Alexander and Uwe, Sorry to be an olde fogie, but Barry Leighton and I wrote in 1979 that communities are best defined by interaction. See "Networks, Neighborhoods and Communities," Urban Affairs QUarterly (or my website.) ANd even earlier, George Hillery wrote a paper that every urban sociologist had to memorize on the many (80?) ways that community has been defined. In shrot, YMMV Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________