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Virtual Culture : Work and Play on the Internet

This book is a collection of articles on various aspects of the formation and functioning of virtual groups on the Internet. The Internet communication infrastructure enables communication among geographically dispersed groups of people. Although the underlying technology is recent, it is fairly well understood. However, the dramatic rise of Internet access in recent years has led to new conditions of communication, the sociological implications of which are not well understood, as there has simply not passed enough time to observe the use people make of the technology. The book reports on several projects which aimed at filling this gap. The intended audience of the book includes anyone interested in computer mediated communication, with emphasis on group communications, such as newsgroups (open to anyone at large), multiuser virtual worlds (MUDs), mailing lists (with a restricted set of participants). The book is very diverse in terms of methodologies used in the individual chapters. Some chapters are based on empirical research, using data collected from newsgroups or mailing lists (Jones, Witmer & al, Mabry, Berthold&al) and applying statistical tools to draw conclusions, others present technology for virtual cooperative interaction (Chen & Gaines, Doyle & Hayes-Roth), and yet others discuss frameworks for studying Internet-based communication (Voiskounsky). Statistical tools used range from classical hypothesis testing (Witmer & Katzman, Mabry), tabulation and classification of results (Jones) to sophisticated use of self-organizing artificial neural networks to study typicality of messages (Berthold & al). The book's main strength is that it brings together for the first time in a single volume a very diverse set of articles on social aspects of computer mediated communication. As such it can serve as a reading in a graduate sociology course on the topic, or as a starting point for further study and research in the area. On the other hand, the book's weakness is its extreme diversity in the range of topics and methodologies used. This is, of course, characteristic of any research area in its infancy, and the sociology of the Internet is no exception. Studies in the book lump together purposeful activity (like working together on a project) and recreational communication (like participation in newsgroups). These are probably two very different activities that deserve study on their own. The book would have greatly benefitted from an effort on the part of the authors to group together or classify the included contributions, and motivate and glue together the different parts. …