Jed Burgess, Michael Jahr, Jonathan Keljo, Josh Schroeder, Wilson Sweitzer

The online world is filled with virtual communities, each experimenting with its own unique style of government. Many of the classic forms of government in the real world can be found somewhere online -- monarchy, oligarchy, anarchy, democracy, even feudalism. Most virtual governments combine the characteristics of several models, and no two communities are governed in exactly the same way. In this site, we examine the technologies used online and the people and communities using them, and how each helps determine which governmental forms develop.