Resumen:En la Internet, comunidades de personas se juntan, comparten intereses comunes, ideas y sentimientos por toda la red. En este artículo, nos centramos en el concepto de las llamadas comunidades virtuales (VCs) desde una perspectiva teórica y empírica. Queremos ofrecer una denición desde la investigación secundaria que puede ser útil a nivel teórico y empírico. Además, la comparamos con la denición que surge de las entrevistas, que es típica de la perspectiva del enfoque cualitativo. Las preguntas investigativas (RQs) son: (1) ¿Cómo se puede denir una VC?; y (2) ¿Cómo denen una VC sus usuarios? Utilizamos la tipología de VCs de Porter para seleccionar cuatro estudios de caso y realizamos 49 entrevistas a fondo con sus miembros. Nuestro estudio apunta a la aplicabilidad y utilidad de la tipología de comunidades virtuales de Porter y sugiere un nuevo enfoque para denir el concepto VC. Palabras clave: comunidades virtuales, Web 2.0, comunidades online, investigación cualitativa, estudio de caso múltiple. Abstract:Online, communities of people aggregate, sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet. In this article we focus on the concept of so-called virtual communities (VCs) from a theoretical and empirical perspective. We want to provide a denition from desk research which can be useful on the theoretical and the empirical level. Moreover, we compare it with the denition that emerges from the interviews, which is typical from the qualitative approach perspective. Research questions (RQs) are: (1) How can a VC be dened? and (2) How is a VC dened by its users? We used Porter's typology of VCs to select four case studies and conducted 49 in-depth interviews with their members. Our study points to the applicability and usefulness of Porter's typology of virtual communities and suggests a new approach for dening the concept VC.

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This text presents the results of a research on migration in Latin America’s Pacific focused on the national and transnational migrants’ trajectories and their use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Using a qualitative approach, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) “What is the migration process phenomenon of Latin American Pacific, particularly in the Colombian Pacific?” and (2)“What is the role played by ICT in the current migration process of Colombian Pacific?”. In order to reply to them 105 detailed interviews with migrants from the Colombian Pacific were collected within more than three years. Results describe national and transnational migration of Colombian Pacific and show differences in terms of migrants' ICT usage: on one side, it plays a role in respondents’ trajectories; on the other side, it represents a survival and integration tool. In addition, after the integration, it also helps them to stay 'connected' with their families andtheir places of their origin (in a state of 'in-betweenness').