Emergence
From Internet: Knowledge and Community
The term emergence refers to networked communities that spring into being due to "...an external stimulus or by internal processes of (for example) 'social entrepeneurship' or self-initiated problem-solving," (Gurstein, What Is Community Informatics, p.23). They are not formed over time like traditional physical communities and they are usually responsive toward some sort of external environmental factors. These communities can potentially remain nascent until such time that their existence becomes necessary.
