Storytelling Online

Book excerpt: This is an original sociological study of breast cancer patients' participation in Internet spaces. While much has been debated about the significance of the Internet, the actual processes of communication in which people engage online are little understood as yet. Exploring the ways in which participants in online spaces configure their experience into a story, the book presents readers with an innovative way of understanding online communication as a socially significant activity. The substantive focus of storytelling online is analyzed sensitively and thoroughly in its specificity as a social phenomenon. At the same time it is connected to a broad range of debates on communication and Internet, health, illness, and social agency.