After our class discussion on Tuesday, or I should say before, I thought I could easily define "community". Though I still feel I can, our class discussion left me pondering more than I wanted to about the actual definition, and how much gray area there is still left for interpretation.
So when asked the question what virtual communities I am a part of, I came up with the following: Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Second Life, Angel, and Blogger. Here comes the tricky part, after the discussion I felt myself wondering if these really were virtual communities or an extension of the physical ones I am truly a part of.
So for the sake of those of you who may not know much about these places/sites, probably far and few in between, I will offer some insight, at least pertaining to my life.
Myspace and Facebook are social networks. For me, they are an extension of myself that allow me to keep in contact with friends that I've known since I was younger or attended school with. It also helps me find people that I haven't seen since I was younger or attended school with. I have even befriended my fellow peers from college, as well as some of my professors. I even have friends that I've never met before. These two places allow me to stay "connected", meaning, I get to see what my "friends" are up to on a hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, depending on how often my "friends" are on these sites and update their statuses. The basic interactions I have within these communities are simple. I talk to friends, I comment on their pages, I update my status (because in my mind I feel I am greatly important and that people really care to know). I like seeing what my friends, peers, and professors are doing. It may be profound enough to make a difference in my life, or just might be slightly interesting.
Twitter and Second Life I am still a part of, in the sense that my account is still active, but I never get on them anymore. I merely joined them for class assignments.
The last two, Blogger and Angel, I am merely a part of because my professors said to, and participate in, and are solely for academic purposes.
So with all that said, our class discussion has left me to believe that the virtual communities I believe I am a part of, aren't really virtual communities at all, but extensions of the physical communities I am a part of. For the most part, I see most of the people I interact with on these sites, in real life. I see them at school, some are my neighbors, relatives, real friends that I hang out with regularly, and some that I talk to on the phone. These sites just give me another way to do that. The only one that would be virtual for me, if I did participate, would be Second Life and that's because you are able to choose an avatar and interact with other avatars that people have created without knowing their true identity, or if I know them outside that world. But for a lot of people out there, this is a better community for them to partake in. It leaves out the social angst and anxiety that comes along with trying to fit it. It allows people to interact with people they never thought they could, or would, for that matter, in real life.
I believe most people are capable to enter and navigate through these sights, if, you are computer literate. You have to know your way around a computer, search engines, what links to go to, and have some knowledge of online "lingo". Some barriers for people for the academic communities, are that you must be enrolled in school, specific classes, etc. We did touch base on the fact that some communities are specific on invitation, and relevancy to your life, what your likes and dislikes are, as well as access.
I believe that about wraps it up.....and whew....with 9 minutes to spare! :)
Depending on the ratio of RL friends vs not, your Facebook profile and interaction within could be construed as a virtual community. But the other things you mentioned are just tools -- in the case of Twitter and SL, possible conduits for a virtual community but certainly not virtual communities per se. Angel is a learning management system, a long way from a virtual community itself, and Blogger is a tool that allows the creation of sites that could host communities, but still work has to be done to get to that point.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAdriana, I did the same thing and included Angel as a virtual community. I thought I might be pushing that one in that it is truly a tool and I allowed some of my uncertainty in trying to define community be apparent. I was thinking that angel is a virtual space that has people with a shared interest, ie class.However the only reason we use it is purely as a tool or at least that is the only reason I use Angel. With that said the only reason I signed up for DTC 475 is because it is one of my required classes. Does this make it a community or only a means in accomplishing my degree? It seems the more I think about this the less clear it becomes. I liked your response very insightful.
ReplyDeleteOk, so I think the Angel thing has been explained pretty well by the above comments; however, there is communication on the service in the form of posts and mail, etc. Regardless, it doesn't meet "virtual community" status because it's little more than a tool used to connect our physical existence (class/classmates) in a "virtual" way. That being said, if you, I, or anyone else, were taking an online class, be it here, or say the University of Phoenix, or some other online degree program, wouldn't that be a kind of virtual community? I mean, you may after all be connected to students across the nation, that you may never know personally or in RL, and would have a barrier of knowing/studying the subject of the class and/or enrollment in the college. I don't know. At the very least maybe its just some food for thought.
ReplyDelete