Ethnography

Ethnography consists of the description of a culture or community based on firsthand accounts and observations. In the context of CREST, ethnography will be used to describe particular communities and activities that will be the focus of individual school projects. Students and teachers will have the opportunity to develop ethnographic skills such as collecting life histories, conducting one-on-one interviews, community and place name mapping, and documenting everyday life through direct participation. Increasingly technology, such as digital audio recorders, databases, GIS, video cameras and other multimedia tools, is being used by ethnographers to convey the rich history and character of communities and cultures. These technologies will provide an important link to the goals of the CREST project.