Hey everyone, I’m Sam Murray A PhD Student and consultant Ethnographer and I’m responding to the call for researchers to be involved in this project. I cannot be enthused enough about practising Ethnography, the study of lived cultures, and weaving together the various stories and contributions to culture people have. I have a strong background in Popular Music ethnography with my current PhD being centred around an Ethnography of the music scene in Portland, Oregon. I have previously conducted ethnographies of the Eurovision Song Contest (for my MA thesis which was awarded a distinction), the Leeds Music Forum website and have been a consultant ethnographer for the BBC’s BBC Radio 3’s Connected Studio project. I have also had extensive experience with interviewing through my freelance web based and broadcast journalism with a speciality in World and Folk musics. Throughout my work I have a strong ethical framework to empower the contributors who are essentially at the centre of the produced reports. I am merely a conduit, a vessel which connects the opinions and ideas of others to make observations on cultural habitation. In regards to this project I am excited by the new challenges presented with a chance to apply to my own ethnographic experience to a new but not unfamiliar field. I have already through my PhD research explored and encountered citizen-driven innovation with specific regard to the music scene in Portland, OR. I am intrigued to see how citizens of the particular nations involved: Egypt, Georgia and Armenia respond and interact with the aims of this project all being nations with rich histories and centres for young fresh innovations that are shaping our post-post-modern world. I feel I am suitable for the role of ethnographer on the project as although I may be young I feel I am part of a generation of fresh and innovative ethnographers who are helping shape the discipline around the post-industrial and creative world. I am a fast learner with technology and can find myself flexible and adaptable to many situations. I am active in various creative forum based communities with interests in creative and democratic thought for example I am a member of a forum community built around the website Nationstates in which one can create their own nation and build and develop its own democratic thought through measured online roleplaying of situations. I am proactive, engaging and ethical. Please find my CV here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbJsLqmGVX3SWtzQ0xFRFRKWmM/edit?usp=sharing
Good stuff
Hello Sam, thanks for applying! Your CV is not very informative for our purposes (lots of music, very little ethnography), so would you mind telling us a bit more about your research? In particular, about its methodology:
- in what sense is your study of the Eurovision Song Contest an ethnography? Which ethnographic research tools did you deploy, and how?
- have you ever used Atlas.Ti or WEFT? In which contexts?
I am a world music buff too: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Cottica. We may have crossed each other at WOMEX in Cardiff in October!
More Information
Hi Alberto, I’d be happy to detail more about my methods and research.
For my eurovision study I did an ethnography of performer and songwriter identity in the contest, something you can access here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbJsLqmGVX3RWVIcGRpTlgzcXc/edit?usp=sharing. For this I interviewed various performers and songwriters by telephone, in person or skype. The interviews were shaped around 10 or so set questions with room for me to deviate and probe further on information given. All participants were asked to document their consent for participation. The outcomes found were that performers find themselves indentifying with the role of national ambassadors as opposed to songwriters who feel their prupose is to generate a text as part of agreed employment. Singer-Sonwriters obviously bridged these two gaps but also felt able to generate a full performance package. For my ethnography of the Leeds Music Forum website I was already active in the musical community, and originally started by stimulating threads, but found many wouldn’t reply out of disinterest so I decided to follow and engage with psots around topics from the arrival of a new arena to members posting for assistance with performances.
My current research on the Portland, OR music scene is utilising a wider range of ethnographic tools. I am conducting guided interviews and conversations as the main method of collecting data and have done so with individuals, groups and also in focus groups sessions led around specific themes. I have also decided to employ mapping as an ethnographic tool where I have asked participants to draw a map of their Portland music scene and record the conversations had around the creating of this explicit depiction of location. I originally experimented with an online interactive map where users could add and generate content based around personal musical experiences and memories, although moderation was a great issue as well as funding for generating a platform. I have also looked into generating topic specific quesitonnaires although the formal nature may not be suitable for the informailities of the Portland music scene. During fieldwork visit I record my fieldnotes via my research blog http://pdxmusicscene.tumblr.com collected not only thoughts but images and videos.
I haven’t used either Atlas. Ti or WEFT before but find myself incredibly ammenable to learning how to use new software. Having explored Atlas Ti through their youtube account I feel it is a piece of software I can learn how to use and would happily dedicate time before the ethnographic element of the project begins leaning how to use the software as my university has an academic license with the software and I can seek assistance in being tutored in it. I of course recognise my lack of use may be a hinderance but am inredibly willing to engage end educate myself in it.
We may have crossed path at WOMEX where I volunteered and also networked. It was a highly enjoyable event and it broadened my musical palate greatly!
I was wondering if any decision had been reached about the ethnographers involved in the project? I am assuming I have been unsuccessful having not heard anything.
Actually, yes 
I left this longer than I expected – the decision was really quite difficult to make. I ended up making one only last week, and I decided on @Inga Popovaite. I do have your reference and those of others in case Inga needs extra help. A lot depends on the languages that the raw data are in: knowledge of Armenian and Arabic (Inga speaks Georgian, so that’s covered) might be important from now on. Thanks for applying, Sam.