Communities in the Virtual Metropolis
Traditionally communities have been linked to the underlying geography, so that the identity of a community, for instance a neighborhood in a city, was linked to an underlying physical place, as part of a legal jurisdiction. A different kind of community is made possible by the self-identification of individuals with a common interest, the “virtual community,” made possible by the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and the augmented communication that ICTs can facilitate in a physical community.
Full paper: "The Role of Community Information in the Virtual Metropolis: The Co-Existence of Virtual and Proximate Terrains"
Collaborative Policy Networks
A newly completed working paper by CACP in collaboration with the Wireless and Workplace Accommodations RERCs, Collaborative Policy Networks addresses
key factors and practices that can be used to develop a set of virtual
interactive tools which support a community of practice focusing on
disability and technology policy. It probes online contexts that can
leverage the research, academic, and advocacy nodes of the disability
community into effectual policy-making. It also provides a brief review
of three distinct bodies of literature: policy networks, online social
networking, and communities of practice.
Full Working Paper: "Collaborative Policy Networks,”
Online Spiritual Communities
The
increasing use of communication-centric technologies such as the
Internet, offer important opportunities to revisit and re-conceptualize
the operation of communities, especially those in which modes of
communication substitute for geographic proximity. This paper explores
aspects of the construct and interpretation of virtual communities
concentrating on three constituent components of online (virtual)
religious groups.
Full paper: the construct of (virtual) community: interpreting online spiritual communities