Abstract:

The prevailing celebration of technology-enabled access to 'raw' consumer realities is challenged in this presentation. While acknowledging the many benefits that video-ethnography and social media bring (emotional engagement, richness and texture, more impactful storytelling), they have also led to a focus on the anecdotal story, on data rather than analysis, and on micro-reality at the cost of the macro view. Furthermore, to remain relevant researchers must reclaim their role as meaning makers and framers of reality as interpreters, and not merely cameras.