The study focuses on ethnic identity in the Eastern and Central European countries. Minorities try to preserve their identity. In order to voice their political views and to protect their rights, ethnicities effectively use internet media, forums and blogs, which yields the empirical basis for the content analysis of this study draws.
After the EU-accession of Eastern and Central European countries, the nations and ethnicities in this region face a re-definition of their cultural, social and political roles. Ethnic Minorities of Central and Eastern Europe in the Internet Space deals with the identity formation of twelve ethnic minorities in seven countries along the border of the European Union. Ethnicities in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia as well as Belarus and Ukraine are considered. The project attempts a new methodological approach to the topic of ethnic identity through a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the internet resources attributable to ethnic minorities. It consists of two larger parts: the methodology of data collection and the results of data analysis. The data bank of the internet resources provides an overview of the empirical basis of the study.
