Minitrack "Virtual Communities"
From Virtual Communities
[edit] Authors
Karine Barzilai-Nahon, University of Washington
[edit] Abstract
Virtual Communities have been studied from a variety of perspectives. Examples range from communities of interest to communities of practice, from gaming communities to communities of transaction. More specifically, community building and community management may be factors of key success in the digital economy. They may represent new business models in the digital economy, as well as being new venues of social interactions and social relationships.
Online communities differ in their orientations and platforms. Nevertheless, there are common features which all types of communities share: group interests, joint practices, collective ontologies with common semantics as well as normative issues. Communities are a sociological phenomenon. They can foster a social atmosphere for interactions and transactions.
The online mini-track has accepted eight papers that deal with various aspects of virtual communities and using various methodologies and style
