Hi Ursula, I don't know how broadly you want to take the "culture" thread - but in addition to several past publications that have come out of the CATaC (Cultural Attitudes towards Technology and Communication) conferences, e.g.: LIBERATION IN CYBERSPACEOR COMPUTER-MEDIATED COLONIZATION? The Electronic Journal of Communication / Le Revue Electronique de Communication, Volume 12 Numbers 3 & 4, 2002 http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/v12n34.htm Technologies of Despair and Hope: CMC in the Middle East A Special Issue of JCMC Edited by Charles Ess and Fay Sudweeks Vol 8(2 - January) 2003 http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue2/ -- there will be two special issues coming out this fall: Culture and Computer-Mediated Communication: Toward New Understandings, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,. Vol. 11, No. 1 <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/> (this collects 10 studies that both apply and show the limits of using Hofstede and Hall as frameworks for cross-cultural communication online, ranging from websites to email, group support systems, etc.) Special Issue on Communication,Culture and Praxis, Electronic Journal of Communication/Revue Electronique de Communication, 15(1). <http://www.cios.org/www/ejcmain.htm> (this collects several papers that explore diverse notions of power and how these manifest themselves - or not - in diverse online contexts and with a view towards cultural differences). I suspect that under the principles of fair use I could send you pre-publication versions of the introductions to these (authored by Fay Sudweeks and me - shameless self-promotion, I know) if they would help you get a better sense of their contents. viel Glück! -- charles ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC'06: http://www.catacconference.org Co-chair, ECAP'06: http://www.eu-cap.org Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes Norwegian University of Science and Technology NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23