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2025 AOM Annual Meeting

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20632: Rethinking “Being There”: Ethnography in Digitally Distributed and Creative Work Contexts

Monday, July 28, 2025
15:30 - 17:00 CEST (GMT+2)
Location: Bella Center: Hall B- B3-m9
Session Type: Symposium (panel)
Orientation: International,Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/xKAR9M
Ethnography has long been a vital method for studying the relational, cultural, and political dynamics of work in and around organizations. By emphasizing the researcher’s embodied presence, ethnography captures nuances that go beyond what is explicitly stated or formally understood. However, the rise of hybrid work, virtual collaboration, and human-AI augmentation challenges the traditional ethnographic concept of “being there.” This panel symposium examines how ethnographic methods are evolving to address these digitally mediated, distributed, creative, and multi-stakeholder contexts. Panelists will explore emerging techniques to adapt ethnography for studying work phenomena across digital platforms, asynchronous communication channels, and hybrid environments that increasingly include AI actors. Key topics include the relevance of traditional ethnographic practices, new ways of “being with” research participants, how the evolution of creative work can be captured with new ethnographic methods, and the use of technologies as research tools, sites, and collaborators. Discussions will focus on capturing the sensory, affective, and inter-corporeal dynamics of collaboration and employing co-creative and interventionist methodologies to deepen participant engagement. By bringing together experienced ethnographers from diverse traditions, this symposium aims to inspire dialogue on maintaining ethnographic sensitivity while embracing digital transformation. Panelists will reflect on how to balance the rich relational insights of ethnography with the demands of studying work and collaboration in digitally infused environments. The symposium invites attendees to reimagine the role of ethnography in a world where work is increasingly shaped by digital and more-than-human dynamics.