Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities and Technologies

This is a brave volume. Fulfilling the aspirations of the title is a seemingly impossible task given the apparently bewildering socio‐technological framework of the internet. It is an attempt to compile a wide range of articles aiming to elucidate the manifold community dimensions of the web and the supporting technologies. The editor sets out his scope clearly and concisely in the Preface. The authors faithfully adhere to the core concept throughout. The result is a solid reference book about the real problems and issues. The 115 articles spread over 600 pages are well supported by research, richly referenced and peppered...