6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising dynamically adding, via the processor, a role to a security context of a user on a per online community basis according to the role of that user within the online community being accessed by that user.
1. Within a system comprising a processor and a memory, a method of administering online communities within an online community management system comprising: declaratively specifying, via the processor, a taxonomy of online community types; declaratively specifying, via the processor, a plurality of roles for members of online communities; declaratively specifying, via the processor, a security policy that associates permissions with roles and online community types; maintaining, via the processor, a plurality of online community profiles, wherein each online community profile represents an online community, specifies an online community type from the taxonomy, and specifies a list of members of the online community and an associated role for each member; and providing, via the processor, access to a selected online community according to the online community type of the selected online community, a role within the selected online community associated with a user attempting to access the selected online community, and the security policy.