Social Computing: Virtual Communities & Virtual Reality e-Books

Examines the imaginative, socioeconomic, and innovative features of the video sharing community of YouTube™ and how these areas traverse the digital world. Highlighting theoretical concepts and empirical research, as well as in-depth discussions on cultural studies, participatory experience, and media theory.

Examines the presence of online communities centered around niche topics of interest and the impact of these virtual spaces on community members. Taking perspectives from interdisciplinary fields such as sociology, psychology, and education.

Offers in-depth coverage of state-of-the-art research on virtual community participation. This book appeals to those interested not only in virtual communities, but also in virtual worlds, virtual teams, and even online shopping.

Not only presents experienced professionals with the most recent and advanced developments in the field, but it also provides clear and comprehensive information for novice readers. The handbook introduces theoretical aspects of virtual worlds, disseminates cutting-edge research, and presents first-hand practices in virtual world development and use.

Satisfies the need for methodological consideration and tools for data collection, analysis and presentation in virtual communities. Chapters cover studies on various types of virtual communities, making this reference a comprehensive source of research for those in the social sciences and humanities.

Thoroughly investigates the development, design, and utilization of virtual organizations and communities and the resulting impact of these venues. This four-volume reference source offers research on the foundation and future of social networking, human-computer interaction, and innumerable applications of virtual worlds, making it an essential addition to any library’s collection.

Provides an understanding of the interface between the laws of the real world and the laws of the virtual worlds. Raises and answers compelling legal questions about such issues as owning virtual assets, intellectual property right infringements and virtual liabilities in the real world.

Provides an analysis of virtual communities, explaining their lifecycle in terms of maturity-based models and workflows. An authoritative reference source valuable to academicians, practitioners, and researchers, this book reflects upon key results of research and development projects within online groups.

Examines the impact of new technologies and explores how social software and developing community ontologies are challenging the way we operate in a connected, distributed, and increasingly performative space.

Pool the existing works, approaches, solutions, and needs of the virtual enterprise research community to create a repository of the main developments regarding the virtual organization, compiling definitions, characteristics, comparisons, advantages, practices, enabling technologies, and best practices.

Presents the technological dimension by explaining the infrastructures and technologies to support technology and information integration standards and protocols. Lastly, this title highlights the social dimension, including human resources management, human resources integration, social issues, social impact, social requirements, and communities of knowledge.

Provides the most inclusive coverage of the concepts and realities in the field of virtual communities and technologies. Presenting an in-depth analysis of the conceptual and technical impacts of virtual environments in our global village.

Brings together in a single accessible source, a variety of current research and practice on the subject of virtual and collaborative teams. Geographic distance, technology, lack of social presence, lack of adequate training and lack of instructional resources are just some of the unique challenges faced by virtual teams.

Provides a guideline of how to manage virtual organizations, by introducing the concept, explaining the management theories behind the concept and presenting practical examples of successfully operating virtual organizations.

Since the dawn of civilization, new technologies-from the plow to the locomotive to the computer-have transformed human lives. These changes have often been for the better, but occasionally also for the worse. No matter what consequence, these changes have always been irrevocable and pervasive. This book is the interplay of the ubiquity of the virtual environment and our evolving interactions in this changed context.

Explores the notion of establishing an identity online, managing it like a brand, and using it with particular members of a community. Brings together a range of voices exemplifying how participants in online communities influence one another.

Detailed treatment of technical, social, and legal issues inherent in online virtual communities, exploring methods of effectively implementing the latest social tools in their everyday practices, both professional and personal, in the interest of improved security and sustainability in digital collaborative environments.

Offers a holistic approach to virtual communities, providing relevant theoretical frameworks and presenting the latest empirical research on virtual technology, infrastructures, content modeling, knowledge modeling, content management, context awareness, mobility, security and trust.

Presents foundational research, models, case studies and research results that researchers and scholars can port to their own environments to evolve their own research processes and studies.

Provides in-depth coverage of the state-of-the-art among the best international research experiences of virtual world concept creations from a wide range of media culture fields, at the edge of artistic and scientific inquiry and emerging technologies.

Characterizes the nuanced communication, relational, and practical dynamics that characterize virtual working in contemporary organizations. This reference work addresses virtual teams, peer relationships in virtual work, mentoring, vertical mobility, diversity in the virtual workspace, productivity and the postmodern aesthetic, and the communication practices and processes of dispersed work configurations.

Examines what constitutes social capital in geographical communities and offers an in-depth description of its potential in virtual communities. Draws upon insights from interdisciplinary fields such as artificial intelligence, human computer interaction, educational technology, and economics and sociology.

Looks at best practices in building sustainable community development to explain not only how but why. This unique book contains extensive referencing and sophisticated analysis in the ways communities are using information communication technologies to secure a more prosperous future.

Addresses a range of e-collaboration topics, with emphasis on two particularly challenging ones: virtual team leadership and collaborative engineering. Presents a blend of conceptual, theoretical, and applied chapters creating a publication that will serve both academics and practitioners.

Collects a defining body of research on the concept of creativity as a specific objective for virtual teams. The international authorities contributing to this Premier Reference Source present a complete set of tools and technologies aimed at leveraging ideas from different locations in an organization to harness creativity and deliver innovation.

Leading reference source for dynamic and innovative research in the field of communities of practice (CoPs) in information and knowledge management. With knowledge management work on the increase, this single volume encyclopedia provides a comprehensive, critical and descriptive examination of all facets of CoPs in information and knowledge management in societies and organizations.

Contributes to the understanding of how more subtle kinds of knowledge can be managed in a distributed international environment. It describes academic work in the field of Knowledge Management, with a specific focus on the management of knowledge which cannot be managed by the normal capture-codify-store approach.

Offers a series of chapters featuring practical research, insight and recommendations on how virtual team projects can be better managed, as well as in depth discussion on issues critical to virtual team success, including the place of virtual teams in organizations, leadership, trust and relationship building, best use of technology, and knowledge sharing.

Presents a comprehensive collection of research works that describe such organizations, the policies and practices that they have implemented and challenges that they have faced throughout their adaptation to the virtual world.