This wide-ranging introductory text looks at the virtual community of cyberspace and analyses its relationship to the real one as lived out in today's societies. Such issues as race, gender, power, economics and ethics in cyberspace are discussed by the leading experts on the subject of the internet, grouped under four main sections: * identity * social order and control * community structure and dynamics * collective action. Communities in Cyberspace displays how the idea of community is being challenged and rewritten by the increasing power and range of cyberspace. As new societies and relationships are formed in this virtual landscape, we are now having to consider the potential consequences this might have on our own community and societies. Clearly written and covering all the main topics, this edited volume is an essential introduction to the internet. It will appeal to students and professional, but also to those concerned about the changing relationships between information technology and a society which is fast becoming divided between those on-line and those not. Byron Burkhalter, UCLA, Judith S. Donath, MIT, The Media Laboratory, Laura J.
Gurak, University of Minnesota, Peter Kollock, UCLA, Marc Smith, UCLA, Christopher M