Electronic Communinties

["Global SchoolNet Fdn (FrEdMail)" <lmnet-l@ACME.FRED.ORG>]

Dear LM_NET,

The following is an interesting quotation from a recent EDUPAGE
newsletter.   Peter Milbury  pmilbury@oavax.csuchico.edu


HOW TO MAKE VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES WORK
        Mike Godwin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation offers nine
principles for  making virtual communities work.  Use software that
promotes good discussions;  don't impose a length limitations on postings;
front-load your systems with talkative, diverse people;  let the users
resolve their own disputes; provide institutional memory; promote
continuity; be host to a particular interest group; provide places for
children; most important: confront the users with a crisis (events like the
Oakland fire or LambdaMOO's cyberspace rape crystallize users' sense of
belonging to a place they care about). (Wired June 94 p.92)

(The original complete article is in Wired magazine, June, 1994.)

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