Book details of 'The virtual community : Homesteading on the electronic frontier'

Title	The virtual community : Homesteading on the electronic frontier
Author(s)	Howard Rheingold
ISBN	0201608707
Language	English
Published	October 1993
Publisher	Perseus Books
Publisher	Perseus Publishing

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'The virtual community : Homesteading on the electronic frontier':

Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
In the dust jacket blurbs, Mitch Kapor is quoted as calling this, "A Magic Mystery Tour of the human side of cyberspace." Although the points of some passages are mysterious, this book definitely concentrates on the human face of computer mediated communications. Tom Peters calls it "riveting". Now the personal aspects of net communication are important, and too often get lost in the technology. Rheingold's "stream of anecdote" style is also pretty much guaranteed to keep your attention. But Rheingold's view of the nets is limited, lopsided and even somewhat distorted. A "Nonsequitor" cartoon shows a long line of people in business dress waiting their turn at a table. Standing before the table, with their backs to a wall, they pick up a dart and throw it over their shoulder at the wall. At the top of the wall, large bold letters state, "Today I am an Expert In ... " The remainder of the wall is covered with small pieces of paper with topics written on them. The title reads, "How Journalists Start Their Day." It is possibly important to bear in mind that this is more or less what Rheingold boasts of doing in his work (page 59). Rheingold appears to be paddling at the shores of the cyberspace sea, calling our attention to oddities in the tidal pools of Prestel, Minitel, CIX, TWICS, Compuserve, and his home puddle at the WELL. While not completely unaware of the Internet ocean before him, he seems to prefer to ignore it (most often referring to it by the historical name of ARPANET). In a sense, this does not really matter: since there is no attempt at any sort of analysis, what does it hurt if the stories are limited? Instructive is the fact that whole chapters are devoted to MUD (Multi-User Domains) and IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Virtual communities on the net are rapidly evolving ones, with fast growth (the Interpedia discussion reached 30,000 members within a month of its creation), high turnover in membership, and sometimes an equally rapid demise. IRC, however, is the ultimate in ephemericity. MUDs, on the other hand, are almost antithetical to the idea of community. Not only are they virtual, but completely unreal, with the permitted; nay, encouraged; use of false personae. For those who know the nets, this can be an amusing and entertaining diversion. For those who do not, please do not base your judgments on this.
Reviewer Koos van den Hout wrote:
A view from a non-computer-person on how electronic networks are creating new communities. Great reading.
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