There are people who specialize in aspects of Internet collective action. I'll list the ones I know about and have learned from.
Clay Shirky is perhaps the most forward thinking and innovative expert in the field. He has two books: Here Comes Everybody, and Cognitive Surplus. I recommend both.
Howard Rheingold started at the beginnings of the Internet with The Well. His book Smart Mobs helped me make sense of Anonymous.
Kevin Kelly was also an early pre-Internet person. His book Out of Control is long but instructive on why non-hierarchical activity works.
Don Tapscott wrote Grown Up Digital, about how a generation that has grown up with the Internet thinks differently than us old folks. He also wrote Wikinomics, which I haven't read.
James Surowiecki I don't know much about but really liked his book The Wisdom of Crowds.
These are the people I turned to when I was trying to make sense out of Project Chanology in 2009. My article is at http://www.lisamcpherson.org/pc.htm
Internet Collective Action is people organizing in a nonhierarchical manner to accomplish a particular goal. The reward is in the doing, and how much or how little anyone participates is completely voluntary, depending on their abilities and commitment to the goal. By this process amazing things can be accomplished. ICA will grow so long as the Internet is free. http://www.lisamcpherson.org/pc.htm is an example of ICA.
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