Applying "Old School" Community Theory to Online Communities

The reason I have you read so many sociological theorists (Dunbar, Putnam, Oldenburg, etc) is that their ideas recur in many discussions of current-day online commnities. Today we'll talk about how those theories can be applied to today's online social networking tools and virtual communities.

Readings Applying Sociological Theory in Online Contexts

• Allen, C. 2004. "The Dunbar Number as a Limit to Group Sizes."
• Allen, C. 2005. "Dunbar & World of Warcraft."
• Ducheneaut, N., Moore, R. J., and Nickell, E. 2007. Virtual "Third Places": A Case Study of Sociability in Massively Multiplayer Games. Comput. Supported Coop. Work 16, 1-2 (Apr. 2007), 129-166
• Shirky, C. 2002. Communities, Audience, and Scale.
• Shirky, C. 2004. "Two on the Monkey-Mind."