Paper short abstract:

How does a virtual environment become a unique place where people develop and are developed through relational and emotional bonds? What type of practices, motivations and tools are assembled by people in these processes?

Paper long abstract:

The emergence of new issues raised by technological progress, globalization and and the increasing complexity of societies, requires a new anthropological answer. As such, it is essencial to reassess study strategies and field work methods.

This abstract is based on my work on practices in internet use, research on security and privacy in online environments, proceeding onwards to a new stage where the shaping of places and their inhabitants/users will be analysed, and will also endeavour to answer the following questions:

How does a virtual environment become a unique place where people develop and are developed through relational and emotional bonds? What type of practices, motivations and tools are assembled by people in these processes? What differentiates the concept of an online community (or virtual community) from a social network?

To understand if there was a social logic in such an interaction, and due to the relational context and uncommon features of virtual life, I have considered starting from a comprehensive perspective due to changing cultural and social practices on an interactive stage where people act and react intentionally.

The proposal is to find an explanatory model for the phenomenon, in this context, and an explanatory survey of how this production linking men and places takes place.