Conhecimento, sociabilidade e lazer em jogos online : SubTítulo: uma etnografia na "Lan House do Paulo" em São Gonçalo do Amarante-RN

In a highly dynamic society such as we live, have access to the virtual world is an increasingly common practice, is aiming to study, work or to search leisure through chat rooms, sites and games, being incorporated by the most varied groups that end up appropriating these new possibilities of interaction, shaping them in order to adapt them to their needs / wants. The specific purposes pursued through the use of tools available over the Internet can vary considerably when one takes into account specific user groups, which makes the topic quite relevant to problematization, especially when we take into account access through lan houses. This research seeks to study the networks of knowledge, sociability and leisure formed by young people who frequented the "Lan house do Paulo" in São Gonçalo do Amarante - RN based on the use of the online role-playing-game World of Warcraft, which makes possible the interaction of several users through an avatar resident in a virtual world, theoretically questioning the importance of this type of platform for the development and maintenance of social interactions among its users

Vende-se uma vila: análise intra-urbana das vilas na Vila de Ponta Negra e no bairro de Nova Descoberta - Zona Sul de Natal

This dissertation is about low-income rental housing vilas in the South Zone in the city of Natal. Vilas are a string of houses, built privately in an urban plot of land, usually a backyard, facing a narrow street beco. This type of housing is originated in the 19th century in the Brazilian scenario. In Natal, this has become more popular since the late 1960s. This study is aimed at analyzing the urban integration of the vilas, considering that these house a low income population, vis à vis the speedy development of Natal s most economically dynamic area. The study starts with a discussion of the production of space, taking into consideration categories such as use value, exchange value, commodity and land rent. Field work was undertaken through structured interviews with dwellers of vilas in Nova Descoberta and Ponta Negra neighbourhoods. Owners of vilas were also interviewed. Data collected indicated worrisome housing conditions. Vilas, in the areas researched, are increasingly becoming unwelcome, constituting guetos in a place where landscape is changing rapidly. Gentrification is fast under way, first because of rise in rent and taxes; second because of general rise in living costs