For those who have an interest in online community development you may wish to peruse my dissertation which is now available in PDF format. The title is "Computer Supported Social Networks: Audience-centric Online Community Implementation." http://georgetown.edu/faculty/dca4/publications.html Short Abstract: Commercial, non-profit, and grassroots organizations see potential benefit is using online community as a mechanism for attracting audiences to their Internet services, retaining the interest of existing customers, and growing the value of their revenue potential (Hagel and Armstrong, 1997). However, these audiences and customer groups are unlike early online community members, which suggests that implementing online communities for these people may be fraught with issues not encountered in the early years of online community development. This research is a case study of the development of an online community targeted at a specific audience. This audience, North American mid-life career changers, is like many audiences. They share specific common interests and needs, but lack existing communities to support those interests and needs and have few expectations about forming such mutually beneficial relationships online. From this case study research, a model for audience-centric online community implementation is proposed. The model provides guidelines to establish weak-tie, computer-mediated social networks for problem solving and fact finding. The research provides insights into what must be known about this audience to develop an appropriate online community to address its common needs and motivate members to participate. It demonstrates how audience needs and requirements may be translated into online community technology, content, and functionality. It explores the economic structures and financial issues that affect audience-centric online communities that have membership growth and financial sustainability needs. Another new publication of interest by one of my colleagues who is studies the use of online communty in the health field appeared recently in the Communications Journal. The PDF copy can be viewed at: http://cct.georgetown.edu/docs/JOC.pdf. It is very well done. Happy labor day and good reading! Dorine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dorine Andrews, DCD Research Professor, www.georgetown.edu/faculty/dca4 Communication, Culture & Technology Program Georgetown University office (202) 784-4338 dca4@georgetown.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------