In this paper we report findings of a multidisciplinary study of online participation by culturally
diverse participants in a distance adult education course offered in Canada and examine in detail
three of the study's findings. First, we explore both the historical and cultural origins of
"cyberculture values" as manifested in our findings, using the notions of explicit and implicit
enforcement of those values and challenging the assumption that cyberspace is a culture free
zone. Second, we examine the notion of cultural gaps between participants in the course and the
potential consequences for online communication successes and difficulties. Third, the analysis
describes variations in participation frequency as a function of broad cultural groupings in our
data. We identify the need for additional research, primarily in the form of larger scale
comparisons across cultural groups of patterns of participation and interaction, but also in the
form of case studies that can be submitted to microanalyses of the form as well as the content of
communicator's participation and interaction online.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/1330 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Reeder, Kenneth, Macfadyen, Leah P., Roche, Jörg, Chase, M |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
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