Open AccessTracing the Action of Technical Objects in an Ethnography: Vinyls in Beijing
Author(s) -
Basile Zimmermann
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
qualitative sociology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.315
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 1733-8077
DOI - 10.18778/1733-8077.3.3.03
Subject(s) - beijing , ethnography , agency (philosophy) , sociology , action (physics) , object (grammar) , tracing , period (music) , epistemology , media studies , social science , aesthetics , china , anthropology , political science , law , computer science , artificial intelligence , art , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , operating system
To do ethnography implies dealing with the agency of technical objectsi. The aim of this paper is to share a few ideas on how to tackle the one of vinyls in the particular activity that is the mix of a disc jockey. To do so, I first provide a general picture of the work of Xiao Deng, a Chinese disc jockey I observed in Beijing between 2003 and 2004. Then I present three observations of specific events that occured during that period which, I believe, bring into light not only some specificities of the agency of the technical object “vinyl” but also useful information about how one can take into account the agency of objects when doing ethnography.