what-when-how
In Depth Tutorials and Information
Chapter 16
VirtualCommunitiesBased
onSociotechnicalSystems
Keli Kohoue, Sadith Osseni, and Fei Hu
Contents
16.1 Introduction [2,6] ..................................................................................369
16.2 Managing Virtual Knowledge Networks [5] ..........................................370
16.3 Social Network Analysis [4] ...................................................................371
16.4 Mining Hidden Communities in Heterogeneous Social Networks [1] ...373
16.5 Macroscopic Study of Social Networks [3] .............................................377
16.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................381
References .........................................................................................................381
16.1 Introduction[2,6]
We might want to call the world we currently live an ensemble of “virtual communities.”
Computers have enabled the fast creation of diverse communities. Message boards, chat
rooms, user groups, and blogs are currently the most active Internet communities.
Virtual communities are originally intended for a variety of needs, varying
from communities of interest (intellectual Web sites), communities of relationship
(Twitter, MySpace, etc.), gaming communities (e.g., in World of Warcraft, Second
Life), or communities of transaction to peer-to-peer communities (eBay, Amazon,
etc.). Web 2.0 mechanisms are also boosting the development of virtual communi-
ties (used for cell phones or PDAs) and the role of user-generated content within
virtual communities.
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