Stine Gotved’s research while affiliated with IT University of Copenhagen and other places

In the last 20 years, online communities have changed profoundly. The development from well-defi ned entities into distributed networks is described through the lens of three case studies (1996, 2006, and 2016) of the same newsgroup (rec.arts.books.tolkien). In between these investigations, the more general changes are described – internet access is far more widespread, and the communication has moved from nerdy exchanges to mundane and mainstream. Today, the social media platforms are dominant, and while the studied fan culture on Facebook is represented primarily by commercial interests, the dedicated fan communities are found elsewhere, in fora still text based, asynchronous and with relative anonymity.

Quick response (QR) codes on gravestones are a relatively new global phenomenon, and the actual number of them is unknown. The placement of a digital gateway on a physical stone is a new form of mediated middle region and a challenge to the classic public–private dichotomy, and this study discusses in detail the implications of the QR-coded gravestones. While some cemetery visitors might consider the gravestone and the digital content private, the visible QR code is also an invitation to the broader public in the shared physical space. Building on privacy as a contextualized matter, the business interests of gravestone makers as well as 30 Danish memorials are analyzed. In a general shift toward the digital in contemporary memorial culture and a growing tendency to online sharing of the emotionally important, QR codes on gravestones are but one example of the ongoing negotiations of privacy and sharing in our digital society.

This article synthesizes a range of sociological views on time and space, and presents a departure point for future research on cyber social reality. Using basic sociological categories of culture, structure, and interaction, the cyber social reality is drawn into a matrix that further illustrates the embeddedness in technology, time, and space. The matrix is a theoretically and empirically grounded tool for exploring, describing, analyzing, and comparing the variety existing within online communities and communication. In the article, the matrix is illustrated step by step to show its inherent dimensions, and in conclusion it is proposed to be a useful systematic for, on the one hand, ensuring ethnographically thick descriptions of online social life, and on the other, comparing the various reality constructions found.

Stine Gotved: Spatial dimensions in social cyberspace The temporal and spatial dimensions of online communication establish the basic conditions for social life within cyberspace communities. Looking at the protocol-based constructions – whether they are communicating in real time or in asynchronous mode and whether they hold a shared location – it is clear that spatial construction matters for the sense of community. Parallel to offline life, the spatial dimensions in online communities are important for how the individual navigates, relates, and communicates. This article presents a typology of online space, in which three different kinds of spatial dimensions are defined. These three spatial dimensions can be found in most (if not all) online communities in varying degrees, and analysis of the patterns of spatial dimension within an online community provides useful information about the basic terms of social life within that community. The typology is discussed in light of Henri Lefebvre's work on spatiality and social space, in order to uncover the implicit inspirations as well as the limitations of his approach by the inclusion of offline spatial sociology. The typology presented here serves as an analytical tool to separate the different spatial dimensions of cyberspace, and hopefully holds the key to understanding many of the differences within online social life.

The spatial dimensions of online communication establish the basic conditions for online social life. The protocol-based constructions make it clear that spatial constructions matter for the sense of community. Parallel to offline life, the spatial dimensions in online communities are important for the individual's navigation, relation, and communication. This article presents a typology of online space, where three different kinds of spatial dimensions are defined. Analyzing the patterns within any online community provides useful information on the basic terms of social life. The interface serves as a visible and ontological space on the screen, a shared common spot in the vast cyberspace. The social space is mainly epistemological, based on the individual's interpretations of social interactions. The metaphorical space is purely epistemological, based on reconstructed reality and geography, and evokes the sense of a place. The typology holds the key to understanding many of the differences within online social life.