Searching for the Red Tent Online: Using manual archiving to scope out the representation of a movement of women’s circles

In this case study I review part of the first phase of data collection for research into the UK Red Tent movement online. The Red Tent movement is a loosely affiliated international network of women’s circles that ordinarily meet face-to-face in differing locales monthly to support and nourish each other. In this phase of the research, I was interested in determining how the UK Red Tent movement imagined and presented itself online. Researching the Movement online presented several challenges such as establishing the boundaries of a dataset and attempts to discern web content that originated from or was connected to the UK. Other difficulties included developing efficient and effective processes of cataloguing data via manual archiving, especially considering the fluctuating nature of online content, dead links, and the emergence of ethical issues connected principally to the use of interactive web platforms as potential data. These methodological and practical challenges are discussed in detail with a view to taking the reader through some idea of the research actions performed, relaying any lessons I learnt and highlighting the beneficial implications of this for anyone wishing to conduct this kind of scoping research online themselves.

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