Southern Cross Plant Science, Centre for Phytochemistry and Pharmacology, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Dec 8;138(3):662-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.07.065. Epub 2011 Aug 6.
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE AND AIMS: The traditional use of the Hallucinogenic sage, Salvia divinorum has been of ethnopharmalogical interest for some time. This plant, endemic to Oaxaca Mexico and traditionally used by the Mazatec, is now utilized worldwide for its psychoactive effects. This use demonstrates a novel use pattern which is distinctly different from Mazatec use. This study offers a new methodology to study emerging global plant use and assesses the users' experience with it. The aim of this research was to develop a new methodology to collect and analyze archived data on the World Wide Web, specifically videos which depict Salvia divinorum use.
The basis of the methodology for this project was unobtrusive observation which allows the researcher to observe without influencing the event which is being observed. Qualitative, ethnographic data was used in conjunction with quantitative meta data collected by a customized web crawler programed to archive YouTube™ data.
Using this methodology enabled us to understand reported uses and the users' experiences as expressed on the World Wide Web. The main result of this research was the documentation of a distinct, novel use pattern of Salvia divinorum which has developed outside of Oaxaca; a use pattern which differs in a number of ways from traditional, Mazatec use. The majority of the YouTube™ videos analyzed were found to present indications of a positive Salvia divinorum experience. This result highlighted the contradiction between ethnographic data and what is reported by the media. Finally the representation of Salvia divinorum on YouTube™ (and by inference the WWW as a whole) is a growing phenomena.
While anthropological and more specifically medico-anthropological research has, for many years, embraced the dynamics of cultures, until recently, ethnopharmalogical research has generally focused on 'traditional' plant use, failing to capture the dynamic elements of plant/human interaction and framing research in the past or as decontextualized largely descriptive reports. Global migration and urban environments formed a basis for looking at the interplay of continuity and change. Such cultural dynamics are exacerbated by the opportunities which the WWW offers.
民族药理学的相关性和目的：致幻鼠尾草 Salvia divinorum 的传统用途在一段时间以来一直具有民族药理学的意义。这种植物是墨西哥瓦哈卡的特有植物，传统上被马扎特克人使用，现在在全球范围内因其精神活性作用而被使用。这种使用方式展示了一种明显不同于马扎特克使用方式的新颖使用模式。本研究提供了一种新的方法来研究新兴的全球植物使用情况，并评估使用者的使用体验。本研究的目的是开发一种新的方法来收集和分析万维网上的存档数据，特别是描述 Salvia divinorum 使用情况的视频。
本项目方法论的基础是不引人注目的观察，使研究人员能够在不影响正在观察的事件的情况下进行观察。定性的、民族学的数据与通过定制的网络爬虫收集的定量元数据相结合，该网络爬虫程序旨在存档 YouTube™ 数据。
使用这种方法使我们能够理解在万维网上报告的用途和用户体验。本研究的主要结果是记录了 Salvia divinorum 的一种独特的、新颖的使用模式，这种模式是在瓦哈卡以外发展起来的；这种使用模式在许多方面与传统的马扎特克使用方式不同。分析的大多数 YouTube™ 视频都表明 Salvia divinorum 有积极的体验。这一结果突出了民族学数据与媒体报道之间的矛盾。最后，Salvia divinorum 在 YouTube™ 上的表现（以及通过推断整个万维网）是一个不断增长的现象。
虽然人类学，特别是医学人类学研究多年来一直接受文化的动态，但直到最近，民族药理学研究一般都集中在“传统”植物使用上，未能捕捉到植物/人类相互作用的动态元素，并将研究框定在过去或去语境化的大量描述性报告中。全球迁移和城市环境为研究连续性和变化的相互作用提供了基础。万维网提供的机会加剧了这种文化动态。
