Practicing place: Collective experience and difference in an urban online forum

Abstract

AbstractDespite predictions to the contrary, place has assumed a new significance through recent innovations in digital technology. In this paper, we argue that the exchange of information and experience occurring daily on the networked urban forum Phillyblog can be usefully conceptualized as the practice of place. In adopting this terminology, we suggest particular analytic and theoretical lines which hold important implications for the way we think about information and place in online settings. Within the context of Phillyblog, the practice of place (1) publicizes and reinforces collective experiences of the city and (2) plays an active role in constructing the distinctness and diversity of its neighborhoods. In analyzing their regular interactions on Phillyblog, we hope to add to research on information practice, in particular “everyday information practices” (Savolainen, 2008), by suggesting their role in the social construction of place. Using this particular case, we explore how information sharing and production, in particular, may play a role in the perception, conception, and experience of place.