On the value of longitudinal media ethnography and a response to John Postill

Ethnographic examinations of media and social change can focus too narrowly on the changes taking place at the time of introduction of a new communication technology and thus can end up being incredibly short-sighted and celebratory in their approach. Postill argues that inquiries into media's role in social change should not be done through time-constrained ethnographic methods, but rather should follow a more biographical model that better accounts for ongoing social change. In Response to his essay in this issue and in light of my fieldwork experience in the same site during the past 15 years, I discuss the value of adopting a longitudinal approach to media ethnographies with focused or punctuated revisits (Burawoy, 2003) to the field.