Week 4 - sense of community

A sense of community

Community is a polysemic word, there are many different definitions. Commonly occurring in these different notions are the related words ‘cohabitation’ or ‘living spaces’. This in itself challenges Blanchards definition of online groups. This could just be down to the definition of community not being updated to the ‘new’ media way of thinking, or it could infer that to be a community or have a sense of community you must meet people and interact with them face-to-face. I realise that there is a quality issue in certain online groups being called communities but I still feel that a sense of community can only really happen in RL.

If we are applying the word community to online groups, there are certain characteristics that I would place in more importance than others. Obviously, a group in which the members are friends in RL would be preferable such as msn or facebook, but in the age of the global village, a sense of some sort of community may be found in groups where there are “Shared emotional connections among members”. An example of this brought up in the lecture was medical support groups or charities, these sorts of groups are the only ones that I can really see of having a virtual community. Niche interest groups such as the wristwatch enthusiasts group were mentioned in the text and I agree to some extent that a shared interest would create a sense of community, but doubt it would be the same or as strong as a face-to-face interaction. Ebay was also mentioned in the grouping, but I have severe reservations that the millions of users find a sort of kinship on a site where animal rights merchandise can be sold next to fur and anti war CD’s can be sold with plastic guns and army costumes. The least important characteristic, I feel, is the use of “group symbols”. Just because the symbols you agree on and use are the same, doesn’t mean that you will have much else in common with the other users.

Do you think online communities can really exist ?