> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of J. van Baardwijk
...
> On that site there is mention of Marc Smith's book _Communities in
> Cyberspace_. It gets quite good reviews (4 out of 5 stars at
> Amazon US and
> 5 out of 5 stars at Amazon UK). Have you read it? If so, what is your
> opinion on this book? I am considering ordering it, but at that price I
> want to be sure it is worth the money.
I have it and read parts of it a year or so ago. If you're hoping for
something that would talk about how to analyze on-line community social
dynamics, that's not the book. Except for Marc's own essay in it, which is
somewhat quantitative, it is almost entirely narrative and theory.
So, if you want to read some interesting thoughts about on-line communities,
it might be worthwhile. But if you're hoping for some insight into how to
discover patterns with analysis, it's definitely not.
Nick
