Shaping virtual lives

In recent years, a new cultural sphere based on instant exchange of information has led to new kinds of communication, not merely for practical purposes but also for entertainment, social contact, the exchange of beliefs and opinions, and even the expression of emotions. Online life has become an integral part of people’s existence and therefore merits ethnological research.

This volume presents selected papers from a panel session on virtual lives held at the 10th Congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) titled People Make Places: Ways of Feeling the World, 17-21 April 2011, Lisbon, Portugal.

The authors investigate a range of topics: rules, rituals, morals and self-representations in the worlds of social media and gaming; how avatars are used for self-representation on dating sites; the rivalry between the inhabitants of Moscow and St. Petersburg as expressed on an Internet forum; websites for mourning over and remembering suicide victims in two countries; and the way the Internet can be used by new vernacular religious movements.