Topic 25 of 52: books, articles and resources
Thu, Jun 29, 2000 (09:14) |
Spring Virtual Community (sprin5)
There is growing media attention on virtual community. This topic provides pointers and excerpts to some of these articles, books and resources.
10 responses total.
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 1 of 10: Spring Virtual Community (sprin5) * Thu, Jun 29, 2000 (09:14) * 104 lines
From Jun 27 LA Times:
From today's LA Times:
Author Connects Joining In With
Joining the Ranks of the Content
Political scientist says lack of group activities is hurting
society. He launches 'a great crusade' to turn back the tide of
alienation.
By DOYLE MCMANUS, Times Washington Bureau Chief
Robert D. Putnam has a cure for what ails American
society--three cures, actually: new rules to let working parents
spend more time with their families; more extracurricular
activities at school; and more groups, from Rotary Clubs to
amateur brass bands, to get folks out from behind their computer
screens.
Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, believes he has
identified a central crisis of our time--the decline of group
activity. Not only are Americans voting in smaller numbers than
before; they are also joining fewer bowling teams, attending
fewer PTA meetings, even eating family dinners together less
often. And that, Putnam says, is making us less happy, less
healthy and less wise.
Five years ago, Putnam published his findings in an obscure
journal under the memorable title, "Bowling Alone." His article
struck a national nerve that American life was becoming too
disconnected.
Now Putnam has expanded his argument into a book, also
called "Bowling Alone." And he has launched what he
unashamedly calls "a great crusade" to turn back the tide of
alienation and get Americans to start joining groups again.
The centerpiece is a five-year program to study experiments
on civic reengagement in more than 30 cities and towns,
including Los Angeles. It is an effort to find out what, if
anything, can persuade Americans to reconnect with each other.
To promote his argument (and his book), Putnam is traveling
the country, giving lectures, signing books, and exhorting citizens
to join something--anything. (He's in Los Angeles today.)
If you've ever wondered how new ideas are spread, here's one
way: a lone professor, all fired up, talking his way from one city
to another. (Well, not all that lone; Putnam has an endowed
professorship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, more
than $1 million in funding from the Ford Foundation and other
philanthropies, and a Web site.)
Putnam's basic idea, presented in a flood of arresting statistics,
is not only that Americans are falling out of the habit of doing
things in groups, but that this change is a serious problem--and
that it can be reversed.
Some of his evidence is well-known, like the decline in voting
and other political activity (64% of voting-age Americans voted
in 1960, only 49% in 1996). More intriguing are what Putnam
calls "informal social connections." The proportion of married
Americans who usually eat dinner with their families has dropped
since 1977 from 50% to 34%. "Picnics per capita," a number he
found in marketing surveys, have plummeted by 60%. And while
more Americans are bowling today than ever before, membership
in leagues has tanked; instead, people are bowling alone (or, at
least, in small, informal groups).
The consequence, Putnam argues, is not only an increasingly
disconnected society, but also increasing individual malaise,
physical illness and even suicide. By joining just one group--a
garden club, a political movement--you can cut your risk of
dying next year in half, he says.
So it's worth trying to fix. Last year, Stephen Goldsmith, the
Republican mayor of Indianapolis, asked Putnam for three things
politicians could do to help promote civic and social activity.
Putnam's reply: "First, there's a package of education reforms
we could make. We know things that work. We know that
extracurricular activities in school increase civic participation
later in life--and we've just gone through a period of school
boards cutting their funding for extracurriculars. We know that
small is better, that smaller schools promote more participation.
We know that community service works, when it's well-designed.
"Second, we need to think about ways to create blended
virtual and real communities"--to encourage people to use the
Internet as a tool for connecting with each other and forming new
groups, rather than merely as "a kind of nifty television set" for
solitary use.
"Third, we need new rules for work, community and family."
The massive move by women into the labor force "had a
profound effect on family life and community life," Putnam
notes. "It has created major problems in terms of day care and
elder care. But in terms of labor law and labor practices, we still
talk about those as personal problems."
He adds: "Barring an economic catastrophe, the most
important issue in American politics will be this. Everybody feels
passionate about" these issues. "They'd like time off with their
kids."
There has been one disappointment: Putnam hasn't found a
politician willing to take up his ideas and run with them.
"A politician who can tap into this need and provide solutions
will go a long way," Putnam said.
He's talked with aides to both Vice President Al Gore and
Texas Gov. George W. Bush. But neither of the presumed
presidential nominees has picked up on his ideas--yet.
"It's not their fault. It's not incumbent on them to come up
with concrete ideas. That's the job of people like me."
