Making Sense of Zhoriben: The Story of a Romani Social Networking Site in Hungary

Abstract

This article presents a case study of Zhoriben, a Hungarian social networking site for the Roma ethnic minority. The article illustrates the potential role the Internet can play in civic society and for ethnic minorities in particular. Zhoriben (http://www.zhoriben.net/) was launched in May 2007 and went offline after only a year. The aim of the site was to bring together people of Romani origin living in European countries, mostly in impoverished communities. The site was one of the few Web services targeting this diverse and geographically dispersed people, the largest minority in the European Union. Furthermore, the site was unique in using an international Romani dialect as its default language. The interplay between the technological opportunities, the site producers' aims and strategies, and the users' preferences and practices resulted in the complex conceptualization of Zhoriben, at the core of which is the idea of a “safe haven.” The case study is based on an in-depth analysis of the Zhoriben web...