Malene Charlotte Larsen

Networked identities: understanding relationships between strong and weak ties in networked environments

In this paper we take up a critique of the concept of Communities of Practice (CoP) voiced by several authors, who suggest that networks may provide a better metaphor to understand social forms of organization and learning. Through a discussion of the notion of networked learning and the critique of CoPs we shall argue that the metaphor or theory of networked learning is itself confronted with some central tensions and challenges that need to be addressed. We then explore these theoretical and analytic challenges to the network metaphor, through an analysis of a Danish social networking site. We argue that understanding meaning making and ‘networked identities’ may be relevant analytic entry points in navigating the challenges.

Youth and Online Social Networking

The globalization of our society has changed the social culture of young people forever. In this day and age, this online social culture is growing in size, shape, and complexity and the need for f ...The authors suspect that the young perspective has been left out when online risk and safety are discussedin contemporary research. The aim of this chapter is to give a critical approach to this ma ...

Youth Culture and Net Culture

The globalization of our society has changed the social culture of young people forever. In this day and age, this online social culture is growing in size, shape, and complexity and the need for f ...The authors suspect that the young perspective has been left out when online risk and safety are discussedin contemporary research. The aim of this chapter is to give a critical approach to this ma ...

An 'open source' networked identity: On young people's construction and co-construction of identity on social network sites

This chapter examines the concept of identity in relation to youth practices on SNSs. The chapter illustrates how writing “I love you” or other emotional statements on each other’s profiles on SNSs is not only a common way for Danish teenagers to communicate and practice friendship, but also an important part of their self-presentation online. It examines why these emotional statements are almost always publicly available – or even strategically and intentionally placed on the young people’s profiles. In relation to this, it is argued that young people – through their emotional communicative actions – are not only staging their own identity, but are co-constructors of each other’s identities, which the author characterises as an “open source”, networked identity.