The virtual community homesteading on the electronic frontier ebook

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Suddenly, the interlinked network for computerized communication that grew up quietly on its own is gushing "Infotainment" possibilities. Interactive is the buzz word today, alongside convergence, cyberspace, and digital future. In The Virtual Community, Howard Rheingold returns the focus of our attention to people, working back from this commercialized present to the very beginnings of computer-mediated communication, giving us the lay of the land before it was discovered by government and the corporate giants.

What he reveals to us is a true electronic frontier of fiercely independent enthusiasts who have created closely knit communities and a rich culture on-line, exchanging everything from scientific data to sexual fantasies, child-rearing tips, and free-ranging political opinions.

As Rheingold makes clear, this one of several possible "futures" already exists in very appealing form on-line. The question he poses is: Will these original homesteaders on the electronic frontier now be driven out by the "railroad and cattle barons" of the communications industry? Even more important, through censorship and commercialization, will we all lose the greatest resource ever for community-building and the free expression of ideas, even before most of us know of its existence?

Venturing out from his own neighborhood on the WELL, he gives us a tour of on-line culture in Japan, England, France, and on small and large bulletin boards and networks throughout the United States. Howard Rheingold has been called the First Citizen of the Internet. In this book he tours the "virtual community" of online networking.

He describes a community that is as real and as much a mixed bag as any physical community—one where people talk, argue, seek information, organize politically, fall in love, and dupe others. At the same time that he tells moving stories about people who have received online emotional support during devastating illnesses, he acknowledges a darker side to people's behavior in cyberspace.

Indeed, contends Rheingold, people relate to each other online much the same as they do in physical communities. Originally published in , The Virtual Community is more timely than ever. This edition contains a new chapter, in which the author revisits his ideas about online social communication now that so much more of the world's population is wired.

It also contains an extended bibliography. Sign In or Create an Account. Advanced Search. User Tools. Sign In. Howard Rheingold Howard Rheingold. This Site. Google Scholar.