Nowadays, on-line communities mean commercial and marketing opportunities, more than possibilities to construct social bounds allowing social support or common knowledge. One of the best examples of this trend is a rise in community managers. Dr. Olivier Galibert and his research team try to understand how online communities can be mobilized by e-marketing or e-management policies and their consequence on the quality of social bounds in terms of emancipation or rationalization. When it comes to the Internet and health, most research focuses on information seeking. However patients develop their own expertise on their diseases, treatment and more. As part of cancer treatment, patients and their relatives receive information from health professionals, and increasingly more from the Internet, where not only knowledge about diseases and therapies is exchanged, but also emotional and social support is given, and advice derives from experiences shared. This communication will tend to offer a global account of a project that involves multiple research sites allowing a deep understanding of the phenomenon of online communities of patients and caregivers.

Dr. Olivier Galibert's research interests include the digital socialisation processes and virtual communities issues; social networks' issues in health, socio-ecological transition and e-learning; and the understanding of the impact of Global Multimedia Mobility. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Grenoble and is a professor in Communication Studies and Internet Studies at the University of Burgundy in France.