Trajectories: digital/visual data on the move EDGAR GO ´ MEZ CRUZ This article presents an outline of the concept ‘Trajectory’. I propose to understand trajectory not only as a trace of movement in a path but also as a working concept to reflect on the possibilities of visual/digital data collection for ethnographic research on the move. Images, I argue, along with some digital affordances such as metadata and GPS, can be a powerful device for ethnographic enquiry and a useful tool for reflexivity if used by making sense of the randomness of everyday mobility. The concept of ‘Trajectory’ seeks to reflect on the relationship between four elements: mobility, visual data, digital methods and reflexivity, focusing on the use of the mobile phone as a tool to engage with these elements while reflecting on them. The concept of trajectories is intended to establish a dialogue with that of the flâneur in de Certeau’s and Benjamin’s work and with some current approaches to visual/digital ethnography, especially those related to movement and senses, art and ethnography and mobilities and locative media. INTRODUCTION Many years ago I was taking a walk with a friend along a Mexican beach. We were enjoying the scenery while talking about everything and nothing. I noticed that, from time to time, my friend picked up small stones from the sand and put them into her purse. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked. ‘You’ll see’, she replied. When we came back to the house, while having a drink and continuing the conversation, she threw all the rocks into the sink, patiently cleaned them and grouped them by colour, size and shape. I was observing her with curiosity while she took a clear glass jar and put the stones in a very aesthetic and delicate order forming a single unit that resembled a sculpture. Suddenly, the randomness of the rocks’ shapes and colours became an ordered pattern, as if she was putting together parts of a cohesive puzzle. She filled the jar with water, put the lid on and handled it to me by saying ‘Here, a little gift so you can always remember our walk’. And I did. Every time I saw that jar in my house, I remembered the landscape, the conversation, the weather and even specific moments when my friend picked up some of those rocks. The jar became a material reminder of our walk – a single object that comprised our entire trajectory. This article presents an outline of the concept ‘Trajectory’.I propose to understand trajectory not only as a trace of movement in a path but also as a working concept to reflect on the possibilities of visual/digital/mobile data collection for ethnographic research. Images, I argue, along with some digital affordances such as metadata and GPS, can be a powerful device for ethnographic enquiry and a useful tool for reflexivity if used by making sense of the randomness of everyday mobility. This approach is aligned with a multisensory turn in visual studies that understands the ‘sensoriality of images as something that is generated through their interrelatedness with both the persons they move with and the environments they move through and are part of’ (Pink 2011, 4) and the emergence of innovative digital and visual methods (Favero 2014; Parmeggiani 2009; Jungnickel and Hjorth 2014; Lury and Wakeford 2012; Bates 2014). While visual data have become more or less accepted as part of anthropological (and sociological) research, digital technologies are increasingly becoming central in the data gathering of all sorts of disciplines (Berry 2012; Meyer and Schroeder 2009). Nevertheless, there still seems to be a gap when merging both the visual and the digital in a comprehensive way. In that sense, there’s one device that represents a convergence of many of the possibilities of both the visual and the digital: the mobile phone. With the ubiquitous use of smartphones in western urban societies, the mobility and fluidity of social life and the increasing use of technological mediations could open new paths for ethnographic imagination. When using smartphones that combine camera features, metadata recording and GPS systems with different apps to store and organise data, interesting possibilities for ethnographic work could be discussed. These possibilities are not necessarily (only) technical but they could also open epistemological discussions, for example about our role as researchers, about the construction of the field or our ethical standpoint. There are many accounts of the use of smartphones for social research that assume, to some extend, that they Edgar Gómez Cruz has a background in media studies, sociology and anthropology and his interests are digital visual culture, digital ethnography and digital photography. He has worked in Mexico, Spain, the UK and is currently in Australia. Visual Studies, 2016 Vol. 31, No. 4, 335–343, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2016.1243019 © 2016 International Visual Sociology Association