Virtual Communities Wish List

Experience with virtual communities such as Yahoo Groups, Community Zero, Blackboard and WebCT and working with ad hoc and formal groups (such as IEEE committees) has provided a basis for a “wish list” of virtual community capabilities. For any given audience, purpose, life-cycle and culture the relevant elements of this list will vary (Kim, 2000). With emerging technology and evolving experience, additional elements should be added. This, then, is a starting point for identifying the specific requirements for a specific virtual community. Here, general functions are described, as well as functions as seen by users or administrators of a virtual community. The format is intentionally terse to facilitate the use of this information as the basis for a checklist in evaluating requirements, alternatives and priorities. The general concepts of “push” (data is delivered to users, e-mail being an example) and “pull” (where data is only available when the user chooses to seek it out) are highly relevant. Maintaining community “interaction” is dependent on having a core of participants who are regularly interacting, and the “push” model can facilitate this among less experienced users.