360-cameras used by a team participating in a mobile gathering

This chapter reports how a group of researchers in a mobile group can deploy 360-degree cameras together with traditional 2D zoomable video cameras to capture the participants’ orientation to their surroundings as they move through them and stop from time to time. Such a combination of devices can help the analyst detect interesting courses of action undertaken by groups or by specific individuals and trace the occurrences of those action sequences throughout an event in its complex totality. Drawing on experiences from a guided nature hike that took place as part of an annual Danish nature event, the chapter discusses both the practical accomplishment of camerawork and the related methodological issues. The nature hike group scattered along the path when moving from one site of interest to the next and gathered around the guides when a plant or other object became a focus of interest. A combination of 360-degree cameras and traditional video cameras not only increased the possibilities for analytical observation; it also rendered transparent how data collection through ethnographic participation happened in practice because all nearby participants, camerapersons included, are visible in 360-degree footage. This enhances methodological transparency and supports moving towards truly participatory attendance in situations under scrutiny.