Many have studied the interrelations between online spaces and offline contexts, highlighting that internet spaces are fundamentally embedded within specific social, cultural and material contexts. Drawing upon a study of breast cancer patients’ computer-mediated communication (CMC), this article aims to contribute to our understanding of the role of cultural elements in shaping the participation in and design of, CMC environments. It uses an analysis of patients’ interviews and breast cancer websites as an exploratory site for identifying cultural dimensions that should be considered in studying online spaces. It shows how both the breast cancer sites and their participants emphasize a sense of global similarity and commonality, while at the same time this CMC context is shaped by specific linguistic, national, temporal, spatial, religious, ideological and discursive North-American dimensions. It concludes with a broader discussion of the importance of examining the cultural aspects of online contexts and by extension, how cultural elements shape the methodologies that researchers employ.
Adams, T. L. and S. A Smith (forthcoming, 2006) Electronic Tribes: Interpersonal, Small-group, Organizational and Cultural Communication on the Internet. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press .
2.
Becker, G. (1994) ‘Metaphors in Disrupted Lives: Infertility and Cultural Constructions of Continuity’ , Medical Anthropology Quarterly8(4): 383-410 .
3.
Bioseeker (2003) ‘The Global Structure of Breast Cancer R&D’, URL (consulted 6 November 2005): http://www.leaddiscovery.co.uk/reports/GlobalStructureofBreastCancerR&D.pdf
4.
Brunn, S. D. and M. Dodge (2001) ‘Mapping the “Worlds” of the World Wide Web: (Re)Structuring Global Commerce through Hyperlinks’ , American Behavioral Scientists44(10): 1717-1739 .
5.
Cooks, L. (2003) ‘The Discursive Construction of Global Listserv Ethics: The Case of Panama-L’, in M. J. P. Wolf (ed.) Virtual Morality: Morals, Ethics, + New Media, pp. 155-176. New York: Peter Lang .
6.
Danet, B. and S. C. Herring (2003) ‘Introduction: the Multilingual Internet’ , Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication9(1), URL (consulted 6 November 2005): http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/
7.
Darling-Wolf, F. (2004) ‘Virtually Multicultural: Trans-Asian Identity and Gender in an International Fan Community of a Japanese Star’ , New Media & Society6(4): 507-528 .
8.
Ehrenreich, B. (2001) ‘The Cult of the Pink Ribbon’ , The Times, weekend section, 8 December, p. 1a-1a .
9.
Ess, C. and F. Sudweeks (2001) Culture, Technology, Communication: Towards an Intercultural Global Village. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press .
10.
Ess, C. and F. Sudweeks (2005) ‘Culture and Computer-Mediated Communication: Toward New Understandings’ , Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication11(1), URL (consulted 6 November 2005): http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/ess.html
11.
Flew, T. and S. McElhinney (2002) ‘Globalization and the Structure of New Media Industries’, in L. A. Lievrouw and S. Livingstone (eds) The Handbook of New Media, pp. 304-319. London: Sage .
12.
Frank, A. W. (1995) The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press .
13.
Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press .
14.
Gorman, S. P. (2002) ‘Where Are the Web Factories: The Urban Bias of e-business Location’ , Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie93(5): 522-536 .
15.
Halavais, A. (2000) ‘National Borders on the World Wide Web’ , New Media & Society1(3): 7-28 .
16.
Hardey, M. (2002) ‘”The Story of My Illness”: Personal Accounts of Illness on the Internet’ , Health6(1): 31-46 .
17.
Herman, A. and J. H. Sloop (2000) ‘“Red Alert”: Rhetoric of the World Wide Web and “Friction Free” Capitalism’, in A. Herman and T. Swiss (eds) The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory, pp. 77-98. London: Routledge .
18.
Herring, S. , D. Stein and T. Virtanen (forthcoming) The Pragmatic of Computer-Mediated Communication.
19.
Khiabany, G. (2003) ‘Globalization and the Internet: Myths and Realities’ , Trends in Communication11(2): 137-153 .
20.
Leopold, E. (1999) A Darker Ribbon: Breast Cancer, Women and Their Doctors in the Twentieth Century. Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
21.
Livingstone, S. (2003) ‘On the Challenges of Cross-National Comparative Media Research’ , European Journal of Communication18(4): 477-500 .
22.
