Whereas Shaw explores constructionist ideas in the context of a proximal (geographically connected) community, Amy Bruckman and Mitchel Resnick explore them in the context of a virtual community on the Internet. In "The MediaMOO Project: Constructionism and Professional Community," Bruckman and Resnick describe a networked virtual-reality environment known as MediaMOO, designed to enhance community among media researchers. In MediaMOO, participants not only interact in a virtual world, they help construct (and continually reconstruct) the world in which they interact. Bruckman and Resnick explore how this combination of construction and community could lead to new possibilities for learning.

MediaMOO is a text-based, networked, virtual reality environment designed to enhance professional community among media researchers. MediaMOO officially opened on January, 20th, 1993, and as of December 1994 has more than 1000 members from 29 countries. An application is required to join, and only those actively engaged in media research are admitted. Unlike many virtual environments, the world of MediaMOO is continuously being constructed and reconstructed by its members. This paper analyzes experience with the system to date, and highlights the importance of "constructionist" principles in virtual reality design. The philosophy of constructionism argues that people learn with particular effectiveness when they are engaged in constructing personally meaningful projects; learning by doing is better than learning by being told. This approach is most often applied to children’s learning. We believe that not enough attention is paid to its broader applicability. We have found that letting the users build a virtual world rather than merely interact with a pre-designed world gives them an opportunity for self expression, encourages diversity, and leads to a meaningful engagement of participants and enhanced sense of community.