What do people do in chat rooms and internet forums? What a question: discussing, learning, chatting, reading, socializing, looking up information op just “hanging out”, surfing around and many other things, the negative side like flaming, hate mails etc. not included. These (inter)actions are all reason enough for researchers to look at phenomena in computer-mediated environments.However, what really strikes me more and more is how people act and perform identities or, put simply, how they “are” and “inhabit” the web.
I have asked myself several times how I recognize Muslims or Muslims of a specific current within computer-mediated environments. Very often I know after a few minutes what tint of Islam different people follow without them or their nick names telling me right away.
Magic? No, not at all. However, having been around Muslims, most of them inspired by the salafiyyah, I have gotten used to a certain way of behaving (akhlaq), interacting and arguing as well as to certain expressive styles which I associate with them. In this sense, computer-mediated environments are performative spaces, where people perform their identities consciously and unconsciously.
That makes me think of the notion of free spaces” within social movement theory. Francesca PolettaShe talks about free spaces in this article: Polletta, Francesca. 1999. “”Free Spaces” in Collective Action.” Theory and Society 28(1): 1-38.
The following quotation is taken from page 1. defines “free spaces” as:
“small-scale settings within a community or movement that are removed from the direct control of dominant groups, are voluntarily participated in, and generate the cultural challenge that precedes or accompanies political mobilization”
If we ignore the criteria of political mobilization for a second, I think many chat rooms and forums I have come across or participate in would match this definition. They are small scale and removed from the control of dominant groups. The “block” or “eliminate” option of forum and chat room administrators makes it difficult for those who want to disturb these free spaces with intentions other than those of the participants. And a cultural challenge is surely genuine to the groups I encounter.
So, futher food for thought! While I am thinking, I will check on the typical performative behaviour of young, ambitious and still idealistic social scientists roaming the web….
