Hi Ellie in addition to what colleagues have posted already, I suggest the following articles: Andrews, D. C., Preece, J., & Turoff, M. (2001, Jan 3-6). A Conceptual Framework for Demographic Groups Resistant to Online Community Interaction. Paper presented at the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Island of Maui, Hawaii. Butler, B. S. (2001). Membership Size, Communication Activity, and Sustainability. Information System Research, 12(4), 346-362. Maloney-Krichmar, D., Abras, C., & Preece, J. (2002, Jun 6-8). Revitalizing an Online Community. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) – Social Implications of Information and Communication Technology, Raleigh, NC. Caleb has an interesting article on his website which talks about the purposeful breakup of an online community in order to re-establish it: Clark, C. J. (1999, Jan 12). Hot Tubbing an Online Community. Retrieved Jan 25, 2007, from http://www.plocktau.com/writing/hottub.html And chapter 11 in Derek's book is entitled "Killing Your Community": Powazek, D. M. (2002). Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders. This article may be of interest from a more general perspective: Selwyn, N. (2003). Apart from technology: understanding people’s non- use of information and communication technologies in everyday life. Technology in Society, 25(1), 99-116. In regards to your query about "definition and types of internet communities", Robert has written a section about "Taxonomy models for online communities" in: Plant, R. (2004). Online Communities. Technology in Society, 26(1), 51-65. hope this is useful, cheers, marcus -- Dr Marcus Foth Australian Postdoctoral Fellow Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology (CRICOS No. 00213J) Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia Phone +61 7 313 x88772 - Fax x88195 - Room Z6-511 m.foth@qut.edu.au - http://www.vrolik.de/ http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Foth,_Marcus.html