Dissertation
CouchSurfing & connectivity: theorizing the hybrid collective through an international hospitality network
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
May 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-7033
Abstract
This research examines global, hybrid sociality through the framework of Couchsurfing, an international hospitality network connecting travelers to potential hosts, visitors, and traveling companions. Couchsurfers are tourists but not just in the traditional sense. While many members are choosing some of the same travel sites that fall into the typical tourist sojourn, they also realize that these experiences can be enhanced through participation in hospitality networks and the subsequent human connections afforded as a result of membership. In a sense Couchsurfers are engaging in social capital building that is available to them as a result of this intimate, interpersonal, virtual and physical connectivity. CouchSurfing exists not only across online/offline boundaries but also at the intersection of global/local, grassroots/corporate, and public/private spaces. A multi-sited ethnography set across four trans-continental CS communities examines the features of the collective, practices, and member identity. Ethnographic fieldwork in the active city groups of Philadelphia, Osaka, Munich, and Dublin will also be combined with a broad survey and analysis of the online discourse. A multi-layered and mixed methods approach offers a more complete examination of a Couchsurfing as a quintessential example of hybrid sociality and poses important questions about global, mediated space.
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Details
- Title
- CouchSurfing & connectivity
- Creators
- Candice D. Roberts - DU
- Contributors
- Wesley Shumar (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- viii, 182 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Arts and Sciences; Communication, Culture, and Media; Communication; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 7033; 991014632340004721