Cyberculture authority Howard Rheingold was the first to write about online communities in this style
that is part-travelogue and part-anthropological guide. This groundbreaking classic explores the entire
virtual community, beginning with a selective but probing look at the author's original online home, The
Well. Rheingold relates plenty of anecdotes that demonstrate the upsides of online life, such as how he
was able to get information on removing a tick from his child before his doctor could respond to his
phone call. But the bulk of the material relates to how individuals interact online much as they do in a
face-to-face community.

Rheingold speaks to how both friendships and enmities are formed online and how people come together
to support each other through misfortune. He gives the example of how computer-moderated
communication enabled members of one Well community to send vital medical aid to a friend hospitalized
halfway around the world. Rheingold goes on to show how communities can form by various electronic
communication methods, using the conferencing system of The Well as one example. He also examines how
people interact through mailing lists, live chat, and the fantasy cyberenvironments of online role-playing
games. In the process, he questions what kind of relationships can really be formed in a medium where
people can change their apparent identity at will.
 

This book questions whether a distinction between "virtual" communities and "real-life" communities is
entirely valid. The Virtual Community argues that real relationships happen and real communities develop
when people communicate upon virtual common ground. Rheingold also shares his far-reaching knowledge
of how technology effects our social constructs. If you are involved in an online community, here is your
cultural heritage.