Autoethnography and the Digital Volunteer

Abstract

This chapter explores the contribution that autoethnography can make to the understanding of digital work. The example used is a digital volunteering role involving moderating a locally based online group that supports members to give away their unwanted items. An autoethnographic approach can: focus in detail on the experiences of ambiguity and uncertainty that lie at the heart of the work of moderating the group; examine the socially embedded and materially contingent qualities of the work; and take a longitudinal view on the development of digital work over time. The autoethnographic approach is inherently limited in its focus on a singular, subjective set of experiences, but acts an indicator of some otherwise undocumented aspects of the work of a digital volunteer. Autoethnography can be combined with other approaches: here interviews were used to explore a more diverse array of digital volunteering contexts, with the interview guide designed to explore some of the concerns that the autoethnography had brought to light.