Beieinander an getrennten Orten

Abstract

Despite digital mediation and physical distance, there are perceptions of closeness or shared atmospheres in video conferences. Such interactions can be theoretically deduced and empirically investigated with an expanded neo-phenomenological sociology in line with Hermann Schmitz. A grounded theory approach with interviews as the central data source allows for analysis of the opportunities and limits of this togetherness in physically separate places. Video conferences show that in digital communication it is not only technology that enables interactions, but that it is the passionate construction work of the participants that can create ‘Leiberspace’ (a sphere in which the proximity of another body is felt) in order for them to come closer to each other during digital mediation.