Fourth Critical Review

Shadows in the Field Ch 6 "Virtual Fieldwork" by Katherine Meizel, Timothy Cooley, and Nasir Syed

In this chapter, the three authors examine how changing communications and informational technologies impact their fieldwork. They cite arguments that cyberspace is a part of everyday life, not a work in itself, and they make the point that the virtual field shows how people are affected by these technologies. They also note that in a world of multi-site and multi-disciplinary academic work, their approach is at home. Katherine Meizel worked on "American Idol" and found new opportunities and challenges in the virtual field. Tim Cooley worked with surf musicians in Hawai'i and California and found that a combination of both old-fashioned techniques and new technology worked best (he concludes that he is happy to live in the information age). Nasir Syed, the student of a famous sitar teacher, explains the great resource that the Internet can be to him and to other sitar players, and argues that the Internet augments but does not replace the traditional student-teacher relationship. The authors as a group conclude that "fieldwork should happen where music does."

Discussion Question: Would the fieldworkers who wrote the initial issues of Ethnomusicology agree with the conclusion these authors come to? Why would someone argue that the "virtual field" cannot be a place for "real" fieldwork?