The Ethnographic Approach in the Digital Scenario: Classic, Virtual, or Digital Ethnography–A Question of Definition or a New Methodological Shift?

In this chapter the goal is to formalize the main differences between the applications of ethnographic techniques when they are framed in virtual or digital methods. To be more systematic in presenting these differences, a synoptic table will be offered. This table will examine the main breaking points between the methods and will used to organize a marked comparison between studies chosen from the most cited articles of the last twenty years. In addition to testing the effectiveness of the proposed classification scheme, the purpose of the comparison conducted between the most cited articles will be to highlight where the changes that have occurred can lead to advances in the method and where these changes have become new limits on which it is necessary to continue to reflect in order to develop the methods involved and place them clearly in line with the evolution of the digital scenario.