One thing we postulated about

One thing we postulated about a lot at my old job was communities. The connections people make with other people is a dynamo that never stops running. It’s not without its flaws though. Steven Johnson, a founder of FEED Magazine, has a new book out. It’s called Emergence. It’s about self-organizing systems and how they scale. It borrows from a number of different scientific disciplines to describe how communities work in the online world. An excerpt is available that focuses primarily on Slashdot’s moderation system. This looks like a good book.

By the way, FEED Magazine is the best example of how great writing, great editors and a great site will make you no money on the Internet. Back on June 8th, 2001 it went into suspended animation.