Exploring the Common Ground of Virtual Communities: Working towards a 'Workable Definition'

Vanessa Dirksen University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Bas Smit University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract
Much of the literature on virtual communities evolves around classifying the phenomenon while much empirically constructive work on the topic has not been conducted yet. Therefore, the research discussed in this paper proposes to explore the actual field of the virtual community (VC). By means of a comparative ethnographic research we will attempt to define virtual communities in terms of their inherent social activity, the interaction between the groups of people and the information and communication technology (ICT) and the meaning attached to it by its members.

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Reference:	Dirksen, V., Smit, B. (2001). "Exploring the Common Ground of Virtual Communities: Working towards a 'Workable Definition'," University of Amsterdam, Netherlands . Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems, 1(3). http://sprouts.aisnet.org/1-3
Keywords:	Virtual Communities, ethnography
Item Type:	Article - Volume 1 Article 3 (2001)
Language:	English
Email:	Vanessa Dirksen (vanessa.dirksen@uni-konstanz.de,) Bas Smit (bassmit@uva.nl)

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