Netnography on Italian Assisted Reproductive Technology: An Onlife Phenomenon

The web can be a privileged setting for studying socially connoted and private spheres, fostering the sharing of experiences that might be inhibited in everyday life. This is the case of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), a multimodal phenomenon that begins offline but finds space for discussion online (Garcia et al., 2009). As part of a broader interdisciplinary and mixed-methods investigation on late parenthood in Italy, a specific strand explores the experiences of heterosexual couples undergoing ART treatments. This study employs netnography (Kozinets 2010) across three online fields focused on ART experiences: Forums, Facebook groups and Telegram chats. The heterogeneity of these environments allows for observation of the impact of different platform architectures on the quality of interactions and content (Latour 2005, Rogers 2009). The concept of onlife, which rejects the distinction between physical and virtual reality by recognizing their daily interconnection (Floridi, 2014), enriches the epistemological reflection and the analysis of empirical material. Preliminary findings reveal the supportive medical and emotional role of online communities. They create spaces for participatory discussion of medical expertise and for sharing emotions, often absent in offline life. Methodologically, challenges arise at every stage of research: field identification to the definition of techniques, from data collection to the analysis of empirical material. Additionally, difficulties concern ethical and deontological dimensions, raising issues about personal data protection and respect for privacy, requiring ongoing reflection on ethical research practices (Ess 2007).