Digital institutions: the case of ethnic websites in the Netherlands

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.