A New Type of Community
The idea of a community is not a new concept. What is new, however, is transferring it over into the online world. Before, a community was defined as a group from a single location. If you lived in the designated area, then you became a part of that community. Interaction between community members was done primarily face-to-face and in a social setting. This definition for community no longer applies. In the online world, social interactions no longer have to be face-to-face or based on proximity, instead they can be with literally anyone anywhere.
The study of these communities has had to adapt along with the new technologies. Many earlier researchers used ethnography to attempt to understand what people do in online spaces, how they express themselves, what motivates them, how they govern themselves, what attracts people to participate, and why some people prefer to observe rather than contribute. Many other techniques have come about in an attempt to try and adjust to this new medium.
Online communities can congregate around a shared interest, but can be spread across multiple websites. There may be more than one website to go to find any one online community.
What is particularly tricky about online communities is that their meaning can change depending on who is defining them. Universally, however, there are things that show signs of a community. They are:
- Content: articles, information, and news about a topic of interest to a group of people.
- Forums or newsgroups and email: so that your community members can communicate in delayed fashion.
- Chat and instant messaging: so that the community members can communicate more immediately.
Although many possibilities probably come to mind some examples of successful Internet Communities are:
- Buddy Pic: where you upload a picture of yourself and are judged based on it.
- Something Awful: Something awful has been around since 1999. It is a comedy forum where users post comedy ideas. It has been responsible for many Internet fads over the years.
- Gaia Online: is a large online community with 23 million registered accounts. It is mostly a community that discusses anime and video games
Read more about this topic: Online Community
Famous quotes containing the words type and/or community:
“Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life;”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
—Aldo Leopold (1886–1948)