CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES Fourth International Conference June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland Accepted Panel Session: New Theoretical Approaches to the Self in Cyber-Culture This panel explores issues and arguments that have polarized studies of new media technologies over the turn of the millennium. It draws on inter-disciplinary research in media and communication studies, internet research and cultural studies. We are concerned to explore issues of cyber-subjectivity, taking as our starting point a re-examination of the connections between the virtual and substantial self. Understanding that the virtual self can be released from separate categorization and regarded instead as both less and more than body, text, or narrative, opens the way to re-examine where the self ends¹ and begins¹ in an informational world. This raises critical, epistemological and ethical issues. We invite panellists who can contribute in this area. Accepted papers include work on metaphor, narrative identity, and research ethics. Organiser: Maren Hartmann Vrije Universiteit Brussel Pleinlaan 2 1050 Brussel Belgium E-mail: Maren.Hartmann@vub.ac.be Kate O'Riordan Arts C304 CCE University of Sussex Falmer Brighton BN1 9RG Tel: 01273 877774 Email: k.s.o-riordan@sussex.ac.uk