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{{soft redirect|http://cotw.cc/wiki/Online_community|Online community, on the ''Coalition of the Willing'' wiki}}
An '''online community''' (or '''virtual community''') is connected through email, a forum, a wiki or a social networking platform. Many are for entertainment only, while others are focused on [[sustainability]], tackling [[poverty]], [[appropriate technology]], or [[design]].
 
Communities on such subjects are [[communities of purpose]] - however, building and managing such communities require understanding human needs and desires. The members may be more driven, passionate and/or altruistic than those on a hobby forum, but they will still be drawn back to a place where they experience connection and fun.
 
== See also ==
 
* [[Wiki community development]]
* [[Green Knowledge Trust]]
 
 
== Interwiki links ==
 
* [http://www.appropedia.org/Wiki_community_development Wiki community development], on Appropedia.org.
* [http://cotw.cc/wiki/Wiki_ecosystem Wiki ecosystem] - ''Coalition of the Willing'' wiki
* [http://cotw.cc/wiki/Green_knowledge_ecosystem Green knowledge ecosystem] - ''Coalition of the Willing'' wiki
 
== External links ==
 
=== Online communities ===
* [http://www.how-matters.org/2010/09/09/international-development-online-communities/ Online Communities for International Do-Gooders], a compiled (and growing) list of online communities related to international development and assistance from [http://www.how-matters.org/ how-matters.org]
 
=== Resources for community building and managing ===
 
Here is some suggested reading. Please share key points that are relevant to Appropedia, on [[Talk:Wiki community development]] or the [[A:VP|site discussion page]] or [http://groups.google.com/group/appropedia-community/ community discussion list], particularly if it has inspired you to take action in a particular way.
* [http://www.artofcommunityonline.org/2009/09/18/the-art-of-community-now-available-for-free-download/ Art of Community] by Jono Bacon, Ubuntu community manager. (You can download the pdf.)
* [http://www.feverbee.com/ FeverBee], blog by Richard Millington, "an online community builder currently working for the United Nations Refugee Agency... the founder of [http://commania.ning.com/ Commania], a community for community professionals and the author of the [http://richchallenge.typepad.com/files/communitybuildingmanifesto-1.pdf Online Community Manifesto].
* [http://pillarsummit.com/the-proven-path/theprovenpath.pdf The Proven Path] - a clear introduction to community building that works, from Richard Millington.
* [http://www.theopensourceway.org/book/ The Open Source Way] - about online community, and being written by an online community. As at 22 Feb 2010, "The strongest sections are [https://www.theopensourceway.org/wiki/Communities_of_practice Communities of practice], [https://www.theopensourceway.org/wiki/How_to_loosely_organize_a_community How to loosely organize a community], and [https://www.theopensourceway.org/wiki/Stuff_everyone_knows_and_forgets_anyway Stuff everyone knows and forgets anyway]", according to the project leader.[http://opensource.com/business/10/2/how-manual-open-source-way-written-open-source-way?sms_ss=identica]
* [http://www.admittingfailure.com/2011/01/1sky-lessons-learned-in-building-a-custom-community-platform/ Lessons Learned in Building a Custom Community Platform] - the pitfalls of developing online community spaces, looking at "The Climate Network" and why it failed.
* [http://www.collaborativenation.com/community-managers.html Community Managers] - interviews with ''Collaborative Nation'' (a website for "Techno-Activist Communities")
 
'''Wiki-specific resources''':
* [http://www.wikipatterns.com/ Wiki Patterns] - growth and community in wikis. (Appears broken, but [http://web.archive.org/web/20130628101610/http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Wikipatterns available at Archive.org].)
* [http://www.communitywiki.org/ CommunityWiki] (less focused, more open)
* [[meta:Wikicommunity]] - proposal for community-building within Wikimedia through activities not focused directly on content creation. Contains links to relevant pages and discussions on English Wikipedia.
 
==== Deeper study ====
 
If you've read all the above - the books, the blog archives - you have plenty of knowledge to manage an online community. But if you still want to dig deeper, a few topics that might be useful to study are listed below - start at the Wikipedia articles, learn, and check the resources listed there. (This is an initial guess at useful topics - as you research, please improve the list):
* [[Wikipedia:Virtual community]]
* [[Wikipedia:Social capital]]
 
Research and academic resources:
* [https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~dforsyth/gd/ Group Dynamics Resource Page] - Donelson R. Forsyth, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond.
 
 
[[Category:Online communities]]
[[Category:Community]]
[[Category:Internet]]

Revision as of 05:10, 7 October 2013

An online community (or virtual community) is connected through email, a forum, a wiki or a social networking platform. Many are for entertainment only, while others are focused on sustainability, tackling poverty, appropriate technology, or design.

Communities on such subjects are communities of purpose - however, building and managing such communities require understanding human needs and desires. The members may be more driven, passionate and/or altruistic than those on a hobby forum, but they will still be drawn back to a place where they experience connection and fun.

See also


Interwiki links

External links

Online communities

Resources for community building and managing

Here is some suggested reading. Please share key points that are relevant to Appropedia, on Talk:Wiki community development or the site discussion page or community discussion list, particularly if it has inspired you to take action in a particular way.

Wiki-specific resources:

Deeper study

If you've read all the above - the books, the blog archives - you have plenty of knowledge to manage an online community. But if you still want to dig deeper, a few topics that might be useful to study are listed below - start at the Wikipedia articles, learn, and check the resources listed there. (This is an initial guess at useful topics - as you research, please improve the list):

Research and academic resources:

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