Online Communities
Jenny Preece

1. What is an Online Community?
   • Introduction: different ways of defining an online community
2. Brief history
   • From the development of email to the Internet
   • Pioneers
     • Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff
     • Howard Rheingold
     • Doug Schuler
     • Sherry Turkle
     • Sproull and Kiesler
   • Impact of the Internet, E-commerce etc.
3. Communities for different topics
   • E-commerce
   • Health
   • Education
   • Communities of Practice
   • General interest
4. Software Genres
   • Briefly review main genres
   • Synchronous and asynchronous
     • Listserver communities
     • Bulletin board communities
     • Chats
     • Web-based communities
     • MUDs, MOOs, Computer Virtual environments (cross ref ch 31)
5. Key theoretical issues
   • Psychology of interacting online
     • Presence - text, avatars, and other forms of representation of self
     • Benefits of not being face to face
     • Problems of not being face to face
   • Social dynamics online
     • Developing common ground
     • Critical mass
     • Reciprocity, social dilemmas, co-operation and trust
6. Challenges and Agenda for Developers
   • Communities evolve they are not just designed.
   • The goal: attract members and encourage them to come back.
     • Purposes, people, policies,
     • Places and activities
   • How developing online communities is different from developing other software.
   • Designing for Usability and sociability.
   • Community-centered development.
7. Challenges and Agenda for Moderators and Managers
   • Supporting evolution. How much control and presence?
   • The goal: to make sure people come back.
   • Supporting the community’s purpose. Staying on topic.
   • Taking a lead and encouraging others.
   • Dealing with inappropriate behavior.
8. Challenges and Agenda for Researchers
   • Application and development of appropriate theory for understanding online communities.
   • Supporting the interaction issues discussed in chapter 5.
   • Measuring success.
   • Research methods for studying online communities.
9. Summary and conclusions