Creative applications of new information and communication technologies

Abstract

This article describes two ‘ethnographic’ research projects - one in Australia and one in South Asia. These projects stand apart from more traditional ethnographies in the way in which they combine ethnography with action research; they are, in effect, applied ethnographic research. Both projects reflect an interest in examining the changing processes and applications of creativity, production and consumption and the desire to gain deeper understandings of what roles new technologies play in all of this. The research attempts to develop answers to some very basic questions about the implications of new technologies on the everyday lives of a wide range of people and the implications of the everyday lives of those people on the uses and potential uses of new technologies.