The four parts of this introduction give an overview of what the research-project "maxmod" is, what it is about, and what its backgrounds are.

The abstract (277 words) fulfills this task in a very condensed manner. In the following three parts the information given in the abstract is explained more elaborately:

anthropology clarifies what the science of anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology in particular, actually is, what anthropologists do and why this is important. Concepts like "culture", "participant observation", and "thick participation" are explained in a comprehensive manner.

cyberanthropology explains what sociocultural anthropology has to do with ICTs, and what the discipline has to contribute to the understanding of the development and use of ICTs by human beings.

project finally describes the research-project "maxmod", the employed methods, its goals and relevance.