Code begets community: On social and technical aspects of managing a virtual community

Daniel Pargman's Ph.D. thesis: "Code begets community: On social and technical aspect". Recommended by Dave Randall.

"This thesis looks at a Swedish-speaking adventure mud - SvenskMud - a text-based "virtual world". I have taken a broad view and describe how this mud functions, with a special focus on "the work to make it work". More specificly I describe the activities in and around the mud from three different perspectives:

- Where muds came from, how they work and how this particular mud works.
- The mud as a computer program and an ongoing systems development project.
- Management of the mud as a task or a hobby for the mud administrators (called "magicians" in the mud)."

Provides an excellent model of how you can go about studying a virtual, online community

Trust and Community on the Internet

the journal Analyse & Kritik has published a special issue on
"Trust and Community on the Internet".

The issue contains 16 articles within the following categories:
Concepts and Background
The Internet as an Environment for Trust
Reputation and Online Auctions
Groups and Networks
Law and the Internet

You can find detailed information at

http://www.analyse-und-kritik.net/english/current_issue.htm.

These articles are a selection of papers that were presented at the
international conference "Trust and Community on the Internet" that
was held at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Bielefed,
Germany in Summer 2003. You can find the complete list of all
conference presentations at
http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/~matzat/conference.htm.