Places on the Net
Résumé
In this paper we aim to build an understanding on how the concept of place is encoded in the design of online communities. Current activities in such communities suggest that users appropriate virtual space through (self)-representation. In general, the investment with meaning of space is likely to define places on top of it. So we are interested to find out whether places emerge in cyberspace. Brief analyses of existent online communities show that the understandings of space and place vary from one community to another, which relates to their capability to connect with the local place-based communities. Searching for a theoretical framework that would explain these observations, we explore first how different constructs of place associate in theory with various views on the nature of space. Second, we are interested to find out how users perceive cyberspace, by questioning whether an analogue to Lynch’s taxonomy of images and the use of cognitive maps are meaningful in this context. We wish to use this information in future design of hybrid online communities, in order to bridge the virtual with the physical space for social activities.