Changes Across Time

Several hundred years ago, Spanish colonists found America and defeated Aztec empire, they erected their cathedrals using the same stone salvaged from tearing down Aztec temples. It was a different time, and we saw later that British ruled their colonies with more lee-ways. At least, they did not enforce their religion and languages. It was the time where people attempted to understand another, often perceived to be less superior, culture. Today, each culture demands respect in most aspects. No longer can a study take the perspective of one central group versus ‘the other.’ Cultures melted into a network of activities and participants. Such capitalistic activities require global understanding, amidst the multitude of spontaneity. If you cannot conquer, you need to negotiate.

Capitalism has lead to technologies that allow these changes. In sequence after the Spanish exploration, major technologies such as steam ship, telegram, telephone, airplane, television, pc, and Internet, continuously entangle disparing groups in inseparable relationships. With anything less than a telephone, there was no discussion of multi-sited study.

Another part of this change is the formation of complex network of groups. Since China’s entry into world trading, we can no longer ignore their production and consumption patterns, or migration of its people. A product may be conceptualized in US, designed in Europe, made in China, and imported back to US. Thus, human activities not only become relatively unbounded, space no longer seem reasonable to frame any activities.

Multi-Sited Ethnography in STS

It was little surprise that a study, locally framed, will be fragmented in real world applications. Marcus (1995) suggested using multi-sited studies that move along a path. Methods include: follow the people, follow the thing, follow the metaphor, ~ plot, ~ life, and ~ conflict. Therefore, the ethnographer becomes an activist, who moves along to different sites, based on a designated path. It was a replacement of physical site with a conceptual one. Placeless people, thing, metaphor, plot, life, and conflict become the sites in the mind.

Yet, STS studies are often not involving just one of these things. It includes many. A technology, a thing, is used by some groups of people. This technology may rely on existing infrastructure of other technologies, thus other technologies also become important subjects of study. The object of interest thus transcends just a group of people, or an object, or someone’s life, or an event. Rather, it’s a question that ties them together. A question that the ethnographer shared with his or her peers, who are trying to advance an endeavor. For example, how can we design a product that will be used by many? Will this technology succeed? Will this technology brings unforeseeable problems?

Such questions will most likely bring us to multi-sites, even though if the initial sites are random. From there, we try to learn as much as we can. Who are the people, what are the technologies, what is the story, and what are the dilemmas? From one ethnography, we move on to the other, and the other. It is not a reconceptualization that we move on, but a felt need of our questions not answered if we do not. If we may find Internet penetration as seemingly linked to laptop adoption, we will need to investigate the former subsequently. The studies continue until we are satisfied that we have understood the activities that are related to our questions.

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References
Marcus G, 1995. Ethnography in/of the World System: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. In Annu Rev of Anthropol, 24:95-117.