Leah P. Macfadyen, Jörg Roche, Sabine Doff in collaboration with Kenneth Reeder and Mackie Chase Communicating across Cultures in Cyberspace A Bibliographical Review of Intercultural Communication Online Edited by Jörg Roche and Leah P. Macfadyen LIT Table of Contents Introduction 8 Acknowledgments 9 Survey Methodology 10 Thematic Summary of the Literature 13 1 The Culture(s) of the Internet 13 Utopia or Dystopia? 13 Modern or Postmodern? 14 Cybercultural Values 15 Subcultures of/in Cyberspace 16 In Search of Utopia: Cultural Impact and Technology Design 17 Towards a Unifying Theory of Cyberculture? 18 2 The Language of Cyberspace 19 Studying Cyberlanguage 19 Cyberlanguage as Digital Text 20 Cyberlanguage as Semiotic System 21 Cyberlanguage as Discourse 21 New Literacies? 22 Context and Community: Cyberlanguage as a Communicative Tool 24 Internet Language and Culture 25 3 Intercultural Communication on the Internet 27 Current Research on Online Intercultural Communication 28 Intercultural Communication Theory, Old and New 29 Culture and Technology Design: Practical Recommendations 32 4 Identity and Community in Cyberspace 33 Virtual Identity, Virtual Ethnicity and Disembodiment...34 Virtual Community, Virtual Culture and 5 Deterr itorialization 35 The Promises of Cybertechnology for Identity and Community: Hopes and Fears 37 5 Culture and Education in Cyberspace 39 Internet Technology and the Culture(s) of Education 39 Intercultural Challenges for Online Educators 40 Intercultural Challenges and Opportunities for Online Learners 41 Designing for Intercultural Cybcreducation 42 Cybereducation and Cultural Imperialism? Future Prospects for Multicultural Cybereducation..... 43 6 The Impact of the Internet on Culture 44 ICTs as Agents of Cultural Change? 45 Technological Determinism and Cultural Homogenization 45 Resisting Cybercultural Imperialism 46 Hybridization, not Homogenization? 47 Conclusion: Suggestions for Future Work 48 Annotated Bibliography 50 Authors' Affiliation 206 6 Introduction What happens when people from different cultural backgrounds try to communicate via the Internet? What challenges do they face? How do the special challenges of intercultural communication in on­ line environments affect online teaching and learning? Are there theoretical approaches to, or understandings of, culture' that are most useful when considering online intercultural communi­ cation? How might online environments (and especially online learn­ ing environments), be better designed to facilitate human communica­ tions in this new space/place? How is online intercultural communica­ tion driving social, political and cultural change? Do cyberculture and online communication represent opportunities or threats to human cultures? A critical first stage of our work in this newly evolving field of study has been to survey the current literature on culture and commu­ nication in online environments ('cyberspace'). We have carried out an extensive survey of research and theory from different disciplines (cultural studies, intercultural studies, linguistics, sociology, educa­ tion, human-computer interaction, distance learning, learning tech­ nologies, philosophy and others). We have organized existing litera­ ture into six major (and overlapping) thematic areas: • The Culture(s) of the Internet • The Language of Cyberspace • Intercultural Communication on the Internet • Identity and Community in Cyberspace • Culture and Education in Cyberspace • The Impact of the Internet on Culture(s) We offer here an overview of current research and theoretical con­ tributions identified in each area, while the contributions themselves are elaborated in an extensive annotated bibliography that includes abstracts or summaries of each. We have attempted, here, to highlight theoretical models, oppositions and conflicts, and the most-studied 7 areas of research thus far. Moreover, we have identified some of the most pressing questions in the field, and we have highlighted gaps in knowledge and understanding where further theoretical and research work is needed. It is almost inevitable that we will have missed relevant work in the undertaking of this survey. It is our hope, however, that this cur­ rent gathering together of the literature will function as a growing and critical resource for others interested in the field, and that future (and online) iterations will allow colleagues in the field to add and com­ ment on additional contributions. The authors therefore invite the whole research community to contribute to a future online database on online intercultural commu­ nication. For that purpose a site has been established at http://werkstadt.daf.uni-muenchen.de/ico.html Researchers interested in contributing to this future online database and forum are requested to send their submissions to the ad­ dress listed on the site. Acknowledgments This work was completed with the support of research grants from the University of British Columbia Hampton Fund to Kenneth Reeder and Mackie Chase, and from the University of British Columbia Humanities & Social Sciences Committee to Jörg Roche and Mackie Chase. The authors would like to thank Sandra Schinnerl for her initial work on the survey, and Anne Hewling for her very useful feedback on the manuscript. 