@article{LT_CT2005,
  abstract = {Electronic networks of practice are computer-mediated social spaces in which individuals working on similar problems self-organize to help each other and share perspectives. Based on previous research positing that the interaction created by network participantsproduces an online public good of knowledge, the purpose of this empirical paper is to use theories of public goods and collectiveaction to investigate this provision of knowledge. While based on the same technology platform and a similar concept, we examinethree cases in different professions: education, healthcare, and tourism by examining how the 1) heterogeneity of the individuals,2) relational structure of social ties, 3) norms of behavior, 4) affective factors, and 5) sanctions for noncompliance impactthe creation of a public good. We find that the most successful effort to create an electronic network of practice was withineducation and that one contributing factor was the site's ability to leverage existing offline networks of practice to createa relational structure of stronger social ties between members. In summary, these results reveal that taking a unitary viewof the underlying collective masks possible heterogeneity along a number of important dimensions and as a result may underminethe likelihood that the public good is created and maintained.},
  added-at = {2008-12-15T23:23:17.000+0100},
  author = {Landqvist, Fredric and Teigland, Robin},
  biburl = {http://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/24220833689a68a259758c23308578713/anneba},
  description = {SpringerLink - Buchkapitel},
  interhash = {faf349a6ac3ae1210218e7d79d6f0baf},
  intrahash = {4220833689a68a259758c23308578713},
  journal = {Communities and Technologies 2005},
  keywords = {collective-action network social-space},
  pages = {359--375},
  timestamp = {2008-12-15T23:23:17.000+0100},
  title = {Collective Action in Electronic Networks of Practice: An Empirical Study of Three Online Social Structures},
  url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3591-8_19},
  year = 2005
}