This proposed paper discusses strengths and limitations of methodological procedures and approaches which have been experienced in a research project about staging cultural and social identities in Diaspora communities on the Internet. The research project focuses representations  of  dance  groups  and sociocultural, youthful dance  groups living outside Bolivia staging social and cultural identities in the cyberspace. Many of these groups are deeply committed to reproduce Bolivian and Andean music culture and dance. Throughout, the paper draws on a range of' illustrative empirical materials from a recent still ongoing research project.

Aspects of the use of virtual ethnography, mainly based on field work which has been used in the project will be discussed. Experiences of participant observational research combined and visual analysis of' relevant websites about popular culture and popular music to study questions of identity, origins and belongingness through case studies about Diaspora communities will be summa rised.

I study virtual rooms as leisure spaces where old and new meanings of identity, and relationships based on a sense of community can be pursued. By describing and analysing the Diaspora culture and its contents I try to understand processes of cultural production as a way of creating new media spaces by using the methodology of virtual ethnography. Issues such as how relationships between the  local and global music cultures and new as well as old identities are articulated in the Internet are examined with the methods of ethnography.

Materials from what can be seen ’on the screen’ ,visual, audiovisual and textual information have all been used as a source of information. Histories of the groups, social webs of meanings, down. Loaded performances ,events, recordings made about, and by the groups, are all part of the collected data.

Major points in the paper are: the definition of field locations. The important step of sampling and questions about which are the appropriated units. Aspects as the access to the field, field roles and the potentials of social interaction online are taken up. The use of  archival websites which have been used will be discussed.