This study examines identity presentations on the online social networking site, Facebook.com. The two-phase research design includes a period of participant observation of a sample of 346 college students and recent graduates followed by an interview period with a sample subset of 48 interviewees. The study analyzes key performance components on the site using a symbolic interaction perspective, to determine common characteristics of Facebook profiles, importance of performance components, and categories of identity performance. Identity performance components are broken into two general categories, static and dynamic. Dynamic components, those that are updated frequently and drive much of the activity online, are far more important in terms of identity performance. Dynamic components on Facebook found to be important in this study are status updates, use of bumper stickers and pieces of flair, giving gifts, and photos. Analysis of these components supports the symbolic interaction literature in general and the works of George H. Mead specifically. The Facebook news feed allows Facebookers to continually observe identity performances of others as well as to give and receive feedback on performances. This continual flow of information allows for the development of a generalized other, used as the basis for anticipating reactions from others to potential activity. Based on these anticipations, in an effort to reduce misinterpretations, Facebookers develop exaggerated performances that serve to distinguish in-groups from out-groups.

<p>This paper’s chief focus lays in essence, in the examination of what the eventual relevance of the internet has for refugee youth in Sweden, regarding the realisation of a sense of community and participation therein. Rather than acquiring grounds with which to make generalisations feasible, it is an approach towards attaining a better comprehension in understanding the significance of a youth’s views and perceptions, through which ultimately also their internalisation, of the internet as a medium towards eventual capitalisation of the cybersocial potential. However, by ‘sense of community’, this primarily refers to interactional and relational aspects, rather than on premises of eventual membership within forums that may in turn prove to be ’dormant’.</p>

<p>The main purpose of this essay is to study ideas concerning the concept of ”art” within the discourse of the exhibition space that is part of a fanart community. In order to do so I have used a hermeneutical and to some extent structuralistic, discourse analysis. I have examined structure and rhetorics in two established and popular communities, Fanart-Central and deviantART.</p><p>My conclusions states that personal ideas regarding artistic value are undermined the joint policies, because of a collective rhetoric somewhat inherent in the community structure.</p><p>When a lot of works are being based on internal knowledge of symbolics and historical narratives, this may to some extent have consequences where unfamiliar observers might fail to notice elements of possible significance. Moreover, certain interests in keeping a united front of “quality art” may also affect a general idea immediate to what signifies fanart. By means of for example categorization, censure, and quality control, specific standards of “good art” are framed and conceded within the communities. Trying to sustain specific criteria as emblematic for the entire genre like this seems highly restraining, and also contradicts the essentially liberal principals of fan culture.</p>

The notions of community and identity are discussed and the various elements of each concept are analyzed in terms of their manifestation in physical and virtual spaces. A comparison of community and identity in physical and virtual spaces highlights the interdependent nature of these experiences in the intersection of these two spaces. Modern society functions through the use of technology that is ever increasing in speed and efficiency. We rely more and more on virtual technology as a tool to maintain relationships, perform various tasks, communicate and interact with others, and to manage our self-presentations. Thus, the fundamental experiences of community and identity must be studied in both online and offline contexts in order to determine how we can manipulate our use of technology for positive outcomes.

The main purpose of this essay is to study ideas concerning the concept of ”art” within the discourse of the exhibition space that is part of a fanart community. In order to do so I have used a hermeneutical and to some extent structuralistic, discourse analysis. I have examined structure and rhetorics in two established and popular communities, Fanart-Central and deviantART. My conclusions states that personal ideas regarding artistic value are undermined the joint policies, because of a collective rhetoric somewhat inherent in the community structure. When a lot of works are being based on internal knowledge of symbolics and historical narratives, this may to some extent have consequences where unfamiliar observers might fail to notice elements of possible significance. Moreover, certain interests in keeping a united front of “quality art” may also affect a general idea immediate to what signifies fanart. By means of for example categorization, censure, and quality control, specific standards of “good art” are framed and conceded within the communities. Trying to sustain specific criteria as emblematic for the entire genre like this seems highly restraining, and also contradicts the essentially liberal principals of fan culture.

This paper’s chief focus lays in essence, in the examination of what the eventual relevance of the internet has for refugee youth in Sweden, regarding the realisation of a sense of community and participation therein. Rather than acquiring grounds with which to make generalisations feasible, it is an approach towards attaining a better comprehension in understanding the significance of a youth’s views and perceptions, through which ultimately also their internalisation, of the internet as a medium towards eventual capitalisation of the cybersocial potential. However, by ‘sense of community’, this primarily refers to interactional and relational aspects, rather than on premises of eventual membership within forums that may in turn prove to be ’dormant’.

