Intersubjectivity as a Possible Way to Inhabit Future Cyberplaces

A change of perspective in online interaction research, shifts attention from technologies to what people actually do online. It's time to study how subjects interact with others and how they ‘take possession’ of virtual environments on a perceptive, emotional and relational plan. This paper illustrates: a) how actors ‘construct’ themselves as subjects facing others during online interactions; b) the relationships actors establish with virtual environments and how actors transform ‘simple’ cyberspaces in cyberplaces; c) how actors – on the basis of a) and b) – ‘bridge the gap’ between them and their interlocutors using communication as a tool to give form to intersubjectivity, intended as an effective relational structure. A research program built around these three issues – both on the theoretical and empirical plan – should become the core of Social Psychology of Cyberplaces as this paper will demonstrate.