Abstract—Computer-mediated communication technologies which provide for virtual communities have typically evolved in a cross-dichotomous manner, such that technical constructs of the technology have evolved independently from the social environment of the community. The present paper analyses some limitations of current implementations of computer-mediated communication technology that are implied by such a dichotomy, and discusses their inhibiting effects on possible developments of virtual communities. A Socio-Technical Indicator Model is introduced that utilizes integrated feedback to describe, simulate and operationalise increasing representativeness within a variety of structurally and parametrically diverse systems. In illustration, applications of the model are briefly described for financial markets and for eco- systems. A detailed application is then provided to resolve the aforementioned technical limitations of moderation on the evolution of virtual communities. The application parameterises virtual communities to function as self-transforming social-technical systems which are sensitive to emergent and shifting community values as products of on-going communications within the collective. Keywords— virtual community, e-democracy, feedback systems, moderation. I. INTRODUCTION N recent years, a growing literature has emerged on interest- oriented relationship systems within virtual communities (Li, 2004). Yet, although much research has been conducted on interactions within such communities, and on their impact to their external society, little has been published on how representatively the virtual community structures reflect the social structure of the external community. Indeed, computer- mediated communication technologies, which provide for virtual communities, have typically evolved in a cross- dichotomous manner, with technical constructs of the technology evolving independently from the social environment of the community. Hence, technical mechanisms of virtual community, such as moderation, are generally insensitive to the social structures within the communities in which they operate. Such technical mechanisms have come to depend heavily upon the external agency of community Authors are with the Université de Paris IV Sorbonne 136 Rue de Vaugirard 75015 Paris France. Tel: 0147343430 (e-mail: zach.bastick@gmail.com). members to sensitize the socio-technical environment of the virtual community. As this paper will evidence, these social- technological limitations have typically resulted in virtual communities having to use inflexible unrepresentative communication environments which have, in turn, limited their evolution and restricted their options for growth. In order to resolve these limitations, a Socio-Technical Indicator Model has been developed that simulates generalized integrated community feedback systems. The general model is presented and shown to have applications to structurally and parametrically diverse systems as varied as financial markets and eco-systems. Finally, the model is applied to the moderation function of virtual communities, resolving traditional limitations by operationalising the virtual community as a self-transforming social-technical system, sensitive to emergent values as products of on-going communications within the collective. II. BACKGROUND OF PREVIOUS CMC MODELS Mechanisms of moderation and representations of user status are two inherent concepts of virtual community, each of which has generally evolved independently of the other. A categorisation that is sensitive to this dichotomy can be assumed, such that the prior is viewed as a technical concept and the latter as a social concept. However, this is a crossed dichotomy in that moderation has typically evolved as a technical component which operates a priori on the social environment in which it is applied and, conversely, status representation is largely a social component, which typically has implied little bearing on the technical workings of the community. In order to contextualise this crossed dichotomy, a background review of moderation mechanisms and status representation, which illustrates this crossed dichotomy by their respective sensitivities and flexibilities to the communities they have served, is now presented. In itself, moderation has typically been restricted to the political science equivalents of absolutism or oligarchy. That is, throughout the evolution of virtual communities, moderation has generally been the responsibility of individuals within the community, selected through circumstance or relationship rather than as functions of the The Socio-Technical Indicator Model: Socially- Sensitive CMC Technology, with an Implementation of Representative Moderation Zach-Amaury Boufoy-Bastick, Lenandlar Singh I International Journal of Computer, Information, and Systems Science, and Engineering 1;1 © www.waset.org Winter 2007 48