnography social media visuality |
| url | https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/4182 |
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