National Identity In The Internet Environment

Most researchers on the Internet are concerned about the free content environment and the effects of the Internet on users. Minority scholars, anthropologists and sociologistshave explored the Internet usage of different ethnic groups, especially minority users,finding that it is still in the primary stage for minorities to access and use the Internet.The purpose of the current paper aims to explore whether and how ethnic minorityidentity has changed, and how the consciousness of ethnical identity has changed in themodern network environment in terms of meaning. Using the methods of ethnographicobservations and interviews and a text analysis of blogs, this study examined the onlinebehaviors of Tibetan Internet users who live in Lhasa, the largest city of Tibet, and howtheir lives changed with the Internet. It was found that while the Internet was applied todisseminate traditional Tibetan cultural and religious contents thus strengthening theethnical identity of Tibetan users, the ways of their personal expression and life styles hadbeen gradually assimilated under the influence of the mainstream cultures.