Communicating in

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Chapter 6
Online Communication

• Communicating in
• Virtual Communities

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In this chapter, you will learn
Online Communication

• A definition and some historical precedents for
  virtual communities
• The qualities that contribute to a virtual
  community
• The roles people play within these aggregates
• How norms are formed and enforced and
• Objections to the viability of virtual
  communities.

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Online Communication
virtual community a shared understanding of
inter-relatedness among participants in
computer-mediated environments
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Precedents for Virtual Communities
Online Communication

• Mediated channels such as newspapers helped
  inspire an imagined community among the citizenry
  of colonial America.
• In the mid-twentieth century, distribution
  networks called amateur press associations
  distributed self-published zines.
• Freenets, such as that in Cleveland, were among
  the first contemporary virtual communities.

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Distinguishing Commonality Community
Online Communication

• gesellschaft
  
• a collective based on proximity and circumstance
• gemeinschaft
  
• a community based on strong identification with
  the group

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Qualities of Virtual CommunitiesWhat makes a
community?
Online Communication

• Minimum level of interactivity
• Variety of communicators
• Common public space
• Minimum level of sustained membership

Jones, Q. (1997, December). Virtual-communities,
virtual settlements cyber-archaeology A
theoretical outline. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 3 (3) lthttp//www.ascusc.org/jcmc/v
ol3/ issue3/jones.html.
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Qualities of Virtual CommunitiesWhat attracts
people to community?
Online Communication

• External factors
• Temporal structure
• Infrastructure of the computer system
• Purposes for CMCs use
• Characteristics of the group and its members

Baym, N.K. (1998). The emergence of on-line
community. In S.G. Jones (Ed.), Cybersociety 2.0
Revisiting computer-mediated communication and
community (pp. 35-68 0. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
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Whos Who in the Virtual Community
Online Communication

• Netizens
• Surfers
• Lurkers
• Privateers
• Newbies

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Online Communication

• netiquette
• Internet etiquette, a code of accepted behavior
  for a virtual community

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Some Common Rules of Netiquette
Online Communication

• Respect others feelings, time, bandwidth,
  privacy, mistakes
• Adhere to real-life standards of behavior
• Know where you are
• Make yourself look good
• Share knowledge
• Help prevent flame wars
• Dont abuse your power

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Netiquette
Online Communication

• Netiquette emerges from within a given virtual
  community.
• When these norms are violated, members can
  sanction offenders by
• harassing or silencing them,
• capturing their transmissions, or
• otherwise interfering with their ability to
  communicate.

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Online Communication
Group Decision Support Systems computer
networking software that allows working groups to
process more information, more quickly, with
greater participation among its members
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Critiques of the Community Metaphor
Online Communication

• Access that is required to participate is not
  available to all
• Cyberbalkanization refers to potential for
  increased fragmentation
• Exchange of information may not be sufficient to
  establish a community

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Online Communication
A Brief Review
1. What off-line precedents are there for
virtual communities? 2. What roles do Internet
users play in virtual communities? 3. What four
qualities must be present for there to be a
virtual community? 4. How are the norms of
netiquette enforced? 5. What threatens the
viability of the community metaphor?
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