Discussion on the Web is mediated through layers of software and protocols. As scholars increasingly study communication and learning on the Internet, it is essential to consider how site administrators, programmers, and designers create interfaces and enable functionality. The managers, administrators, and designers of online communities can turn to more than 20 years of technical books for guidance on how to design online communities toward particular objectives. Through analysis of this «how-to» literature, Designing Online Communities explores the discourse of design and configuration that partially structures online communities and later social networks. Tracking the history of notions of community in these books suggests the emergence of a logic of permission and control. Online community defies many conventional notions of community. Participants are increasingly treated as «users», or even as commodities themselves to be used. Through consideration of the particular tactics of these administrators, this book suggests how researchers should approach the study and analysis of the records of online communities.

Trevor Owens is a digital archivist at the Library of Congress. He holds a doctorate in social science research methods from George Mason University. His research has been published in journals such as Curator: The Museum Journal, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Science Communication. In 2014, he received the Society for American Archivists¿ Archival Innovator Award.

Contents: Learning and Collective Intelligence on the Web ¿ A Framework for Studying Online Community Software ¿ Research Questions and Methods ¿ Community and Values: A Worked Example of Analysis ¿ Rhetorics of Online Community: A Brief History ¿ Enacting Control, Granting Permissions ¿ Studying the Records of Online Communities.