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The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that cyber-ethnography is the most appropriate tool in reaching an understanding of the online community. I argue that cyber-ethnography's reflexive qualities allow the characteristics of the online community to emerge. I demonstrate, through the cyber-ethnographic exploration of two feminist online communities, how the participants define their own perimeters. I suggest that the online community has two main characteristics. Through its convergence with the physical, the online community's existence is apparent, though not unconditionally virtual. Indeed, the online community does not compete with, or supersede physical space, rather a hybrid space emerges that is neither absolutely physical or virtual. Secondly, I depict the participants as having a transitory, unconditional relationship with the online community. That is; they will only participate for short periods when they require use of the resources that the online community has to offer.

This study examines the factors that influence the willingness to contribute information to online communities from the perspectives of the discretionary database and expectancy theory. The study identified four groups of variables and tested their predictive value on the willingness to contribute information to online communities. The findings confirmed the effect of the perceived value of contributing and the likelihood of getting a reward for the willingness to contribute. Cost of contribution was not a significant predictor of the willingness to contribute information. Benefit from, and interest in, the community were significant predictors, but community affinity was not. Among the four groups of variables, social approval was the strongest predictor of the willingness to contribute.

Using a novel approach to consider the available literature and research, this book focuses on the psychology of social media based on the assumption that the experience of being in a social media has an impact on both our identity and social relationships. In order to 'be online', an individual has to create an online presence - they have to share information about themselves online. This online self is presented in different ways, with diverse goals and aims in order to engage in different social media activities and to achieve desired outcomes. Whilst this may not be a real physical presence, that physicality is becoming increasingly replicated through photos, video, and ever-evolving ways of defining and describing the self online. Moreover, individuals are using both PC-based and mobile-based social media as well as increasingly making use of photo and video editing tools to carefully craft and manipulate their online self. This book therefore explores current debates in Cyberpsychology, drawing on the most up-to-date theories and research to explore four main aspects of the social media experience (communication, identity, presence and relationships). In doing so, it considers the interplay of different areas of psychological research with current technological and security insight into how individuals create, manipulate and maintain their online identity and relationships. The social media are therefore at the core of every chapter, with the common thread throughout being the very unique approach to considering diverse and varied online behaviours that may not have been thus far considered from this perspective. It covers a broad range of both positive and negative behaviours that have now become integrated into the daily lives of many westernised country's Internet users, giving it an appeal to both scholarly and industry readers alike.

Part 4: Critical Reflections ; International audience ; While Online Communities (OCs) are increasingly used to involve people in organizations and societies, few studies focus on how OC influence political decision making within eParticipation initiatives. This issue is explored through an interpretive case-study of the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S), a mass-size eParticipation political initiative recently founded by private citizens. The use of OCs is a common strategy to involve groups of people to easily connect on-line, cooperating on common and shared interests. We here focus on understanding the internal and external forces influencing on the OCs, to better understand how to manage such OCs within the eParticipation domain. We do so by introducing the concept of tensions, to describe the states that these contrasting forces produce on the OCs, addressing the research question: what tensions occur in OCs for eParticipation? Our work contributes to a deeper understanding of the OCs phenomenon within the eParticipation domain, while also provides avenues for further research.

Are online "communities" really communities? -- What can online collaboration accomplish? -- Should you believe Wikipedia? -- How does the internet change how we think? -- How do people express identity online, and why is this important for online interaction? -- What is bad online behavior, and what can we do about it? -- How do business models shape online communities? -- How can we help the internet to bring out the best in us all?

In dem Beitrag sollen Erfahrungen aus der Durchführung teilstrukturierter Online-Interviews im Rahmen einer ethnografischen Studie vermittelt werden, die zwischen 2000 und 2001 in Saudi-Arabien durchgeführt wurde. Ziel der Untersuchung war es, sowohl die individuelle Beteiligung in Online-Gemeinschaften als auch die Auswirkungen dieser Gemeinschaften auf das Offline-Leben in Saudi-Arabien zu rekonstruieren. Die Wahrnehmungen der jeweiligen Online-Gemeinschaften durch die Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen wurde mittels teilstrukturierter Interviews erhoben. Insgesamt beteiligten sich an der Untersuchung 15 Personen (8 Frauen und 7 Männer). Nach einer kurzen Einführung in die saudiarabische Kultur wird die theoretische und methodologische Konzeption der Studie vorgestellt. Es folgt eine Diskussion des teilstrukturierten Interviews und der Gründe, die dafür ausschlaggebend waren, die Interviews online durchzuführen. Anschließend werden zunächst die Kriterien für die Auswahl der Interviewten und die mit dieser Auswahl verbundenen Probleme skizziert, dann werden Einzelheiten der Interviewdurchführung und Datenauswertung erläutert. Der Artikel endet mit einem Diskussionsangebot über die Erfahrungen, die im Verlauf dieses Forschungsvorgehens gewonnen wurden.

Machine generated contents note:1.Introduction --Why Italy, Why the M5S --Political Participation --What Does the Internet Change for Political Participation? --What Does the Internet Change for Political Organisation --What Does the Internet Change for Political Deliberation? --Citizen Users, Communities and Crowds --Outline of the Book --References --2.The Emergence of the Citizen User --Decline in Trust --Internet Users --References --3.Mobilisation and Elections --The Mobilisation of the Citizen User and the Creation of the M5S --Internet and legacy Media in the Electoral Trajectory of the M5S --The M5S in the Ideology Space --References --4.Online Communities and Online Crowds --The Media Ecology of the M5S Community --Participation on the M5S Media System --References --5.Online Discussion Within the M5S Community --Issues, Topics and Style on the Forum --Discussion Networks --References --6.The M5S Community and Citizen's Income --Mapping Documents in the Concept Space --The GMI Debate: Offline and Online --References --7.By the Crowd, for the People? --Internet-Enabled Organisation Beyond the M5S and Italy --Asymmetric Online Deliberation --Citizen User and Democracy --Crowd-Mediated Politics.