Resources
Resources
Resources Links
- Howard Rheingold Online Community Builder, acknowledged expert on social and cultural implications of cyberspace. Includes informative articles and advice and commentary on current online communities.
- B!Zine: Online Communities: Resources and Technologies Article discussing the advantages and disadvantages of individual online community software and product brands to help website planners choose what's best.
- Workz: "5 Ways You Can Prevent Online Community Flames" Sue Boettcher discusses 5 things you can do to minimize unnecessary conflicts and keep the peace in your online community.
- ZDNet: "How to Make Yourself at Home on the Web" Brief article by Annette Hamilton to help people distinguish portals, hubs and homes and find a website to hang around in.
- Virtual Communities: Structure and Content Outline of a introductory college seminar on virtual communities.
- CommunityStart.com Features a searchable directory of resources and information for community builders and a weekly email newsletter covering community building tips, industry news, and web site promotion and marketing.
- Big Bang Workshops: Virtual Collaboration on the Web Book reviews, FAQs, links and other resources for online community builders.
- Online Hospitality: Moderator Guidelines and Community-Building Tips Gail Ann Williams writes about building conversation and community in online environments, adapted from the WELL Host Manuals.
- Communitybuilding.com The secret to success on the web is to build a community, not just a web site. Here one can find tools and tips to make a web site interactive and, as a result, a place of community.
- Building an Online Community Online book that also covers particular applications such as Universities, Distance Learning and Customer Relationship Management.
- Fragmented by Technologies: A Community in Cyberspace Early academic paper studying the human interaction within an online community. The author observed antinomy, atomisation, carnival, decentralization, disembodiment, impersonality, intensification and lurking.
- Club about Online Communities Whenever you provide people with the ability to communicate online then community develops. This club is about the development and management of online communities.
- Online Community Building Concepts List of fundamental principles to consider when starting a new community site.
- Will Media Giants Bulldoze Communities? News Analysis by CNET observing how Disney and Time Warner, by building enhanced entertainment sites, threaten topical online communities.
- Community Building on the Web Companion Site of a book authored by Amy Jo Kim. Presents nine core strategies for site builders to make websites a catalyst for community growth - and earn money along the way.
- Membership Agreements Article by lawyer Ivan Hoffman discussing membership agreements and resolving issues that arise from them. Applicable only to U.S. Law.
- Design Principles for Online Communities Academic paper by sociologist Peter Kollock, drawing upon community design principles by Axelrod (1984), Ostrom (1990), Godwin (1994).
- Proxicom: Challenging Nine E-Community Myths "... By challenging these myths and adopting a model that is a based on a spectrum of increased community interactivity, a company can determine the right level of community and meet its goals with realistic, phased community-building efforts."
- Digital Geographer Information architecture, interface design, and strategy for online places. Tips, tricks, and articles comparing real and online communities to improve your relationship with customers, clients and employees.
- ZDNet: Anchordesk According to Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, Anchordesk is "one of the few good uses of discussion groups I have seen."
- the Virtual Communities (VirCom) project Five PhD students out to study virtual communities, their rise and development, evolution, meaning and its effect to traditional organizations. (Some papers are in Swedish.)
- WELL Conferencing Team - Community Building and Hosts Manual The WELL's description of conferencing, why it's the best tool for building community, and how to get starting in a conferencing environment. Links include the WELL Host Manual
- ZDNet: What's Igniting Online Communities Article by Jesse Berst quickly listing six methods major sites use to create a core community.
- Full Circle Associates' Online Community Resources A listing of online community building and virtual group facilitation/moderation resources.
- VirtualCommunities Start4all Directory of resources and tools for building online communities. Rich content for analysis of virtual communities. With a list of popular communities and vendors in this field.
- CNET: Community Sites Form Alliance CNET news article on how Communities Inc. was formed when subject-specific online communities partnered together.
- WorkZ: "Create a Community of Regulars" Article by H Duggan describing briefly how to convert site visitors from strangers to passers-bys, then to lurkers then to participants and finally regulars.
- Community is Dead; Long Live Mega-Collaboration Usability expert Jakob Nielsen's take on Online Communities: "The Web is not a community: a huge impersonal city is a better metaphor. User-contributed content can be valuable (if edited), but chat rooms should be avoided because of participation inequality."
- Community Manager Network Provides information and resources to online community professionals and companies in need of the services these professionals provide. Includes news, articles, online learning and discussion forums.
- Network and Netplay: Virtual Groups on the Internet Online book by Fay Sudweeks et al. Addresses the mutual influences between information technology and group information and development. Discusses network norms and experiences and the essential nature of network communications.
- The Online Community Report Comprehensive news repository and e-mail newsletter about the business of online communities.
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