Most online communities are simply online ghost towns. People register, get their login details, visit once, decide its not for them and never return. This pattern is repeated over and over. Maybe online communities are not for you? Here is how to decide, and if you still want one - here is how to avoid the most obvious mistakes.

Astute Labs is an exciting Belfast-based software start-up in the mobile app building space with a particular emphasis on large communities such as schools. They have only been going about 12 months but have already secured a large number of customers globally and just raised their first round of private investment.

I am always on the lookout for good simple visualisation techniques to support change management. Chris Collison has introduced me to The River Diagram - a great strategic tool for moving a community of groups forward via common initiatives and best practice sharing.

Building Community and Computer Simulation are two of my hot topics. So it really grabbed my attention when Channel 4 Education announced a forthcoming game, Fallen City, to let us explore how our cities might be mended by empowering communities.

Major Article in Stategy + Business Magazine about how companies, governments, and other organizations are working together across traditional boundaries to solve problems which are too big for one enterprise to solve by itself.

Since publishing the Bioteams book it has become very clear that there are a small number of defining characteristics of a bioteam. For best results you should ensure that bioteams is right for your particular team / group / community challenge. Here is how to check!

Robin Good of MasterNewMedia.org has published a short video clip series where he interviews me (Ken Thompson) about the Bioteaming approach to virtual/mobile teams, networks and communities.

Some of the approaches applied to conflict resolution apply equally well to the development of on-line and virtual communities, teams and networks. One of the most interesting is "The Flight of the Flamingos" scenario.