Bowling From Home: Digital Space as Third Place

• In Event: 41021 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 8: Geography, Space, and Place

Abstract

Past literature suggests the importance of third spaces as important meeting spaces and gathering places within communities that can help with group formation and maintenance. In an increasingly digital age, more and more people turn to online spaces for community membership. This study examines the feasibility of and capability for digital spaces to serve as third spaces, using the streaming platform Twitch as a case study. This study has implications for the further study of digital sociology, as well as for urban and political sociology.

Author

• Jack Leatherman, University of Massachusetts-Boston