Online Communities - Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability

The purpose of the book is to set up a framework for discussions on social and technical issues of online communities. Designing usability and supporting sociability lays a solid foundation on which online communities can grow and thrive. Intended for both students and computer professionals, the book addresses the development of new online communities as well as the improvement of existing ones. It is divided into two parts - Getting Acquainted with Online Communities and Developing Online Communities - along with a preface and a concluding chapter which explores the future of online communities. For sample chapters and other resources, please check out the web site for the book at:

http://www.clis.umd.edu/people/preece/

Jenny Preece is Professor and Chair of Information Systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she teaches online communities and human-computer interaction. Prior to coming to the USA she chaired the first distance education course at the Open University in the UK. She has authored a leading text on Human-Computer Interaction and numerous other publications.

Foreword.

Preface.

GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH ONLINE COMMUNITIES.

Introduction.

Community Tours.

Sociability: Purpose, People, and Policies.

Usability: Tasks, Users, and Software.

Research Speaks to Practice: Interpersonal Communication.

Research Speaks to Practice: Groups.

DEVELOPING ONLINE COMMUNITIES.

Community-Centered Development.

Selecting Software.

Guidelines: Sociability and Usability.

Assessing Needs and Evaluating Communities.

Development Case Studies.

Looking to the Future.

References.

Index.