Community Networks: Rules of Behavior and Social Structure

Authors: De Cindio F.¹; Gentile O.²; Grew P.¹; Redolfi D.¹

Source: The Information Society, Volume 19, Number 5, Nov-Dec 2003 , pp. 395-406(12)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This article investigates the intertwining relationships between the Gemeinschaft and the Gesellschaft dimension of a community network (CN)--that is, of a virtual community whose members' common interest is a locality, in our case the city of Milan, Italy. The article looks through the experience of the last 7 years of life on RCM--the Milan Community Network--to reflect on the role that the sharing of rules of behavior has on the evolution of social structure in a virtual community. It identifies three phases of development--the design phase, the first growth phase, and the most recent phase--and presents the social structure set up to guarantee governance of the CN. The conclusions show that the third phase is not an actual stable state, as the continuous evolution of the societal and technological context requires continuous redesign of the CN itself in order to meet the renewed demands of a new context.

Keywords: civic network; community networks; Gemeinschaft; Gesellschaft; netiquette; rules of behavior; virtual communities

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Milano, Milan, Italy 2: RCM Participatory Foudation, Milan, Italy

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