Online Community Jonathan Ximin Bryan Mahfudz Thara COM

Online Community Jonathan, Ximin, Bryan, Mahfudz, Thara COM 125 B

Community

Ray Oldenburg • states in The Great Good Place that people need three places: – Home – Workplace – Community hangout or gathering place

Community vs. Society • “Community" is perceived to be a tighter and more cohesive social entity within the context of the larger society • Due to the presence of a "unity of will“ (Ferdinand, 1887)

Social Capital • "the collective value of all social networks (who people know) and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other (norms of reciprocity). ” by Robert D. Putnam

The Fall of Public Man by Richard Sennett, • Community commonly refers to a set of social relationships that operate within specified boundaries or locales • Community has an ideological component as well, in that it refers to a sense of common character, identity or interests

Community Aspects • Place • Interest • Communion

Sense of Community • Membership • Influence • Integration fulfillment of needs • Shared emotional connection Mc. Millan and Chavis (1986)

Computer Mediated Communication • Email, Bulletin boards, real time chat services • Interpersonal, one to one, one to many, many to many form of mass communication

Online/Virtual Community • What is it? – Interaction in a virtual environment – Have a purpose – Guided by norms and policies (Preece, 2000)

Characteristics of an Online Community • Social interactions • Policies, sociability • Software design

Online/Virtual Communities

Evolution of Technologies • • First came E-mail in ARPANET, 1971. Listservers, invented in 1975. First emoticon, “ -) ”, invented in 1979. Improved graphical user interfaces, late 1980 s. Bulletin Boards appeared roughly at same time. Moderated newsgroups introduced on Usenet in 1984. First widely recognized non-technical online community, WELL established in 1985. • Internet Relay Chat (IRC) developed in 1988. • Instant messaging, ICQ, invented in 1996. • World Wide Web released in 1991.

Evolution of Technologies • Early 1990 s, highly sophisticated gaming worlds emerged; Doom, Quake and Everquest. • Graphical, three-dimensional environments appeared in 1995. • Open-source movement and MP 3 formats came about as well. • Other tech includes Internet phones, streaming video, photos, sound, voice, webcams, blogs and wikis.

Brief History of Online Gaming Communities

Brief History of Online Gaming Communities • First appeared in MUDs. • Tribes, released in 1997, raised the bar for future game development. • Total Annihilation, Warcraft and Starcraft appeared next. • Next leap was Ultima Online’s persistent world. • Experienced players became ‘guides’, later moderators and Sys. Ops. • Players carried online games into the real world. • The Sims attracted non-traditional gamers.

Examples of Online Games with Communities • • • World of Warcraft Starcraft Furcadia Second Life Warcraft

Examples of Communities in Games Generally are known as ‘Clans’. However can sometimes be called other names dependant on the genre or game: • Squads (First Person Shooters) • Guilds (Role Playing Games) • Alliances (EVE Online) • Linkshells (Final Fantasy XI)

Gaming Community Websites Some sites contain items to improve one’s online gaming experiences. Some examples are: • Gamefaqs • Gamewinners • Fileplanet

Famous Online Gaming Personalities Some famous personalities include: • Anshe Chung (Second Life) • Leeroy Jenkins (WOW)Vid

Commercial Impact of Gaming Communities Due to the competitive nature and need for distinction between gamers in communities, some businesses have emerged. • Professional gold farmers • Property in Second Life • Characters made for sale

Mods & Maps Sometimes the community creates stuff to help improve the game or to lengthen the playability of a game. These include: • Gameplay Mods (Gary’s Mod for Half-Life 2) • Character Skins • Multiplayer Maps

Real Life to Virtual Sometimes events in real life take place in the virtual world: • Virtual Wedding • WOW Funeral • World of Offline Gaming

Segmentation of online communities • Online communities now cater to everyone and their mother • Young and old, male or female, geek or nongeek • Literally for anybody and everybody

Internet Users worldwide

How much of Singapore is online? Fig. 6 Computer Users Fig. 7 Internet Users

Who’s in charge here anyway? • Administrators From Wikipedia: A forum administrator is a user who manages the operational aspects of an Internet forum, ranking above, and appointing, the forum moderators. The owner of a forum is usually an administrator.

