and is on the core advisory faculty of GMU's Institute for Public Policy. His professional service centers on organizational redesign for increased effectiveness based on sophisticated technologies. His research interests span technology forecasting and assessment, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and strategic planning. To date, uses of information technology to enhance constructivist learning environments have centered on creating computational tools and virtual representations that students can manipulate. For example, many of the articles in this Educational Technology issue describe information technology instantiations of Perkins ' (1991) classification of constructivist paraphernalia: information banks, symbol pads, construction kits, phenomenaria, and task managers. As learners interpret experience to refine their mental models, computational tools that complement human memory and intelligence are made available. In parallel, transitional symbols (Papert, 1988; Fosnot, 1992). Thus, technology-enhanced constructivist learning currently focuses on how representations and applications can mediate interactions among learners and natural or social phenomena.

The emergence and convergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are fundamentally transforming the use of technology, and in particular concerning the issues of mobility. The current debates on mobility, however, almost exclusively consist of functionalist analyses of how particular mobile technologies can alleviate geographical barriers for human activity. This paper reconsiders, from a theoretical perspective, the concept of mobility. We argue that mobility should not exclusively be linked to human corporeal travel. The concept also relates more broadly to the interaction people perform. In order to appreciate the relationship between mobility and human interaction, three interrelated dimensions are discussed — spatial, temporal, and contextual aspects of mobility. In order to characterize the social topology of ICT supported mobilized interaction, we suggest and discuss the adoption of a fluid metaphor. Based on these discussions, a case of a new mobile technology system introduced in a Japanese distribution service firm is discussed. 1.

On the Internet, virtual communities structured around consumer interests have been growing rapidly. To be effective in this new environment, managers must consider the strategic implications of the existence of different types of both virtual community and community participation. Contrasted with database-driven relationship marketing, marketers seeking success with consumers in virtual communities should consider that that they: (1) are more active and discerning; (2) are less accessible to one-one-one processes, and (3) provide a wealth of valuable cultural information. Strategies for effectively targeting more desirable types of virtual communities and types of community members include: interaction-based segmentation, fragmentation-based segmentation, co-opting communities, paying-for-attention, and building networks by giving products away.

Beginning with an understanding of virtual reality as an imaginative experience and thus a cultural construct rather than a technical construction, this thesis discusses cultural and social issues raised by interaction on `MUDs', which are text-based virtual reality systems run on the international computer network known as the Internet. MUD usage forces users to deconstruct many of the cultural tools and understandings that form the basis of more conventional systems of interaction. Unable to rely on physical cues as a channel of meaning, users of MUDs have developed ways of substituting for or by-passing them, resulting in novel methods of textualising the non-verbal. The nature of the body and sexuality are problematised in these virtual environments, since the physical is never fixed and gender is a selfselected attribute. In coming to terms with these aspects of virtual interaction, new systems of significance have been developed by users, along with methods of enforcing that cult...

The development of high performance computing and communications is creating new media, such as the WorldWide Web and virtual realities. In turn, these new media enable new types of messages and experiences; for example, interpersonal interactions across network channels lead to the formation of virtual communities. The innovative kinds of pedagogy empowered by these emerging media, messages, and experiences make possible an evolution of synchronous, group, presentation-centered forms of distance education—which replicate traditional “teaching by telling ” across barriers of distance and time—into an alternative instructional paradigm: distributed learning. In particular, advances in computer-supported collaborative learning, multimedia/hypermedia, and experiential simulation offer the potential to create shared “learning-through-doing environments ” available anyplace, any time, on demand. This article speculates about how emerging technologies may reshape both face-to-face and distance education. Its purpose is to delineate a three-part conceptual framework (knowledge webs, virtual communities, and shared synthetic environments) for understanding the new types of instructional messages that enable distributed learning. Although this study cites leading edge scholarship to reinforce its claims, it is a position/discussion piece rather than

Abstract not found

This dissertation addresses the question, whatwill be the fate ofcommunityand social relations as a result of the growth of new home-based information and communication technologies? How have social networks, social capital and community involvement been affected by the rise of personal computers, the Internet and computer mediated communication (CMC)? Will the Internet reconnect the disaffiliated, or will CMC only contribute to a further disengagement of American community life? Survey and ethnographic data from along-term study of "Netville," a wired suburb near Toronto, are used to investigate the effects of advanced communication technology on social relationships. Netville was one of the first residential developments in the world to be built from the ground up with a broadband high-speed local computer network. Netville provided a unique opportunity to observe the effects of advanced information and communication technology on people's daily interactions with family, friends and neighbours. The "wired" residents of Netville are compared with a similar group of non-wired residents who lived in the same neighbourhood, but who were never connected to the local computer network. Greater involvement with friends, family and neighbours is linked to use of CMC. Internet use is associated with high levels of in-person and telephone contact, the exchange of support, the growth of personal network and increased community involvement.

research technique for providing consumer insight. “Netnography ” is ethnography adapted to the study of online communities. As a method, “netnography ” is faster, simpler, and less expensive than traditional ethnography, and more naturalistic and unobtrusive than focus groups or interviews. It provides information on the symbolism, meanings, and consumption patterns of online consumer groups. The author provides guidelines that acknowledge the online environment, respect the inherent flexibility and openness of ethnography, and provide rigor and ethics in the conduct of marketing research. As an illustrative example, the author provides a netnography of an online coffee newsgroup and discusses its marketing implications.

In this paper, we examine the use of an online social networking site by Michigan State University undergraduates and its relationship to social capital formation and maintenance, integration into college life, and psychological well-being. Facebook is an online social network software application used by university students to articulate existing offline social connections

When computer networks link people as well as machines, they become social networks. Social network analysis provides a useful approach to moving beyond the concept of “group ” in studying virtual communities and computer supported cooperative work and telework. Such computer supported social networks (CSSNS) sustain strong, inter-mediate and weak ties that provide information and social support in both specialized and broadly-based relation-ships. They foster informal workplace communities that are usually partial and narrowly-focused, although some do become encompassing and broadly-based. CSSNS connect workers within and between organizations who often are physically dispersed. The nature of the medium both constrains and facilitates management control. Although many relationships function offline as well as online, CSSNS have developed their own norms and structures. They have strong societal implications, foster-ing situations that combine global connectivity, the fragmentation of solidarities and the de-emphasis of local organization, and the importance of home bases. KEYWORDS computer supported cooperative work, informal relation-ships, telework, electronic mail, social networks COMPUTER SUPPORTED SOCIAL NETWORKS When a computer network connects people, it is a social network. Just as a computer network is a set of machines connected by a set of cables, a social network is a set of people (or organizations or other social entities) connected by a set of socially-meaningful relationships. Why do computer scientists talk about “groupware ” when a computer network supports all forms of social networks and not only groups? A group is only a special form of social network, one which is densely-knit (most nodes are directly connected with each other) and tightly-bounded (most links stay within the network rather than connecting Permission to make digitrd/trard copies of all or part of this material for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or diwibmed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyright notice, the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is