/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// COLLABORATIVE VIDEOING - A REFLEXIVE ACCOUNT Abhigyan Singh*, Mult imedia Informat ion Ret rieval Lab, Delft Universit y of Technology a. singh@t udelf t . nl ABSTRACT In this paper, I present collaborative videoing exercise conducted during an ethnographic field research conducted at Sudarshan Layout, an urban slum in Bangalore, India. AC3 Members, a group of local youth of Sudarshan Layout were the participant- collaborators in the collaborative videoing exercise. In this paper, I discuss collaborative videoing within the discourse of collaboration and reflexivity from the domains of visual anthropology and design research. I argue that collaborative videoing is an informally structured approach which served as a boundary object during the research process. I reflect on how collaborative videoing, as boundary object, facilitated this research at Sudarshan Layout and assisted in collaboration, communication and cooperation between participant-collaborators and me. Keywords: Video, Collaboration, Boundary Objects, Reflexivity INTRODUCTION This paper is based on findings of an et hnographic field research conduct ed at Sudarshan Layout , an urban slum in Bangalore, India in February 2009. The field study was part of my master’s thesis (title: Design Opport unit ies and Challenges in Indian Urban Slums- Community Communication and Mobile Phones). The t hesis invest igat ed t he area of mobile- based communit y communicat ion for marginalized communit ies belonging t o Indian urban slums. The research quest ion which t his st udy addressed was: What are t he design opport unit ies and challenges for mobile based communit y communicat ion services for * This paper present s research done by t he aut hor when he was enrolled at Aalt o Universit y School of Art and Design, Finland f or hi s mast er’ s st udi es. resident s of Indian urban slums? In t his art icle, I exclusively discuss t he collaborat ive videoing exercise, which assist ed t his design research proj ect in various ways. The met hodological approach t aken in t his research is inspired by Ethnographic Action Research (EAR) and Part icipat ory Rural Appraisal (PRA). EAR is t he research approach t o st udy impact of Informat ion and Communicat ion Technology (ICT) especially in the area related to poverty alleviation (Tacchi et al., 2003). PRA is a research met hodology which advocat es bot t om-up research approaches wit h flexible and innovat ive mix of various met hods and sensitivity for the local context (Kumar, 2007). Both EAR and PRA insist s on use of part icipat ory met hods t o engage part icipant s as fellow researchers, and suggest adapt at ion of t he research process according to challenges faced in the field. This participatory research was conduct ed in collaborat ion wit h members of Ambedkar Communit y Comput ing Cent re (AC3), referred as AC3 Members, a group consist ing of local yout h of Sudarshan Layout . The research met hods employed for t his st udy were: part icipant - observation, field notes, group interviews, in-depth interviews, social map drawing exercises and self- document at ion t hrough camera exercises. ‘ Self - document at ion’ exercises involve t he creat ive use of media, such as phot ography or videography, in t he research process by allowing people t o document t hemselves and t heir environment . In this paper, I focus on collaborative videoing exercise conduct ed in collaborat ion wit h AC3 Members. I discuss collaborat ive videoing wit hin t he discourse of collaboration and reflexivity as originat ing from t he domains of visual ant hropology and design research. My main argument is t hat collaborative videoing is an informally structured