Written for both scholars and practitioners, this volume focuses on the design, management, use and impacts of Virtual Communities (VCs) from technological, social and economic perspectives. It brings together peer-reviewed research articles that give an in-depth review of the state-of-the-art practices, and also shows opportunities for research and practice in and around VCs.

Chapter 1 Virtual Communities, Jan Marco Leimeister, Balaji Rajagopalan; Part 1 Fundamentals of Virtual Comunities; Chapter 2 Creating Trust and Part Icipation in Online Communities with it Features, Alexander Benlian, Thomas Hess; Chapter 3 Sense of Community in Virtual Environments, Dana Rotman, Philip Fei Wu; Part 2 Applications of Virtual Communities; Chapter 4 Online Travel Communities, Felix-Robinson Aschoff; Chapter 5 Factors Influencing Virtual Learning Community Success, René Wegener, Jan Marco Leimeister; Chapter 6 Enhancing Absorptive Capacity in Open Innovation Communities, Ivo Blohm, Vincent Kahl, Jan Marco Leimeister, Helmut Krcmar; Part 3 Development of Virtual Communities; Chapter 7 Tools for Developing and Deploying Virtual Communities and Their Platforms, Michael J. Huber, Helmut Krcmar; Chapter 8 How to Identify Great Designs, Johann Füller, Katja Hutter, Johannes Gebauer, Clemens Pirker; Chapter 9 Design Considerations for Virtual Communities, Balaji Rajagopalan; Part 4 Extending Virtual Communities Beyond Traditional Boundaries; Chapter 10 Sociotechnically Integrated Access To Virtual Communities with Communitymirrors, Michael Koch, Florian Ott, Alexander Richter;