The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold

The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold

Howard Rheingold tours the virtual community of online networking.

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 1993, 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.

Howard Rheingold is the author of Tools for Thought: The Past and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (both published by the MIT Press), and Smart Mobs: The Coming Social Revolution (both published by the MIT Press).