Is it a Crowd or a Community?

Thinking of twitter, the blogosphere, urban Africa, and Tahrir Square, it's sometimes hard to distinguish between a crowd and a community.

This blog post from Ian Thorpe, KM on a Dollar a Day: Confusing crowds with communities, helps sort out the distinction.  It also includes a quite relevant video clip from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Thanks to Jennifer Lentfer at How Matters for bringing this to our attention.  And to Ian Thorpe for a great article.