1 CHAPTER 1 The discursive construction of place through the online-offline interface. From physical locations to wikispaces Alejandro Parini and Francisco Yus In: The Discursive Construction of Place in the Digital Age, ed. by Alejandro Parini and Francisco Yus, pp. 9-32. Abingdon: Routledge Abstract In this article we aim to examine the notion of “place” as it is discursively constructed and eventually entextualised (decontextualised and recontextualised), both individually and collectively through the online-offline interface that characterises today’s digital communication. We argue that this entextualisation is mainly performed in terms of three different layers of context: 1) A sociocultural context through which place is seen as liberating and at the same time constraining, ie. tethering and untethering people to and from the physicality of a particular location (Yus 2021a, Frith 2014, de Souza e Silva 2013; de Souza e Silva and Frith 2010). This is done against the background of the premium put on mobility and liquidity (Bauman 2000) as crucial components of the relationship between the Internet and the pervasive culture of freedom that permeates society today. 2) A sociomental context in which place fosters a feeling of togetherness and nonstop connectivity through the sharing of experiences (both physicalised and virtualised), and with known and/or unknown others. And 3) A situational context in which place is discursively and interactionally conceptualised along four dimensions: a) a temporal dimension through which place is experienced and constructed or co-constructed in synchronous or asynchronous forms of communication, with (a)synchronicity seen not only as an inherent property of a particular medium of communication but also seen in terms of how users perceive, interpret and assess temporality and their current physical location (as opposed to the virtual realm where interactions unfold); b) a functional dimension through which place is framed as a free- standing, one-off event or as a prelude or follow-up event connecting different social practices taking place in hybridised physical-virtual scenarios; c) a multimedia dimension through which place is co-constructed either unimodally or multimodally using different semiotic resources, depending on the interface affordances; and d) an interpersonal dimension through which place is collectively constructed in the form of a social, cultural or collective mosaic or wikispace. 1 Placemaking through collaborative participation Placemaking is often conceptualised as a collaborative endeavour among the members in a community where space is articulated with human activity (see Courage 2011). It is this articulation that makes places not just a physical location or position but rather a space that is socially constructed around human experience. Place is then lived and experienced. The continuous use of the internet by individuals located anywhere in physical space while at the same time converging in virtual spaces has brought about a change in the way place as experienced space is to be conceptualised. Consequently, authors like Kluitenberg (2006), de Souza e Silva (2006), Castells (2010) and Gordon and de Souza e Silva (2011) view space in the digital age as a hybrid space where the digital and the physical or material come together in the construction of social relations. As Sokes et. al. (2021) explain, digital placemaking involves digital practices that create emotional connections to place as it is considered “…a hybrid of physical presence and digital flows mediated through mobile and social media.”