[Air-L] feedback on cyberleisure idea for forthcoming book

[Payal Arora]

Hi, 

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on my idea of viewing social network 
sites through the metaphor of "virtual parks" to construct a framework on 
cyberleisure. My upcoming book with Routledge (2012) stems from this paper that 
I published with The Information Society Journal (if you do not have access to 
this journal, I d be happy to provide a pdf to you). Also, if any of you guys 
have further ideas and suggestions on drawing parallels between "park" spaces 
and its virtual equivalent, I d love to hear them. Of course I'll give formal 
credit to those who suggest these ideas. thanks so much! appreciate your time 
-Cheers Payal

http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/27/2/ab-arora.html

Online Social Sites as Virtual Parks: An Investigation into Leisure Online and 
Offline 

The Information Society: An International Journal Volume 27,  Issue 2,  2011

Abstract
Currently, there is much excitement about Web 2.0 as a novel platform for 
experiencing, producing, and consuming leisure, particularly through social 
network sites. On the other hand, there are skeptics who sound the alarm on 
these spaces, viewing them as diluting of human relations. The perspective that 
guides this paper is invested in neither a utopian or dystopian posture but sees 
historical continuity, pointing out that performing leisure is a basic human 
impulse that has also found expression over the centuries. With regard to the 
online sites used for leisure, it makes the case that the history of the 
development of the public park, product of a complex interplay of interests and 
agendas of different stakeholders, provides a particularly rich resource for 
gaining insights into the evolution of social networking sites. To illustrate 
this heuristic potential, it draws on experiences ranging from democratization 
of Beijing’s parks in early twentieth century to the movement of flâneurs across 
Parisian public spaces to comment on the architecture of and activities on 
social network sites.

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Dr. Payal Arora
www.payalarora.com


Assistant Professor in International Media & Communication
Department of Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam
The Netherlands
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