Les interactions dans Internet

Abstract

The Internet allows for meetings which would be improbable in the ordinary spaces of communication. The examples of discussion forums and mailing lists in the domains of health and mental health are particularly significant of the process of reducing social barriers (between professionals and laypeople, between users and dabblers). The article analyzes the conditions which make these types of meetings possible, the types of interaction produced therein, and their eventual failures. It shows how, under a egalitarian utopianism, even with the possibility of identity games, ordinary social relations are called for and conserve their symbolic strength.

Keywords

• Internet
• health
• social relationship
• virtual encounter
• mailing list