The Dynamics of Cyberspace: Examining and Modeling Electronic Group Development

媒体、许多企业和许多学者都在宣称信息高速公路和网络提供了对信息的普遍访问，并为全球村庄和虚拟组织的出现提供了基础设施。 在这种基础设施中，人们被认为能够自由互动，并使他们的想法在开放的市场上竞争。 然而，这一假设忽略了这样一个事实，即人们不断形成群体，群体发展出限制信息流动的规范和程序，并阻止非群体成员享有与群体成员相同的利益。 在线社区中出现的群体对个人的交流行为有很大的影响。 这个建议是调查电子集团的演变，并确定影响集团的形成和维护这条信息高速公路的因素。 这项工作的成果之一将是一个经验验证 模型 的 电子 组 发展 通过调查自然发生的电子集团的发展，这项工作预计将有助于研究集团的动态和调查的影响和使用新的电信技术。

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.