So it sounds like Ethnography is what fascinates me in general.
I like watching subcultures emerge. For example, when the
"bronies" came up as a 'thing' online a few years ago in a big
way (I'm thinking around 2010/2011) it caught my notice, I
befriended some, and even wrote up a nice defense for them,
because they made sense. It wasn't long before boys in the 4th
grade were identifying as bronies and I noticed how the presence
of young kids in the movement started to sanitize the movement,
the sexual elements gave way to horror elements which are more
appropriate for that age range. I started noticing the growth of
furries around the age ranges a couple of years later. Same
ideas as I noticed with the bronies: What started off as an
adult phenomenon moved down through the years, with teenage
girls wearing cat ears and fur tails, but again, down to the
elementary school ages as well, with girls and boys as young as
8 identifying as furries, talking about being lupine and such.
So, I'm guessing this is ethnography? I suppose if I was writing
a paper or book, which I have no interest in doing on the
subject, it would be "Internet subcultures and their effects on
Generation Z and their responses" - or something like that. My
nephew's 10.5 and it was around when he was 6 that I started
getting him prepared for internet culture by trying to stay a
few steps ahead of him, getting a "lay of the land", and found
looking at these trends as they emerge in social networks
naturally quite fascinating, although I always had an interest
in Internet culture and subcultures.
