The final field study describes Brooklyn’s contemporary drag community and their use of social media. Digital technologies provide important tools for individual self-promotion, as well as establishing a collective archive of queer identity. In particular, I consider tensions between drag queens and Facebook’s real name policy, and the ways that the platform inscribes mainstream understandings of identity.
The first field study in this book describes BME, an online platform for people interested in body modification. I describe the community’s attempts to manage membership by analysing changes to the Terms of Service. I also describe threats to BME’s community in terms of the increasing popularity of body modification as a cultural practice.
This chapter introduces key definitions of community, appropriation and alterity. I outline a methodological approach, networked case studies, as well as the book’s remaining chapters.
This chapter provides the theoretical architecture for the remaining chapters. I start by outlining dominant narratives surrounding the internet as a way of setting up the countercultural narratives to follow. I describe the three-part framework anchoring this book: flexibility, legibility and authenticity.
The final chapter addresses implications of field studies for theory and social media design. I discuss the importance of feeling a shared sense of space for online communities, which may be eroded by an emphasis on mobile devices and continual upgrades. I also describe a series of characteristics for developing platforms better equipped to support countercultural communities.
The punk music scene in New Brunswick is literally underground, taking place in a network of residential basements. Because these shows are quasi-legal, the community has developed a set of practices for keeping their shows secret. In this chapter, I focus on the flexible practices that have developed in order to maintain a vibrant music scene.
