The Dynamics of Cyberspace: Examining and Modeling Electronic Group Development

媒体、许多企业和许多学者都宣称信息高速公路和网络提供了普遍获取信息的途径，并为全球村和虚拟组织的出现提供了基础设施。在这种基础设施中，人们认为个人能够自由互动，并在开放的市场中竞争他们的想法。然而，这种假设忽略了这样一个事实，即人们不断地形成群体，群体发展出限制信息流动的规范和程序，并阻止非群体成员与群体成员享有同样的利益。网络社区中出现的群体对个人交流行为有显著影响。本研究旨在探讨电子群组的演化，并找出影响群组形成与维持的因素。这项工作的成果之一将是一个经验验证的电子群体发展模型。通过调查自然发生的电子群的发展，这项工作预计将有助于研究群动力学和调查新电信技术的影响和使用。

The media, many businesses, and many academicians are proclaiming the information highway and the web as providing universal access to information and as providing the infrastructure in which a Oglobal villageO and Ovirtual organizationsO will emerge. Within this infrastructure, individuals are assumed to be able to freely interact and have their ideas compete in an open market. This assumption, however, neglects the fact that people continually form groups and that groups develop norms and procedures that restrict the flow of information and prevent non-group members from having the same benefits as group members. IndividualsO communication behavior is significantly affected by groups that emerge in on-line communities. This proposal is to investigate the evolution of electronic groups and to ascertain the factors affecting group formation and maintenance on this information highway. One of the outcomes of this work will be an empirically validated model of electronic group development. By investigating the development of naturally occurring electronic groups, this work is expected to contribute to the study of group dynamics and investigations of the impact and use of new telecommunication technologies.