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 2 of 10: Spring Virtual Community (sprin5) * Thu, Jun 29, 2000 (09:16) * 7 lines
and David Silver's cyberculture course listing resource is excellent, and has relevance to the course development project forming on Spring right now.
http://camden-www.rutgers.edu/~wood/445syl.html
Full listing at:
http://www.otal.umd.edu/~rccs/courses.html
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 3 of 10: Spring Virtual Community (sprin5) * Mon, Jul 3, 2000 (22:42) * 10 lines
Gerrit Visser in the Netherlands has collected an amazing set of
resource URLs on online community (all as a volunteer effort). Check
them out at http://virtualcommunities.start4all.com/
A series of articles on VC appeared last week in the Washington Post.
Here is one (and the links to the others are in a box in the article.)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20831-2000Jun29.html
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 4 of 10: Spring Virtual Community (sprin5) * Tue, Oct 17, 2000 (08:43) * 91 lines
URL: http://www.infonortics.com/vc/vc2/present/vcconf2000.html
Infornortics Virtual Community Conference Proceedings, September 19 -
20, 2000
Contains:
DAY ONE - Tuesday 19 September
Opening Keynotes
Peter Friedman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Talk City, USA
Building E-Relationships: Brand Communities Online
Steve Glenn, Chief Executive Officer, PeopleLink, Inc, USA
Developing Community for Business-to-Business Sites
SESSION ONE. BUILDING AND PRESERVING COMMUNITIES
Sue Thomas, Director, trAce Online Writing Community, Nottingham Trent
University
The Writing Community: How the Web is Giving Rise to New Creative
Opportunities
Cristina Godio, ISTUD, Istituto Studi Direzionali, Italy
Building a Virtual Professional Community: The Case of POOLWEB.IT
Tony Rockliff, Founder and Producer, Cybertown, blaxxun interactive,
Inc, San Francisco, USA
How to Keep People Coming Back to Your Community
Manuel Perez, Oracle EMEA, Madrid, Spain.
Infoville: A Successful Model of a City Portal
SESSION TWO. TOOLS, STRATEGIES AND WAYS FORWARD
Camilo Wilson, Founder, Cogix Corporation, USA
Gathering Community Views with Voting, Polling, Quizzes, Ratings and
Surveys
Mark Bunting, Infonic Ltd, London
Community Monitoring: Mining Community Content for Better User
Relationships
Matthew Hall, Director of Business Development, Firetalk
Communications, USA
Giving Communities Voice
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY TWO - Wednesday 20 September
Opening Keynote
Lynn Clater, Director of Community Development, CNN Interactive, USA
The challenges for strong community building
SESSION THREE. CORPORATIONS AND BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
Andrew Gray, Managing Director, Sift Group plc, Bristol
Communities as platforms for the formation of B2B Net Markets
Cliff Figallo, FuturizeNow, USA
Preparing Corporations for Community
Dawn Yankeelov, Vobix Corporation, USA
Customer Relationship Management Tools for the Virtual Community Model
Sylvia Lacock Marino, Virtual Communities Consultant, USA
Measuring Community Success on Commerce Sites
Kam Singh, European Sales Director, Siebel Systems, USA
Online Dynamic Commerce in Virtual Communities
SESSION FOUR. MODELS AND GUIDELINES FOR VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
Jenny Preece, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
Building Successful Online Communities through Good Usability and
Sociability
Donald Klein, ingenta Ltd, Bath
Web Strategies for Publishers: Choosing the Business Model for
Developing an Online Community Portal
Joseph P Cothrel, Participate.com, USA
Virtual Community Today and Tomorrow: Markets, Mobility and Beyond
Serena Doshi, Neo1, UK
Online Community: It's all about people
Bill Thompson, UK
Conference overview and summary
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 5 of 10: Spring Virtual Community (sprin5) * Tue, Feb 6, 2001 (19:21) * 13 lines
OSN2001 is an online conference beginning March 28... here's some info I
just received:
Online Social Networks 2001 will help you learn about strategies,
approaches, tactics, and tools to design, launch, and sustain networks for
communities of practice, teams, learning cohorts, and knowledge sharing.
OSN2001 will take place entirely online, for two weeks beginning March 28,
2001. Lisa Kimball, Howard Rheingold, Cliff Figallo, Nancy Rhine, and Amy
Jo Kim will be keynotes. Guest authors include Jessica Lipnack, Jeffrey
Stamps, Doc Searls, Nancy Dixon, and Mary Boone. Workshops on e-learning,
online effectiveness, and online knowledge games. You can find out more
about the program and sign up at http://www.groupjazz.com/osn2001.
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 6 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Jan 22, 2002 (15:56) * 162 lines
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR COLLEAGUES
Democracies Online
Forum on Online Consultations and Civic Events
* Quick Subscribe: do-consult-subscribe@yahoogroups.com *
The Internet gives governments and civic organizations unprecedented
opportunities for engaging citizens in public decision-making.
