When I think of the word 'community' I imagine a small village - one which partakes in fairs and activities together. This village has people of all varieties but they all get involved together in their community. My idealised view of a community is probably very unrealistic, of course there are such villages but there will always be some people who do not get involved in these communities amongst which they live, perhaps because they do not feel as though they fit in.
The Internet offers many people a sense of 'belonging' via forums such as "The Well" and the chance to belong to what Rheingold described as a "virtual community".
As discovered in the lecture, Stuart Brand, the founding member of "The Well" set up in 1985, stated that "information wants to be free" enforcing a positive notion of allowing oneself to be involved in online communities.
As an opposing argument, many do not see how such forums can constitute as a "community" when those you are forming "relationships" with are unknown and may at any point not return to the forum, therefore showing a lack of commitment to the group.
Lister et al discusses how our "understandings of community have been determined by spatial relationships and a sense of belonging to a place" (2003:172) and considers how now we think about "belonging with one another in particular 'spaces' in the non-place of cyberspace." Such ideas conjure up questions, can a community survive online? Do we not need to be in 'meatspace' in order to form connections, relationships and communities?
I believe it is possible for those who do not 'fit in' in real life to find safety and belonging online, however, as stated in the lecture, "real communities include 'others'", and I believe, in real life, these communities are formed when different people accept, and are there for, each other. Can such situations occur in the virtual world?
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Yeah i think that is true what you say about people who don't fit in can belong online. But do you think that this excludes people who talk better in meatspace? Do you think that these online communities mis-represent the real people in real society? It says in Lister that communities have people from different ethnicities ages, sexuality, do you think that online these are missed?
ReplyDeleteif anything claire i think that some people from communities in 'meatspace' might feel afraid to be part of a community where there are different race's, ages and sexuality. I think that virtual communities enable these people that are afriad of 'meatspace' contact to interact with others with the same interest.
ReplyDeleteyeah so online communites allow a different type of community. They represent a community that is not necessarily 'the people in a street or town' but people from the gay community.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what your saying, but maybe we should consider those people who don't "fit in" in meatspace and so go online- but don't give away who they really are. We talk about online being an easy way to open up and be yourself but maybe there are people who don't trust the internet and STILL cant manage to be themselves online.
ReplyDeleteSo I sort of agree with claires point, maybe online many "different people" are possibly missed out