Description

As the numbers of Internet users worldwide continue to grow, the Internet is
becoming ‘more local’. This article addresses the epistemological challenge posed by this global process of Internet localisation by examining some of the conceptual tools at the disposal of Internet researchers. It argues that progress has been hampered by
an overdependence on the problematic notions of community and network whose
paradigmatic status has yet to be questioned by Internet scholars. The article seeks to
broaden the conceptual space of Internet localisation studies through a ground-up
conceptualisation exercise that draws inspiration from the field theories of both Pierre
Bourdieu and the Manchester School of anthropology and is based on recent
fieldwork in suburban Malaysia. This exploration demonstrates that a more nuanced
understanding of the plural forms that residential sociality can take is needed in order
to move beyond existing binaries such as ‘network sociality’ vs. ‘community
sociality’ (Wittel).
Keywords: Internet localisation, community, network, residential sociality, field
theory, banal activism, suburbia, Malaysia