ABSTRACT
This chapter presents studies of the role of the Internet in areas of experience and life such as civic engagement and democratisation, virtual identity and community, and social divisions and demonstrates that such studies have for more than two decades provoked wide interest and intense debates combined with numerous appraisals and critiques. The role of the Internet in politics and especially in public engagement and democratisation is a vast area of study that involves concepts such as the public sphere, social capital, mediated or mediatised activism, cyberprotesting, hactivism, network activism, e-participation and digital. The study of the virtual and specifically that of virtual identity and virtual community illustrates the relevance of some of the theoretical concepts that hold a prominent place in Internet studies. It illustrates that the boundaries between bright and dark or positive and negative are far from clear when it comes to the Internet and its effects.
