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