Re-imagining “care”: Reflections from digital fieldwork with slum-dwelling children in the Philippines

Abstract

This work offers a reflection on children's caring practices as participants of digital fieldwork. I interrogate and illustrate how children might offer a different appreciation of care as a practice in digitally-mediated research. Examining digitally-mediated research with children participants reveals invisible caring expressions during the research process as doing digital fields is complex, overlooking various aspects of care throughout the research process. I propose a paucity to appreciate children's caring practices amidst the uncertainty of digital fieldwork and refresh our cherishing of such agency amidst thinking. Through video calls with slum-dwelling Filipino children (9–12 years old), I narrate how children demonstrated their versions of caring practices. Findings discuss: 1) The audio-visual experience and children's curiosity and criticisms; 2) Children's creative caring practices through symbolic expressions; and 3) negotiated transnational care through digitally-mediated research. This paper emphasises that caring through the digital platforms is a multi-layered practice that is not only demonstrated by adults but also enacted by children in their own means. This study invites further engagement on digital children's geographies in disentangling children's roles in digitally-mediated research.