Mobile Technologies in Anthropology

I believe that mobile technologies play a significant role in ethnographic research for virtual worlds. These technologies had a significant impact specifically on my research on Muslim dating sites. My ethnography was centered around online dating, and how it related specifically to the Muslim demographic. My research included studying a diversity of Muslims and Muslim dating applications, and how they differ in what they have to offer.

The first thing I focused on was the diversity of Muslims, so I interviewed two completely different types of Muslims. The use of mobile technologies made this easier because it made it easy and quick to reach out to a diverse population of Muslims. Another aspect in my ethnography was researching the different kinds of applications available, which I divided between matrimony apps and dating apps. Mobile technologies made this task simple as well because I was able to download the applications from the play store in order to conduct research to find the differences between the two.

In his reading, Boellstorff mentions that “non-textual forms of presenting research have been used to convey ethnographic research”. Traditionally, these non-textual forms of presentations were limited to photography, film, and performances. However, I think that with the increase in mobile technologies, this can extend to visuals such as screenshots as well. In order to gather research for my ethnography, a lot of it was done by recording my findings from my phone by taking screenshots of what I saw. Not only that, but the people I interviewed also sent me screenshots of their online dating conversations so that I could gain a better understanding of what types of conversations take place and what people look for on these sites and apps.

Being able to record my findings through screenshots leads me to my next point. Boellstorff mentions in his reading that “This potential for returning to the field while writing takes on new dimensions when conducting ethnographic research in virtual worlds.” Through the use of my mobile technologies, I was able to go back and access the information that I needed whenever I wanted. Due to the convenience of mobile devices, I could “return to the field” by reaching out to the people I was interviewing for this ethnography through a simple text.