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E-community
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We all seem to agree that communities can exist online,
and we all have fairly similar definitions of what
online communities consist of. I would like to modify
the question slightly: How do we know when we are a
part of an online community?
My answer to this would be that when you find yourself
looking forward to interacting with a set of friends on
the Internet, than you are participating in a
community-type setting. Further, if the group you're a
part of can hurt your feelings and have you thinking
about what went wrong, even after you've logged off,
then you're obviously involved in something more than
just idle chit-chat. When a person's thought processes
about their interactions with other people online
extends beyond the time they spent sitting in front of
their computer, than that person is likely to be an
online community member.
While I have committed myself to several online
communities over the years, the one that I'd like to
highlight for the class is not something that I
personally have been a part of. I have however been
lurking on this site long enough to have witnessed the
development and progression of its community aspect.
(definition: lurking - The activity of one of the
"silent majority" in a electronic forum such as Usenet;
posting occasionally or not at all but reading the
group's postings regularly. This term is not pejorative
and indeed is casually used reflexively: "Oh, I'm just
lurking". computing-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com )
The common interest for users of this site is digital
photography. The site is located at
photofriday.com . Every week the webmaster
comes up with a theme. The task for community members is
to locate and photograph something consistent with that
theme, and then publish it to their website. Users then
vote on the best picture of the week. Those with the
most votes have the distinction of being 'noteworthy',
and are featured on the PhotoFriday homepage.
What's interesting here is that from the outside this
website looks to be merely a competition, but its
function is more than that. I've been following since
late last year, and there are definitely some communal
characteristics strewn about. For example, one guy in
particular has had his photograph deemed noteworthy on
several occasions, and as a result he has earned a
certain notoriety. People go to his website and use his
feedback forum to praise him for the quality of his
images, ask questions about how they were created, and
to seek advise regarding their own photographic
endeavors.
This is a good example of Turkle's notion that "virtual
environments provide a moratorium from real life that
can be turned to constructive purpose." These people
might otherwise be caught up in the day-to-day grind of
working nine to five, but instead they are motivated to
take time each week to share their creative works. They
initially express themselves with an image, and
afterward a discussion usually takes place. In this
way, PhotoFriday fosters the development of bona fide
relationships, and that is the very basis of community
life, in my opinion. |
