Teenage Bloggers

I find it very interesting that male and female bloggers are so similar. I would've assumed that there would be many very noticeable differences, which there weren't. The biggest thing that surprised me about this study was that these teenage bloggers are basically being themselves. I remember when I was young and chatting online, I would pretend to be everybody and anybody besides myself. I was a little bit scared to give out truthful information to the people on the other side of the screen. Having the internet in your home wasn't always a common thing to have back then, so there was still that fear of giving out too much information. It was just something I played around on. Now, the internet has turned into something that almost all children grow up with, and I think they feel that there isn't as much to fear if they give out this information. It's just a way of life for them now. It makes me wonder what this study may have looked like when I was a teenager. Would it have been completely different?

Community Definition Paper

When I saw the first post for this class, speaking about a “blog” that I was to create, I was a little nervous. I have never heard of this thing called a “blog”. I have had internet access for over ten years now, and it seemed odd to me that I was to be using this thing that I have never even heard of. And then, I was asked to join two online communities. Once again, my first reaction was “What?”. Sure, the term makes sense when you think about it, but I have never been a part of any of these so-called communities. How could I be computer savvy, with the internet such a big part of my life, and yet I don’t know what all of this means? Frankly, it sounded a little made up. But, nevertheless, I obliged. I set up my blog, and joined a couple of online communitites. The next day, I woke up as I always do, and pointed my browser to msnbc.com, and on the side menu, there was something I had never seen before. There was a link listed is “Blogs Etc”. A little weirded out, I decided to check out Google.com. Nothing ever changes at Google. You can count on that, so that’s exactly where I went. The only problem was that right above my search field, I saw a word I’d never taken notice of. It was “Groups”. How could a word be on a page I visit a few times a day, and I never notice it? Something wasn’t right, so I kept on searching, and searching…and searching. It seemed as though there were blogs, groups, communities and what not everywhere. Crazy. A whole world on the internet that I was unaware of. I quickly realized that online communities were a much bigger thing that I was giving them credit for. But what exactly is an online community?

According to the WWWebster Dictionary, a community is (one of several related definitions):a unified body of individuals: as ... a body of persons of common ... interests scattered through a larger society.

That’s a pretty good definition. It is also defined on www3.sympatico.ca/krewski/mde615groupc/glossary.html as a meeting place for people on the Internet. Designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration among people who share common interests and needs. Online communities can be open to all or by membership only and may or may not offer moderator tools.

I am realizing that many of the tools that I use on a day to day basis are used daily by others as forms of online communities. For instance, to me, my e-mail is just that. It is a mail system that I use to communicate with friends and family. I use it in a similar way that I use regular mail, minus the stamp. But there are many people out there who’s email contains a community that they interact with on a daily basis. Many people belong to listserv’s where they send and receive mail from people all over the world who come together sharing a similar interest. Just like an online community that you join, it is what you make of it. If you do not communicate, but just read what others write, you could easily be seen as a reader/lurker. By definition, it seems to me that this could easily be seen as a type of online community.

Another one which many people do not see as an online community is AOL Instant Messenger. The chat functions on these are set up where you can search for “buddies” by similar interests. Now, I don’t do this. But the option is there. If I wanted to find a hockey fanatic to talk about this crazy NHL lockout with, I would most likely be able to find someone by searching for Hockey fans. Most people I know don’t use the program in this way. It is mainly used to communicate with people who you already know, but there is no reason that my buddy list couldn’t have members of a book club that I set up. I believe that AOL could be function as an online community if that was something that someone wanted.

As I’m typing, I think about when my dad installed America Online on our first computer. We could connect to the internet at 14,400 bps. Now that was some fast stuff for it’s time. I would stay up for hours in a chat room, meeting people, talking about sports, going into the badminton enthusiasts chatroom or something else ridiculous to type stupid things. This entertained me for hours. And, at the young age of 14 or so, I met quite a few people online. Sure, I told them I was 22 so that people didn’t think they were talking to a 14 year old, but it did turn into an online community in which I was an active member in some of the rooms.

