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Community Building on the Web
by Amy Jo
Kim
- reviewed by Dan Richards Amy
Jo Kim's long-awaited book,
Community
Building on the Web arrived on my desk recently. I build virtual
communities, so I'm always drinking in any information that comes down the
pipe. The one big plus that's apparent in the initial few pages of the book, is
that this work functions as a starting point for those with no prior
community-building experience. It's not that the book doesn't deliver much
richer and advanced information -it does. But what it doesn't take for
granted is the large audience out there who want and really need to start from
square one.
Even before the book actually starts, the Roman-numeraled
introduction delivers Nine Design Strategies. #1 is Define and
Articulate Your Purpose. That's enough to slow some people in their tracks
and make them actually think about what they want to accomplish. Three
Underlying Principles are then introduced. For anyone involved in community
building, the introduction is worth the price of the book.
The first chapter draws on and expands the information
presented in the introduction. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is used to present
concepts to assure the community member's basic needs are met before offering
"higher-level" features. A vital but often overlooked grounding-tool.
I thought it was interesting that Amy Jo's Ph.D. title is
not displayed. What I like about this book, is that it's void of academic and
sociological, highbrow rhetoric. Instead, it delivers page after page of nuts
n' bolts information on how to actually design, build and manage web
communities. Before the building ever starts, a lot of thinking has to take
place -and this book will get the motors running. If the desire is still there
after working through the "pull-no-punches" first chapter, then there's good
reason to further explore community building.
One thing the author really has going for her, with her ten years
of community-building experience, is that she's worked in a
lot of virtual environments -and that is clearly reflected in
the contents. MUD's, game environments, freeware, The Palace and
even eBay, are all well-covered, with examples of each platform's
strengths and weaknesses.
The meat of the book delivers a well-rounded arsenal on
community leadership, membership roles and rites of passage, etiquette,
community growth stages, and even Event Planning 101.
The one aspect that might be missed by some, are more
actual case-history examples. In some ways, I actually found this refreshing,
because there are more than enough web-community books and articles that cover
case histories in lucid detail. There has been a shortage of solid, one-stop
maps with countless easily-referred-to tools for getting the job done. This
book adds to the supply. Involvement in building virtual communities, sooner or
later, leads to Cliff Figallo's
Hosting
Web Communities, and of course, Howard Rheingold's classic
The Virtual Community. (A new,
updated edition of Rheingold's book will be released in 2000 by MIT Press.)
There are certainly more web community books [see the
related titles included with this article], but if there is a book to pick up
first,
Community
Building on the Web, by Amy Jo Kim, is the one.
b i o :
Dan Richards is the Associate Editor of
Mindjack. He welcomes your comments on this review. As a virtual community
builder, Dan is a member and active contributor on
Brainstorms and the
WELL. An Associate at
Howard Rheingold
Associates. He is co-founder and manager of the
D-Word Documentary Filmmaker's
Community, and is currently the Director of Community Development at the
"Online Health & Fitness Network", eFit.com, in New York City
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