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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Geographies of Cyberspace: Internet, Community, Space, and Place

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This chapter “Geographies of Cyberspace” discusses the term “cyberspace” in relation to the concepts of “space”, “place”, and “community” by reviewing the academic literature from human geography, sociology, and cultural anthropology. It forms the basis for the development of a phenomenological perspective on cyberspace. Instead of presenting all possible approaches towards cyberspace, this chapter discusses only those concepts that focus on the connections between on- and offline life. It proposes that cyberspace not only includes spatial and territorial metaphors , as several human geographers have pointed out, but that it is also characterised by complex geographies, which have to be explored in order to understand recent cultural and social developments, both on- and offline.