> The fast advance of computer technology in recent times has brought to us new words and an unknown topography. The emergence of this new medium renewed, eclipsed and reinvented some of the traditional media functions. A generation of analysts presented arguments concerning the study of these new media environments, showing very often the limitations of a deterministic approach toward these specific social arrangements.
However, beyond the fantasies about the Internet, people are currently using this technology in their everyday lives, sharing/negotiating meanings, defining identities, proposing new articulations.
The coming of the personal computer connected to the Internet has changed considerably the way people interact with the media, generating new ways to fight for old causes.
The way identities are constructed and consumed within these environments require adequate strategies of inquiry. So, these advanced seminar issues the social uses of Internet environments and methods to analyze them. Avoiding speculations about the eventual impact of Internet on humankind, we will try to discuss these specific uses and how people address virtual environments, and the ways through which this addressing articulates identity, relationships and power.

VERSÃO PORTUGUESA