Livingstone, S. and D. Lemish (2001) ‘Doing Comparative Research with Children and Young People’, in S. Livingstone and M. Bovill (eds) Children and Their Changing Media Environment: a European Comparative Study, pp. 31-50. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
23.
McChesney, R. (2000) ‘So Much for the Magic of Technology and the Free Market’, in A. Herman and T. Swiss (eds) The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory, pp. 5-35. London: Routledge .
24.
Mansell, R. (2004) ‘Political Economy, Power and New Media’ , New Media & Society6(1): 96-105 .
25.
Matterlart, A. (2002) ‘An Archaeology of the Global Era: Constructing a Belief ’ , Media, Culture & Society24(5): 591-612 .
26.
Miller, D. and D. Slater (2000) The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach. Oxford: Berg .
27.
Mitra, A. (2001) ‘Diasporic Voices in Cyberspace’ , New Media & Society3(1): 29-48 .
28.
Moss, M. (1998) ‘Technology and Cities’ , Cityspace3(3): 107-127 .
29.
Mueller, M. L. (1998) ‘The Battle Over Internet Domain Names-Global or National TLDs?’ , Telecommunications Policy22(2): 89-107 .
30.
Orgad, S. (2005a) Storytelling Online: Talking Breast Cancer on the Internet. New York: Peter Lang .
31.
Orgad, S. (2005b) ‘Moving From Online to Offline Relationships with Research Participants’, in C. Hine (ed.) Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet, pp. 51-65. Oxford: Berg .
32.
Orgad, S. (2005c) ‘The Transformative Potential of Online Communication: The Case of Breast Cancer Patients’ Internet Spaces’ , Feminist Media Studies5(2): 141-161 .
33.
Parham, A. (2004) ‘Diaspora, Community and Communication: Internet Use in Transnational Haiti’ , Global Networks4(2): 199-217 .
34.
Pitts, V. (2004) ‘Illness and Internet Empowerment: Writing and Reading Breast Cancer in Cyberspace’ , Health8(1): 33-59 .
35.
Polanyi, L. (1985) Telling the American Story: A Structural and Cultural Analysis of Conversational Storytelling. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishers .
36.
Ran-Priel, T. and N. Shapira (2004) ‘Online Websites in Memory of Terror Victims: An Inter-Cultural Comparison’ , paper presented at the Fifth Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton, 19-22 September.
37.
Ranganathan, M. (2002) ‘Nurturing a Nation on the Net: the Case of Tamil Eelam’ , Nationalism and Ethnic Politics8(2): 51-66 .
38.
Sassen, S. (2004) ‘Sited Materialities with Global Span’, in P. N. Howard and S. Jones (eds) Society Online: The Internet in Context, pp. 295-306. London: Sage .
39.
Schiller, D. (1999) ‘Deep Impact: the Web and the Changing Media Economy’ , Info: The Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, Information and Media1(1): 35-51 .
40.
Sharf, B. F. (1997) ‘Communicating Breast Cancer On-line: Support and Empowerment on the Internet’ , Women & Health26(1): 65-84 .
41.
St Amant, K. (ed.) (forthcoming) Linguistic and Cultural Online Communication Issues in the Global Age. Hershey, PA: Idea Group .
42.
Swidler, A. (1995) ‘Cultural Power and Social Movements’, in H. Johnston and B. Klandermans (eds) Social Movements and Culture, pp. 25-14. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press .
43.
Thanasankit, T. (2003) E-commerce and Cultural Values. Hershey, PA: Idea Group .
44.
Tyner, J. A. and Kuhlke, O. (2000) ‘Pan-National Identities: Representations of the Philippine Diaspora on the World Wide Web’ , Asia Pacific Viewpoint41(3): 231-252 .
45.
Vishwanath, A. (2004) ‘Manifestations of Interpersonal Trust in Online Interaction: A Cross-cultural Study Comparing the Differential Utilization of Seller Ratings by eBay Participants in Canada, France and Germany’ , New Media & Society6(2): 219-234 .
46.
Wakeford, N. (2004) ‘Pushing the Boundaries of New Media Research’ , New Media & Society6(1): 130-136 .
47.
Warschauer, M. (2000) ‘Language, Identity and the Internet’, in B. Kolko , L. Nakamura and G. Rodman (eds) Race in Cyberspace, pp. 151-170. New York: Routledge .
48.
Warschauer, M. (2003) Technology and Social Inclusion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
