Navigating iScapes: Australian Youth Constructing Identities and Social Relations in a Network Society

Abstract

This article extends Appadurai's notion of "scapes" to delineate what we see as "iScapes." We contend that iScapes captures the way online technologies shape interactions that invariably filter into offline contexts, giving shape and meaning to human actions and motivations. By drawing on research on high school students' online activities we examine the flow of iScapes they inhabit in the process of constructing identities and forming social relations. [identities, scapes, network society, youth, friends]