Government and civil society leaders around the world are working
together to find the best ways of harnessing the Net as a tool for
greater civic engagement. As one of these leaders, you know the value
of
e-mail as a way of exchanging ideas, information, and techniques with
other experts in the field of online consultation.
We (see Charter Members list below) are taking this a step further by
inviting you and fellow online leaders to join us on a simple and
informal e-mail group.
DO-Consult is a peer-to-peer forum for those involved with
government, parliamentary and civic online consultations and events.
Its purpose is to encourage professional information exchange among
practitioners and researchers on use the Internet in the public
policy consultation, public hearings, and rulemaking processes.
This includes online consultations and events sponsored by
governments (from local councils to parliamentary committees to
national departments) and those organized by civic (NGOs) and
academic organizations. This is the place to ask questions, share
lessons and insights, and distribute relevant announcements.
We encourage you to join us today in creating an important new
resource for all those seeking to harness the Internet as a new
channel for citizen engagement in policy-making. This forum will
open with introductions as soon as we have 75 members.
To subscribe, simply send an e-mail message to:
do-consult-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To visit the web archive or set e-mail list options, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/do-consult/
Join us today and forward this message on to appropriate contacts
within your organization or with other colleagues working in the area
of online consultation.
Further Details
This forum is facilitated by Alexandra W. Samuel
, Ph.D. candidate, Harvard
University, with Ann Macintosh, International Teledemocracy Centre
. It is part of the Democracies Online
family of peer forums organized by Steven Clift
. Those also interested in announcements and
news on democracy and Internet should join the moderated 2300 member
Democracies Online Newswire .
Guidelines
This informal forum is completely independent from official
government and organizational channels. All participants participate
as individuals and do not officially represent their governments or
organizations.
Forum messages may NOT be forwarded without the permission of the
original author(s) and the participant list will only be available to
other forum members. Messages in multiple languages are appropriate
and participants are welcome to help create additional opportunities
for specialized information exchange. Please carefully review the
first messages you receive for they may contain additional
instructions or forum details.
Charter Members
Charter Members, currently involved with online consultation include
(affiliations listed for identification purposes only):
Anthony Barnett
Editor
www.opendemocracy.net
Tom Beierle, Fellow
Resources for the Future
Washington, DC
Tim Erickson
Politalk Moderator
St. Paul, Minnesota
Meegan Fitzharris
Assistant Manager, Government Online Policy and Review
The National Office for the Information Economy
Government of Australia
Dr. Karin Geiselhart
School of Business Information Technology
RMIT University Melbourne, Australia
Joe Goldman, MPA candidate
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
Deborah Hamilton
Community Consultation Officer
Office of Multicultural and Community Affairs
ACT Chief Minister's Department
Government of Australia
Chip Hauss
Director, Policy and Research
Search for Common Ground USA
Dr. David R. Newman
Queen's University Belfast
Pauline Poland
Policy Advisor
Ministry for the Interior and Kingdom Relations
The Hague
Scott Reents
E-the-people
Elisabeth Richard
Director, Branch Strategies and Initiatives
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Niels Jørgen Thøgersen
Director of Communications
European Commission
Lars Torres and Carolyn Lukensmeyer
AmericaSpeaks
Paul Waller
Deputy Director
Office of the e-Envoy
Cabinet Office, U.K.
Marc Weiss
President
Web Lab/ Digital Innovations Group
Nancy White
Full Circle Associates
Griff Wigley
Northfield Citizens Online
Michael Williamson
Learning Communities Advisor
Learning and Literacy Directorate
Human Resources Development Canada
Again, join us now by simply send an e-mail message to:
do-consult-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 7 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Apr 8, 2002 (11:00) * 4 lines
http://www.well.com/user/derb/vcsoftwaredatabase.html
is a new attempt to create a database of vc softare. Spring.net has offered to host it for free.
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 8 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sun, Jul 14, 2002 (12:26) * 4 lines
A Good article in Cybersociology about online community.
http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/magazine/2/issue2.html
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 9 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Dec 26, 2002 (08:30) * 5 lines
Choco Nancy rides again:
http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communitymanual.htm
Thinking about building or hosting an online community? Looking for specific tips, tools and ideas? Start here. The following is a collection of articles by Full Circle Associates Nancy White, Sue Boettcher, Heather Duggan and others.
Topic 25 of 52 [vc]: books, articles and resources
Response 10 of 10: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Dec 26, 2002 (08:33) * 18 lines
Especially relevant to spring.net at our stage of evolution:
Content, Guidelines, Marketing
Using Content to Support Your Community
Retaining Members
Sample Online Community Guidelines, Rules and Member Agreements (updated November 2002)
Personal Musings on Online Community Governance
It Ain't Easy Being Green: Online Archetypes- by Nancy White draft
Cluetrain Local- by Nancy White draft
Thanks, Choco Nancy!
vc conference 
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