Face-to-Face v. Wired: community life @Meadowmont and Meadowmont.org

± facilitation

". . . virtual communities won't automatically emerge or grow in a healthy manner simply by adding a forum or chatroom to a web page. The forces that draw people and our attention away from anything as abstract as written discussions in cyberspace are strong, and action must be taken to glue people together. Skilled facilitation, well-thought-out social contracts, social mechanisms, and multimedia material for initiating newcomers in the use of the medium -- the 'social infrastructure' for success in virtual community-building -- has become valuable."
-- Howard Rheingold (p.341)

 

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