| Summary/Abstract |
This paper argues that ethnic websites function as digital institutions in their community and foster group identity. In doing so, we add to the literature on institutions in two ways: first, we contribute to the concept of institutions by adding the concept of scripts that captures specific recurrent activities and patterns of interaction. The addition of scripts as a requirement of institutions solves the fuzziness problem since they compel us to specify the behaviour and clarifies how scripts fit ethnic websites. Second, we reveal how ethnic websites unite a wide range of functions – notably, as a means of communication, as a platform on which community members can address ethnic issues, as a device through which to build networks, and as a place from which to download materials in the ethnic community – thus fostering the identity of the ethnic group. We substantiate our argument with data from three ethnic groups in the Netherlands.
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