Web Directory

» About.com: Community Online
   Editors' web site picks for fostering an online community and personalizing web sites.
   http://webdesign.about.com/od/community/

» Benton Foundation: Community Building
   Detailed articles, tools, and resources about community building. Topics range from software recommendations to profiles of successful communities.
   http://www.benton.org/publibrary/toolkits/community.html

» Building Community: Online Resources
   Has papers, presentations, stories, indexes, and surveys.
   http://bcn.boulder.co.us/community/resources/center.html

» Building an Online Community: Just Add Water
   The dos-and-don'ts of building a website community by Matt Haughey, the creator of MetaFilter.
   http://www.digital-web.com/articles/building_an_online_community/

» CNet.com: Will Media Giants Bulldoze Communities?
   News Analysis by CNET observing how Disney and Time Warner, by building enhanced entertainment sites, threaten topical online communities.
   http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-223726.html

» Club about Online Communities
   Whenever you provide people with the ability to communicate online then community develops. This club is about the development and management of online communities.
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/clubaboutonlinecommunities/

» Community Networking Movement
   "Realizing that communication and information are increasingly dependent on networked digital information, community activists all over the world are developing community computer network systems."
   http://www.scn.org/ip/commnet/

» Community Networks: Putting People First
   Editorial by Michael Mulquin. Discusses the role of Community Networks in delivering new information and communications technologies to UK residents. Most content is applicable elsewhere as well.
   http://www.iscommunications.co.uk/media/PeopleFirst.pdf

» Community is Dead; Long Live Mega-Collaboration
   Usability expert Jakob Nielsen's take on Online Communities: "The Web is not a community: a huge impersonal city is a better metaphor. User-contributed content can be valuable (if edited), but chat rooms should be avoided because of participation inequali
   http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9708b.html

» CommunityAnswers.com
   Questions and answers and advice for online community builders, users, moderators, managers, and owners.
   http://communityanswers.com/

» CornerWays: Community Development, Training, and Moderationn
   Online community development company that provides online community building, consulting and design services worldwide.
   http://www.cornerways.com

» Cyberspace Innkeeping: Building Online Community
   Essay by former Wells conferencing manager John Coate explaining what happens in an online social environment.
   http://www.cervisa.com/innkeeping

» First Monday - A Social Network Caught in the Web
   The authors present an analysis of Club Nexus, an online community at Stanford University. Through the site they were able to study a reflection of the real world community structure within the student body.
   http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_6/adamic/

» First Monday - Phantom authority, self–selective recruitment and retention of members in virtual communities: The case of Wikipedia
   Peer-reviewed journal article by Andrea Ciffolilli.
   http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/ciffolilli/

» Fragmented by Technologies: A Community in Cyberspace
   Early academic paper studying the human interaction within an online community. The author observed antinomy, atomisation, carnival, decentralization, disembodiment, impersonality, intensification and lurking.
   http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/1997/n1/davis.txt

» Full Circle Associates
   Provides strategic facilitation, online community development, marketing, and project management services. Includes a listing of online community building and virtual group facilitation/moderation resources.
   http://www.fullcirc.com/

» How To Kill Community Networks
   By Doug Schuler. Essay describing three common means for the downfall of community networks.
   http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/tno/january-1996.html#schuler

» Membership Agreements
   Article by lawyer Ivan Hoffman discussing membership agreements and resolving issues that arise from them. Applicable only to U.S. Law.
   http://www.ivanhoffman.com/membership.html

» NTT Social Communication Laboratory
   Aims to develop a social information infrastructure and create a new lifestyle for interpersonal communication via the Internet.
   http://www.kecl.ntt.co.jp/csl/

» Online Community Building Concepts
   List of fundamental principles to consider when starting a new community site.
   http://www.well.com/user/gail/community.tips.html

» Online Hospitality: Moderator Guidelines and Community-Building Tips
   Gail Ann Williams writes about building conversation and community in online environments, adapted from the WELL Host Manuals.
   http://www.well.com/confteam/hosting.html

» Salon.com Technology: Must AOL Pay "Community Leaders"?
   Article by Janelle Brown discussing issues on the use of volunteers to manage a site's online community. "The volunteers may feel good about giving their time, but the for-profit online communities are clearly profiting from those volunteers' services."
   http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/04/16/aol_community/index.html

» Salon.com Technology: Netscape to community: You're evicted
   As Netcenter's forums fall casualty to AOL-merger cutbacks, participants mourn.
   http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/04/06/netcenter/index.html

» The Admin Zone Forums
   Online resource for administrators of bulletin board communities. All topics dealing with running and setting up a forum community are discussed.
   http://www.theadminzone.com

» VirtualCommunities Start4all
   Directory of resources and tools for building online communities. Rich content for analysis of virtual communities. With a list of popular communities and vendors in this field.
   http://www.start4all.com/?A=page&subject=virtualcommunities

» WELL Conferencing Team - Community Building and Hosts Manual
   The WELL's description of conferencing, why it's the best tool for building community, and how to get starting in a conferencing environment. Links include the WELL Host Manual.
   http://www.well.com/confteam/

» Xgencia - Best Practice in Online Communities
   UK online community specialists providing planning, RFP and ROI analysis services. Requires Flash.
   http://www.xgencia.com