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Cultural negotiation takes place during all collaborative processess as traits specific to one or more cultures or subcultures (such as the English language, or netiquette) are a natural part of any information exchange.

Cultural negotiation is currently listed as a first class collaborative element, meaning it is an element of all human collaborative situations.

If participants are from entirely differing cultural contexts with no ability to translate the cultural traits, collaboration may still take place, however this lack of cultural common ground will require negotiation.

The specific traits associated with a collaborative domain are linked to the cultural context of the collaborative media and the participants.