TY - JOUR AU - Werry, Chris PY - 1999/09/06 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Imagined electronic community: Representations of virtual community in contemporary business discourse JF - First Monday JA - FM VL - 4 IS - 9 SE - DO - 10.5210/fm.v4i9.690 UR - https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/690 SP - AB - In contemporary business texts corporate sponsored online communities are described as central to the commercial development of the Internet. This paper presents a history of how online community has been represented in models of Internet commerce. It critically examines the arguments, narratives and rhetorical strategies drawn on within business texts to represent online community. The paper discusses why academics have an interest in involving themselves in helping organize alternative models of online community formation in the context of moves to corporatize and commodify higher education. ER -