title: Discussion groups on the Internet: journaling.
abstract: Interactive communication on the Internet, as illustrated by the e-mail-based breast cancer discussion group, provides an alternative to the telephone, the fax machine and regular mail, and is a resource for communications research, the potential of which is only beginning to be appreciated. At least some of the messages posted to such discussion groups could be regarded as a form of "journaling". Such messages are eminently suitable for qualitative data analysis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology & Statistics, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto. till@oci.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Till
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D002170:Canada; D003142:Communication; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012106:Research