Embracing emergence: following the model presented by the Internet in deploying Internet-based communities

People in higher education institutions are increasingly looking at ways of building rich online communities to improve the experience of students and faculty. Such environments can increase the feeling of community, facilitate new connections between people on the campus, better integrate distance learners, and enhance institutional visibility, among other benefits. There are different ways of approaching this challenge, however, and we argue that, to be genuinely successful, a project must take an individual-centered approach and incorporate as much diversity as possible by being open to all and open-ended from the outset, rather than by starting with specific academic or institutional goals or with a core niche where the initiative is perceived to be more likely to get traction. We describe how the Campus Commons, an inter-institutional initiative currently underway on Prince Edward Island, has achieved success by adhering to this principle.