Building Virtual Communities

Building Virtual Communities examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. Contributors to this volume explore this question by drawing on their different theoretical backgrounds methodologies and personal experience with virtual communities. Each chapter discusses the different meanings of the terms community learning and change. Case studies are included for further clarification. Together these chapters describe the building out of virtual communities in terms that are relevant to theorists researchers and practitioners. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. This includes consideration of the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. Building Virtual Communities will interest educators psychologists sociologists and researchers in human-computer interaction.