Fyra former av virtuella gemenskaper

Abstract

When information technology increase the possibilities for communication it is possible to recognize new social patterns in Cyberspace. A common used concept for one kind of social patterns in Cyberspace is virtual communities. The history of virtual communities goes back to the seventies with the communities called Communitree and The Well as pioneers. Today it is possible to distinguish between different kinds of virtual communities. In this paper we suggest four different categories: Community Networks, Professional communities, Personal communities and "communities of the third place".