The Unorganized Militia Network: Conspiracies, Computers, and Community

Abstract

This article surveys the presence of the Unorganized American Militia movement on computer networks and explores how the Militia movement uses computer networks to build an “imagined network community”. The transformation of computer networks from a tool of the academic elite to a mass consumption commodity offers new potential for social organization. This transformation also allows for new conceptions of community and the way relationships based on shared identities are built. This article argues that computer communications can help communities imagine themselves and expand. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.