Abstract
Formal groups play an important role in the law. Informal groups largely lie outside it. Should the law be more attentive to informal groups? I argue that this and related questions are appearing more frequently in legal scholarship as a number of computer technologies, which I collect under the heading “social software,” increase the salience of groups. In turn, that salience raises important questions about both the significance and the benefits of informal groups. In this Essay, I argue that there may be important social benefits associated with informal groups, and that the law should move towards a framework for encouraging and recognizing them. I suggest that such a framework be organized along three dimensions, which crudely track dimensions by which groups arise and sustain themselves: regulation of places, of things, and of stories.
Disciplines
Arts and Entertainment | Intellectual Property | Law and Society | Organizations | Public Law and Legal Theory | Science and Technology
Date of this Version
August 2005
Recommended Citation
Michael J. Madison, "Social Software, Groups and Governance " (August 2005). University of Pittsburgh School of Law Working Paper Series. Working Paper 24.
http://law.bepress.com/pittlwps/art24
Included in
Arts and Entertainment Commons, Intellectual Property Commons, Law and Society Commons, Organizations Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Science and Technology Commons
Comments
forthcoming in 2006 Mich. St. L. Rev. 153