Howard Rheingold, 'First Citizen of the Internet'

Some describe Howard Rheingold as Howard the "First Citizen of the Internet." He coined the term “the virtual community,” which is the title of one of his books. He also wrote Smart Mobs about collective intelligence and its potential to shape the world.

Rheingold was an early popularizer and theoretician of the power of the virtual community and the smart mob. He’s been involved in various tech projects from his base in Mill Valley, Calif., but his writing has contributed most to the larger dialogue within the crowdsourcing community. These days he’s a fellow at the Annenberg Center for Communication. A couple of courses he teaches gives a sense of his areas of thought: "A Literacy of Cooperation" and "Participatory Media and Collective Action.”

Here's Rheingold's Web site, with links to much more.