This dissertation contributes to music scene and online community studies. It is an historical examination of the CBLocals music scene in the summer of 2006. This scene is located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, and the website with which its participants identify. This study analyzes the CBLocals website as a cultural infrastructure of a music scene and thus positions itself to advance pre-Internet arguments about scenes. This dissertation argues that on the one hand, the Internet changes how music scenes function by increasing accessibility and mobility. On the other hand, it has left the social composition and ideological outlook of music scenes unchanged. Users celebrate the medium's possibilities and what the CBLocals website has brought to their scene. They also feel nostalgia for the practices they feel their scene has lost along the way. The result is that the most significant consequence of CBLocals.com and the Internet on the music scene is a feeling of ambivalence in its participants. In the second and third chapter, I demonstrate how local context still greatly affects the representation of the CBLocals scene. In Chapter Two, I analyze the social composition of CBLocals based on race, gender, region, class, sexuality and age. I conclude that this social composition is unaffected by technological advances. In Chapter Three, I analyze discussions of "selling out" within the scene. I conclude that regional perspectives of state-supported professionalism in music and arts inform discussions on "selling out" that are specific to the CBLocals community. The fourth chapter explores the CBLocals users' perceptions of the website and messageboard. Users celebrate a variety of benefits, such as an interactive forum, the social lubrication provided by online gossip and the ease of promoting music online. However, many users dislike what they see as the erosion of work ethic and standards of discourse that have occurred in the Internet age. These mixed emotions reflect the ambivalence resulting from the celebration of possibilities and the nostalgia emergent with new technology.

The purpose of this study is to find out how Swedish Muslim girls use Facebook and its functions in constructing their Muslim identity on the platform. The study is based on a qualitative method which consists of nine interviews with Swedish Muslim girls between the ages 17-23 and who use Facebook daily. The study is based on the view of Facebook as a scene where individuals can perform for an audience. I have used Erving Coffman’s dramaturgical perspective that explains why individuals appear in an appropriate manner to achieve confirmation from their audience. I also used theories about identity construction, community and the theory about how individuals create a social presence online.   The study’s results have shown that the Swedish Muslim girl does not only wear a veil in real life, but also a “digital veil” on Facebook, which hides the things that go outside the Islamic framework. On Facebook, she must think about the Muslim values and norms while producing her identity to avoid isolation from the Muslim society. The study also shows that the need for a sense of belonging is the Muslim girl’s motivation that forms her behaviour on the platform.

Self-drive day trip tourism has an enormous economic importance for the region of Lower Austria which surrounds Austria´s capital Vienna. The residents of Lower Austria and Vienna form the vast majority of day-trip visitors to Lower Austria. Despite the importance of the segment of day trip tourism for regional tourism marketing organizations (TMOs) this group of tourists is difficult to grasp. Promoting blogs of residents about their leisure time activities in a region is a promising marketing instrument for regional TMOs to address this market segment. This doctoral thesis project proposes and validates a behavioral model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) for modeling behavioral intentions of three main participatory patterns in online communities based on blogs. Based on the results of this project possible starting points for subsequent research are identified and recommendations for TMOs intending to implement such regional blog communities are provided. The findings of this research project support practitioners by providing a deeper understanding of the motives of prospective participants. As the elements of the proposed behavioral model are based on previous research and conceptualized independent of the topic of interest of the blog community, the findings are additionally indicatory for research on blog communities in other fields. (author's abstract)

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka grupp- och kommunikationsprocesser i en online community där den gemensamma nämnaren mellan medlemmarna var intresset för spelet World of Warcraft. Undersökningen utfördes med hjälp av en egenkonstruerad enkät samt observationer vars syfte var att undersöka deltagarnas grupptillhörighet, vänskap, konflikthantering och kommunikation online, samt deras beteenden gentemot varandra. Syftet var även att undersöka om sociala anpassningsstrategier, standardroller och in-och utomgruppsfavoritism var applicerbara på en virtuell grupp. Undersökningsresultaten pekar på att många av de teorier gällande grupptillhörighet och vänskap även är applicerbara på grupper formade online samt att kommunikationshjälpmedel såsom smileys underlättar konversationer i skriven form. Resultaten pekar även på att de sociala anpassningsstrategierna och standardrollerna är applicerbara på en virtuell grupp, dock anses urvalet för litet och observationstiden för kort för att med säkerhet säga att dessa återfinns. Teorier gällande in- och utomgruppsfavoritism var i denna studie inte applicerbara på virtuella grupper.