Virtual communities are becoming a part of the real society and as such they influence and change the fundamental preconditions for the development of social and cultural structures and patterns in society. We are studying virtual communities, their rise and development, with the purpose to understand how they evolve, what they mean, and how this development will affect traditional organizations and even basic fundaments in society such as democracy and participation. We are using a broad explorative research approach.

Website: http://www.informatik.umu.se/nlrg/vircom.html