Digital Urban Ethnography: A Book Review of The Digital Street

Abstract

Jeffery Lane explores the social worlds of youth in Harlem during the digital era through his unique approach, digital urban ethnography. Researchers use this ethnographic method to understand how social lives and meanings are co-constructed within digital and physical spaces. The digital and physical do not neatly represent each other but each provides specific ways to engage that both shape and are shaped by youth’s social lives. As novice researchers, we read this work with an eye towards methodological choices and techniques. In particular, we hoped this work would provide us with an understanding of how to conduct research with youth on ways the physical and digital worlds interact to produce knowledge and meaning. This review discusses Lane’s theoretical framework, three themes that highlight the potential of digital urban ethnography to construct unique findings, and the significance of Lane’s work in terms of methodology and specific techniques/data construction methods.