Typology of Web 2.0 spheres

Understanding the cultural dimensions of social media spaces

Bibliographic Data

ID9684155
AuthorsPayal Arora (0000-0002-3578-340X, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume60
Issue5
Pages599-618
Publication date2012-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-3921 • E-ISSN: 1461-7064
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0011392112440439
OpenAlexW2126093773
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited39

It has taken the past decade to commonly acknowledge that online space is tethered to real place. From euphoric conceptualizations of social media spaces as a novel, unprecedented and revolutionary entity, the dust has settled, allowing for talk of boundaries and ties to real-world settings. Metaphors have been instrumental in this pursuit, shaping perceptions and affecting actions within this extended structural realm. Specifically, they have been harnessed to architect Web 2.0 spaces, be it chat rooms, electronic frontiers, homepages, or information highways for policy and practice. While metaphors are pervasive in addressing and normalizing new media spaces, there is less effort channeled into organizing these digital domains along cultural lines to systematize and deepen understandings of its histories, agencies and communities. Hence, this article proposes a framework that reveals dominant cultural dimensions of Web 2.0 spaces through a five-fold typology: (1) utilitarian-driven, (2) aesthetic-driven, (3) context-driven, (4) play-driven and (5) value-driven. This effort capitalizes and transfers mappings of actors and networks from real to virtual space to capture and organize diverse cultural (re)productions

Context (archaeology · Digital media · Epistemology · Media studies · Metaphor · Political science · Realm · Social media · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Typology · Virtual space · World Wide Web · Anthropology · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Digital Games and Media · Social Media and Politics

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access