1.a.A group of people living in the same locality and under the same
government.
b.The district or locality in which such a group lives: a small rural
community.
2.A group or class having common interests: the scientific community.
It's interesting to mull over the notions of "locality" and
"government" in the Internet. In my office at SFSU I have the Sparc20
that houses BayMOO, a community of 2,000+ people, along with their rooms,
objects, mail-lists, etc. Sometimes I look at that pizza box and marvel
at all the dramas and creativity that have taken place in there. Of
course, the real BayMOO isn't exactly in there. It's in the shared
conceptual space that the Sparc makes possible. The BayMOO, and the NET
in general, is a real place that isn't there.
As for government: for the most part, we don't see it. But think for a
moment: who has the power to shut down your communities if they so
choose? I could physically shut down the BayMOO community -- at the cost of
getting my virtual butt kicked 2,000+ times :<) ; SFSU could shut us
down. I think that MCI owns the backbone, and if they do, then they could
shut us down. PG&E is the power company out here. No power, no virtual
community.
Of course, these folks don't seem to govern much, at least in the sense
of making up lots of "thou shalt not" rules. There are low-profile
groups like Internic that do exert a shaping hand on the Net, and
therefore on communities here. Also, there are packet protocols that exist
that form a kind of infrastructure government beneath all the
communication that goes on over the wires.
Well, these are just some random thoughts conjured up by your piece.
The human elements you speak of are of course the most important ones.
But I'd like to see you write some on the "locate and government" side of
virtual communities.
Cheers!