เว็บไซต์เลดี้อินเตอร์ดอทคอม กับการเป็นชุมชนออนไลน์สำหรับหญิงไทยซึ่งสมรสหรือมีความรักข้ามวัฒนธรรม

Abstract

This qualitative research studies www.ladyinter.com, a popular website among Thai women who are in cross-cultural marriage or relationship. This research looks into the development of this site as an online community for women, how these women create their communication network and how they create relationship within their circle, and how this very site contributes to the process of women empowerment. The results reveal www.ladyinter.com’s characters as an online community for women who engage in a cross-cultural relationship and those with a similar pursuit. The website has evolved from a casual bonding of a group of Thai women romantically engaged to foreigners and preparing a wedding plan to a virtual diasporic community with thousands members of Thai women from all parts of the world. In addition, the website is found to have a ‘user-centric’ policy, with content and governance driven primarily by its users. Its ‘feminine qualities’ allows female members to create bond based on understanding and compassion, hence resembling a traditional community of sort. The crowdsourcing nature of the site also allows a quick and effective knowledge contribution among members, resulting in rich information, ranging from technical immigration information to necessary information to alleviate problems from domestic violence. Ultimately, the website functions as a diasporic public sphere for cross-cultural married Thai women by not only providing them with virtual space for communication but also empowerment through useful information.