Virtual Communities - Drivers

Howard Rheingold (in Flew, 2002: 77) observed that computer-mediated communication (CMC) presents the possibility to ‘piggyback alternate networks on the mainstream infrastructure and ‘use CMC to create alternative planetary information networks’. He believes the development of virtual communities introduced the possibility of a reinforced sense of community-building and citizen participation in public life. This is due to three potential characteristics of CMC:

• the building of social networks and social capital;
• the sharing of knowledge and information;
• and the enabling of new modes of democratic participation in public life.

Early interest in virtual communities arose from activist communities in the USA, specifically those with a history of involvement in oppositional social movements. Recent interest in virtual communities among social and political activists is related to both the how and why aspects of communication and participation and using networked technologies such as the Internet. Garth Graham (1996), a founder of telecommunications Canada, describes four features of CMC that promote convergence, not only at a technical level but also at a social one. This included convergence between:

• senders and receivers
• conversation and information
• the means of carriage and its content
• public and private identities.

Rheingold (in Flew, 2002: 79) states that the value of this type of network for its participants lies in:

• its personal and intellectual diversity
• the scope that this allowed for the site to be a ‘living encyclopaedia’ of knowledge
• the willingness of members to participate in a kind of collectivist gift economy
• the ability to ‘hang out’ and establish friendships which may be ephemeral or long-lasting, transient or intimate.

The reason as to why online community networks are being promoted is strongly linked to the view that there has been a decline in opportunities for democratic participation and the idea of community in contemporary industrial capitalist and mass-mediated societies. The desire for strong communities as a solution to the sense of alienation and disenfranchisement seen as a characteristic of modern, industrial and capitalistic societies has featured prominently in discourses surrounding new technologies.

Amy Bruckman (in Flew, 1996: 81) believes that cyberspace is best compared to bars, which are communities of sorts, but which prove inhabitable to different users, and require a certain amount of ‘lurking’ in order to ‘quietly explore for a while, getting the feel of whether it’s the kind of place you’re looking for’; rather than to self-contained communities, which have been seen as defined by a commonality of ideas, interests, culture and values.

REFERENCES

Flew, T. (2002) New Media:an introduction,South Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195508599

Annabel Johnson 19:55, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)