Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities and Technologies

The Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities and Technologies has a number of articles that describe some of the latest advances in the field. Papers in this encyclopedia are of three types: papers that explore conceptual issues of virtual communities, articles that examine technical issues and others that study the impact of virtual environments. Conceptual articles include those that explore different types of virtual communities, their social status and impact, individual and group behavior in these communities. Technical articles report on the advances in the technology for virtual communities including the design of human-computer interfaces, new networking technologies, mobile computing and web services. Impact papers examine ways in which success and effectiveness can measured in virtual environments. Case studies and reports on best practices support findings in these three areas. Articles written in these three areas by experts in virtual communities provide a comprehensive coverage of this area.