{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T00:09:54Z","timestamp":1777939794448,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2006,2,1]],"date-time":"2006-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1138752000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Drawing upon cognitive science and systems theory, this article examines a number of issues commonly undertaken in theorizing \u2018online communities.\u2019 The thesis is that current approaches to online community that focus on specific online \u2018places,\u2019 such as LamdaMOO, may overlook the actual practices engaged in by current internet users, which focus on ad-hoc interactions with a distributed community. Systems theory, as developed by Vilem Flusser, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, is used to examine the relationship between communication and community. Through this examination a definition of community as a distributed communications systems, in which individuals function as nodes in the overall system, is developed. The conclusion considers the significance of this definition for the evaluation of the internet as a tool for political action and self-realization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444806059867","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2006,2,2]],"date-time":"2006-02-02T08:43:30Z","timestamp":1138869810000},"page":"33-51","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":29,"title":["Distributed communities and nodal subjects"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Phillip H.","family":"Gochenour","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Totalmass Inc., USA,"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2006,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism","author":"Anderson, B.","year":"1991"},{"key":"atypb2","volume-title":"\u2018On Distributed Communications\u2019","author":"Baran, P.","year":"1964"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cyberspace","author":"Breslow, H.","year":"1997"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"INET \u201893","author":"Bruckman, A."},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"Conversation and Community: Chat in a Virtual World","author":"Cherney, L.","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb6","volume-title":"Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan","author":"Czitrom, D.","year":"1982"},{"key":"atypb7","volume-title":"One Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia","author":"Delueze, G.","year":"1987"},{"key":"atypb8","first-page":"29","volume-title":"Communities in Cyberspace","author":"Donath, J.S.","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb9","first-page":"293","volume-title":"Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths, and Metaphors","author":"Dibbell, J.","year":"1993"},{"key":"atypb10","first-page":"29","volume-title":"Communities in Cyberspace","author":"Duval Smith, A.","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb11","volume-title":"Der Flusser-Reader zu Kommunication, Medien und Design (The City as Wave-Trough in the Image Flood)","author":"Flusser, V.","year":"1988"},{"key":"atypb12","volume-title":"Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison","author":"Foucault, M.","year":"1977"},{"key":"atypb13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203948873-6","volume-title":"Internet Culture","author":"Ito, M.","year":"1997"},{"key":"atypb14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203948873-13","volume-title":"Internet Culture","author":"Lockard, J.","year":"1997"},{"key":"atypb15","volume-title":"The Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding","author":"Maturana, H.","year":"1998"},{"key":"atypb16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1083-6101.1996.tb00185.x"},{"key":"atypb17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203948873-12","volume-title":"Internet Culture","author":"Poster, M.","year":"1997"},{"key":"atypb18","first-page":"134","volume-title":"Communities in Cyberspace","author":"Reid, E.","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb19","volume-title":"The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier","author":"Rheingold, H.","year":"1994"},{"key":"atypb20","volume-title":"Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet","author":"Turkle, S.","year":"1995"},{"key":"atypb21","volume-title":"The Embodied Mind","author":"Varela, F.","year":"1993"},{"key":"atypb22","first-page":"102","volume-title":"Virtual Culture: Identity and Community in Cyberspace","author":"Watson, N.","year":"1997"}],"container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1461444806059867","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1461444806059867","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T05:28:39Z","timestamp":1777699719000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1461444806059867"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2006,2]]},"references-count":22,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,2]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1461444806059867"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1461444806059867","relation":{},"ISSN":["1461-4448","1461-7315"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1461-4448","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7315","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2006,2]]}}}