technology can be specifically designed, developed and deployed with meaningful access in mind.

While ontological discussions on internet and CMC have recently become richer and far more sophisticated, a critical engagement with methodological, epistemological and ethical issues is still fairly limited, both in prevalence and scope. Researchers ’ methodological reflections are usually excluded from published books and articles. Consequently, the problems, challenges and opportunities that researchers encounter in doing online research often remain obscure. Methodology books on internet research are now filling in this gap in the literature (Hine, 2000; Hine, forthcoming; Jones, 1999; Mann and Stewart, 2000). Online Social Research is a collection of articles that explores the myriad of problems and practices that researchers encounter in doing online social research. Unlike many internet research manuals, most articles in this collection take an empirical approach. This is, as Bruckman observes, something long overdue (p. 103), and thus, definitely one of the key strengths of this collection. The primary goal of this collection is to address the many protocols and ethica