Studying media, technology, and culture through ethnographic inquiry across global and diasporic contexts.

In an algorithmic age, we must rediscover the human value.

Algorithms can predict our clicks or hold artificial conversations, but they cannot feel our longings, pains, and joys. Global Media Ethnography Lab (GMEL) serves as a hub to explore how people create, circulate, and experience media. We combine ethnographic inquiry with interdisciplinary approaches to understand contemporary media worlds and their social impacts.


GMEL News

GMEL Director Jing Wang Coordinates Panel at the 2026 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Galway, Ireland

GMEL Presents its first workshop series, ‘Rediscovering the Value of Thick Data and Ethnographic Approaches in the Age of AI’

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GMEL News

GMEL Director Jing Wang Coordinates Panel at the 2026 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Galway, Ireland

GMEL Presents its first workshop series, ‘Rediscovering the Value of Thick Data and Ethnographic Approaches in the Age of AI’

Our Research Areas

Technology and Everyday Life

Media and Gender

Diaspora and Belonging

Ethnographic Methods and Writing

Technology
and Everyday Life
Media and
Gender
Diaspora
and Belonging
Ethnographic Methods
and Writing

About the Global Media Ethnography Lab


GMEL highlights and amplifies a human-centric, community-oriented approach that has been in the intellectual tradition of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. GMEL’s mission is deeply rooted in the Wisconsin Idea, extending our ethnographic insights beyond the classroom to impact the local and global communities we study.

Learn more about us >>

Meet the team >>

REDISCOVER THE HUMAN VALUE