Who’s in charge here anyway? • Moderators Also from Wikipedia: A forum moderator, or Mod, is someone granted special powers to enforce the rules (or, as the case may be, their personal whim; the title refers to the powers more than the intent) of an Internet forum

Identity and Trust • What is the cornerstone of any community? • Linked to Online Identity

Real and Virtual: How does it compare? • Is an online community really that different from a “real” one? • After all, segmentation here and segmentation there is the same • Identity and trust work the same way

Legal and Policy Issues

Legal and Policy Issues • Net Neutrality • Safety and Privacy • Copyright

Net Neutrality Video

Safety and Privacy Issues • Flaming • Cyber Bullying • Cyber stalking on the internet – What is Cyber stalking? – Some examples of Cyber stalking – Here the privacy and anonymity aspect of the internet helps the cyber stalkers – Is this a “real” problem ? Evidence suggests cyber stalking is a growing problem (http: //www. usdoj. gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstal king. htm) – How can it be avoided?

Uses/Types of Virtual Communities

Gender based Virtual Communities • 2 major theories • Online communication is more equal, that women are able to participate and complete thoughts, in effect "softening social barriers. " (Shapiro 1999) • online interaction is merely a reflection of real world conversation where men dominate. • Are women-only communities the only way to give women a voice?

Cyber Activism • Use communication technologies for faster communications by citizen movements and deliver a message to a large audience. • Internet technologies used for cause-related fundraising, lobbying, volunteering, community building, and organizing. • Growth- Peoples Global Action, Battle of Seattle, U. S. election campaigns • Tech Presidents

Cyber Activism-Criticisms (http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Internet_activism) • Marginalizing minorities and elderly citizens due to lack of access to or confidence in emerging technologies • Online political discussions lead to "cyberbalkanization“- polarization rather than consensus • Make public feel involved rather than to advance actual participation • Impression of being part of a much larger network than is necessarily the case.

Marketing through Virtual Communities • Community marketing creates communities around products • Able to engage your customer base in a natural setting • Ease of interaction allows for discussions prohibited by barriers of traditional research • Can strengthen bond between company and consumer - create loyalty through personal investment • Can tighten the feedback loop • Can can be used to reinforce, or manipulate brand image • Can be used as a "test group" to gauge new products or advertising campaigns

Implications on Traditional Communities? • Many claim offline interpersonal relationships are affected-No longer know how to communicate in face to face situations. • More people looking for partners online rather than in bars or cafes or through offline friends. • Claims that marriages are destroyed due to online affairs through communities • Claims that virtual communities are an escape from real world problems. • More people stay at home rather than to go out and socialize - Meetup. com tries to fix that!

Four Realms Of Online Community How online communities are utilized

• Social – – Four Realms Of Online Community Social interaction Solidarity Individual & Institutional relations Friendster, My. Space, Livejournal

• Political – – – Four Realms Of Online Community Collective formation of goals Implementation of policy online voting online campaigning online political activism singaporegovt. blogspot. com, MPs using blogs

• Economic Four Realms Of Online Community – Production, distribution & consumption of goods and services – company blogs (promote branding, image) – online stores – netizens sell things online (community: a small word-of-mouth-built fanbase) – price comparisons – Acid Crue, Caliroots, ebay

• Cultural Four Realms Of Online Community – Examines shared values & symbol systems – gathering of people based on common themes, lifestyles – religious communities, art communities, music communities – IRC • Different Cultures, Different Channels

Nine Rules For Making Online Communities Work

Nine Rules For Making Online Communities Work 1. Define the purpose of the community 2. Create Distinct gathering places 3. Create member profiles that evolve over time 4. Create member profiles that evolve over time

Nine Rules For Making Online Communities Work 5. Promote effective leadership 6. Define a clear, yet flexible, code of conduct 7. Organize and promote cyclic events 8. Provide range of roles that couple power with responsibility 9. Provide range of roles that couple power with responsibility

Netiquette The 10 Commandments of how to behave on the Internet

Netiquette • Rule 1: Remember the Human • Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life • Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace • Rule 4: Respect other people’s time and bandwidth • Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

• • • Netiquette Rule 6: Share expert knowledge Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control Rule 8: Respect other people’s privacy Rule 9: Don’t abuse your power Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes

Function of Community • • Vital for any individual need to commune with society social interaction beyond family and friends stimulation and cohesiveness of society

Breakdown in Traditional Communities • consequence of shift from industrial to postindustrial society • (Cooke, 1990) community defined by industrial society • progression of concept of community

Role of Online Communities • internet becoming more relevant and pervasive • increase in number of communities • rich enough? why do people use communites?

Information • communities based on specialised shared interests • rich and varied source • more helpful (Wellman & Gulia)

Social • • overcomes geographical and social distances hides social cues can close personal relationships develop? development from interaction based on interests to personal involvement

Are Online Communities Replacing "Real-life" Communication? • underestimates validity of online communication • complementary to offline interaction • use of online comm. to facilitate broader interaction offline