Steve Fox (NLG):
One thing out of this that I find extremely interesting, though, is how the online community governs itself? How does this governance work through our collective perceptions of the community, and can online communities "survive" without a structured model of governance?
(1) ... without a structured model of something, anyway. You call it "governance". Others may like "gardening". (2) Whether or not there *is* a structured model of governance depends on the analyst. Structure is always there, anyway. It's really imho a question of two things, understanding what structures are going on (research) and figuring out what structures you want to see going on given your goals, hopes, ethics (policy). unusually prolific (I'll stop now), Bram