Reflection on Discussion Forums

For my ethnographic project, the Chesapeake Bay's surrounding culture is being dissected. In order to gather more research, discussion forums featuring SaveTheBay, fishing, recipes, government policies on the bay, and tourism recommendations were searched. SaveTheBay is the main hub for Chesapeake Bay environmental initiatives. Within the website, there were three blogs found including the Bay Daily, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Clagett Farm with recipes. These blogs did not have much interaction, which led me to other outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. More interaction was found here due to stronger links between local businesses from Maryland. I was able to go to other websites and pages from here and research businesses featuring fishing conditions, tourism and restaurant recommendations, and colleges. From here, I researched forums with these companies and was able to find higher traffic that talked about the Chesapeake Bay. With more time to sort through the information, I will be able to link evidence together to round out my analysis about the cultural influences. The growth and consistency of these businesses depend upon the bay and the communities' association with it.