8 Survey Methodology As Raymond Williams points out, "Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language."1 It is now used to represent distinct and important concepts in different intellec­ tual disciplines and systems of thought. Meanwhile, (communicative) encounters between groups and individuals from different cultures are variously described as cross-cultural, intercultural, multicultural or even transcultural. The vocabulary of modern technology is no less varied, with different authors using terms such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, cyberspace, and virtual (learning) environments (VLE) to denote overlapping though slightly different: perspectives on "the online world." Others mention CMC (computer-mediated com­ munication) technologies, ICTs (Internet and communication tech­ nologies), HCl (human computer interaction) or CHI (computer-hu­ man interaction) in explorations of technologies at the communicative interface. This literature survey was carried out using the University of British Columbia Library Catalogue, the SilverPlatter Social Sciences WebSPIRS Database Collection accessed via the University of British Columbia Library, and the Elektra Database Collection of the Staats­ bibliothek, Munich. Databases searched by SilverPlatter include: Bibliography of Native North The Education Index Americans LLBA (Linguistics and Sociological Abstracts Language Behaviour (International) Abstracts) Database Canadian Education Directory MLA Bibliography The ERIC Database (International Linguistics, (Educational Resources Language and Literature) Information Centre) The Philosopher's Index 1 Williams, R. (1983). Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Glasgow: William Collins & Sons. 9 Databases searched by Elektra include BSB-OPAC 1501-1840, 1953-2002 RLG Union Catalogue Universitätsbibliothek (LMU) Anthropological Index Universitätsbibliothek (TU) ACS Publications Library of Congress JSTOR Bibliotheksverbund Bayern LINK (Springer) Gemeinsamer Βibliotheksverbünd Science Direct (Elsevier) Süd westdt.Bibliotheksverbund S wetsne t Ν a vi ga tor In addition, the following Web-based rnals were surveyed: Arachnet Electronic Journal Journal of Asynchronous oil Virtual Culture Learning Networks Australian Journal of Journal of Computer- Mediated Educational Technology Communication Australian Journal of Educational Journal of Distance Education Technology (Canada) Current Awareness Program Journal of Instructional Science The Edge: The Ε-Journal of and Technology Intercultural Relations Journal of Interactive Learning EduCom Research Electronic Journal of Journal of Interactive Media in Communication Education Electronic Journal of Sociology Journal of Technology in Education Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture Language Learning & Technology Electronic Technology in Mediated Learning Review Education Online Chronicle of Distance ePhilosopher education European Journal of Open and Online Journal of Distance Distance Learning Learning Administration First Monday Open Learning Update Internet TESL Journal Reading Online Interpersonal Computing and Technological Horizons in Technology Journal Education 10 The Technology Source The following search pattern was employed, where KW = words searched in all fields, TI = words searched in titles only; where and, or are used as Boolean operators. • (intercultural[KW] or cross-cultural[KW]) and communication \KW) and internet [KW] • cyberculture[KW] • (culture[KW] or anthropology[KW]) and cyberspace [KW] • (communication[TI] or discourse[TI]) and (online[TI] or internet[Tl]) • (culture*[TI] or anthropology[TI]) and (online[TI] or internet [TI]) • intercultur*[TI] and (onlinefTI] or internet[tlj) Additional relevant work was recommended by colleagues, en­ countered in bibliographies of related work, discovered via searching of the World Wide Web using the Google search engine, and located in the Proceedings of recent conferences coordinated by CATaC ('Cul­ tural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication'; http://www.it.m urdoch.edu.au/catac/home.html) and UNESCO. This search strategy uncovered references to several hundred journal articles, reviews and books published in the past decade. The majority are in English, but the search