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，并提供了基础设施，使一个全球村庄和虚拟组织将会出现。在这种基础设施中，个人被认为能够自由互动，并使他们的想法在开放的市场中竞争。然而，这种假设忽略了这样一个事实，即人们不断地形成小组，小组制定了限制信息流动的规范和程序，阻止非小组成员享有与小组成员相同的利益。个体的沟通行为受到在线社区中出现的群体的显著影响。这项建议是为了调查电子群组的演变，并确定影响这条信息高速公路上群组形成和维护的因素。这项工作的成果之一将是一个经过经验验证的电子群体发展模型。通过研究自然产生的电子群体的发展，这项工作有望有助于群体动力学的研究和新电信技术的影响和使用的调查。

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.