Then there are the online communities which I have recently joined. Friendster and writing.com. Friendster honestly is not that appealing to me. The more I look into it, it seems that many people who are members are just looking to meet their soulmate or something of that nature. Meeting new people is not a priority in my life right now, and I feel that getting involved in a community like this would be a waste of time. Maybe I need to find a new community to join. The second online community, writing.com, is probably one that I am going to continue to be a part of after this class. Writing is a passion of mine, and getting valuable input from a fellow comedy writer on what I have written is priceless. It’s hard to come by that, because I know it wouldn’t be an easy task to find a comedy writer right down the road or in my community. In the past, this type of community wouldn’t have interested me. I was a friendster kind of guy. But, at this point in my life, making an online buddy isn’t top priority.

To sum it up, in my opinion, the criteria for online community is to have a group of people who share a similar interest communicate through an online medium, whatever that medium may be. I don’t feel that the little technicalities matter, such as signing up, giving your e-mail, creating a profile…and all that stuff. What matters is that there is a means of communication between 2 or more people who share an interest or need, and communicate on a regular basis.

To me, an online community is a community of people who you have primarily gotten to know online, and you communicate regularly. Many people might say that AOL Instant Messenger is an online community no matter what. But I do disagree with this. It all depends on how you use it. If I use instant messenger to communicate with my friends who I hang out with every night at the bar, it might not be an online community. It’s just another form of communication for my friends and I.. I think to truly be an online community, the primary meeting place has to be through an online medium.

Do I know if my answer is right? No. I’m no veteran in the field of online communities, but the more I see of them, the more it opens my eyes to what one actually is. The one thing that is for sure is that being a member of an online community is what you make it. If you’re not interested, it’s not going to be anything to you. But if you find one that interests you, it could easily become a big part of your life.

A little more Week 3

There are many different stages of membership which I am already seeing. I am in the beginning stages of membership in both of the online communities that I have joined. Looking at the community, I can see that there are people who have been a part of these communities for a long time, and it is probably a very large part of their life. Whether I will get to that point, I don't know. I think what you get out of an online community really depends on what you put into it. If you want to belong to it, and you make that effort, I think it can be a very satisfying experience.

There aren't many requirements to join any of these online communities, except for a little information about myself, my interests, and so on. To join the community is one thing, but to be active and accepted in the community is a whole different thing. To truly be accepted and to truly belong to the community requires you to reach out and voice your opinion. I believe that is something that makes online communities such a big thing these days. It is fairly easy to be accepted. Sometimes easier than it is in a real life community. You really have to want to be a part of it though.

So far, I am in the "reader/lurker" role. I'm checking out the community. I'm doing a lot of reading on there, and trying to figure out where I want to start, and where my interests lie. I hope that I don't stay a lurker forever, because it's kind of like being on the outside looking in, so I plan to get more involved in the coming weeks.

Week 3 blog prompt..

So, I joined a couple of online communities this past week, and have been logging on fairly often the last few days trying to get a feel for them. The first one that i joined was Friendster.com. It's a fairly simple online comunity which allows you to search for people in a number of different ways including location, interests, and so on. Although, the only problem I am running into on here is finding friends. It's weird, because it's kind of like walking up to a stranger in a bar or something to initiate a conversation. It feels a little awkward at first. So, after a couple of days, my friend count stands at one. It's just some random person that wrote me. I think they might be looking for a relationship or something, so this friendship might not last long since I am off the market. But we'll see.

The second online community I joined was writing.com. I have done quite a bit of stand up comedy in the past couple of years, and just this past year I wrote my first comedy screenplay and submitted it to a few competitions...but to no avail. I have started writing more recently, and I think this will be an excellent way of getting some of the things I write read, and getting some feedback from other writers. It looks like there are a lot of comedy writers on here too, so that will help. I haven't had a chance to explore this one quite as much yet, but I think this is an online community that I will stick with if things work out. I will update with more as I delve further into the world of online communities.

Week 2 Entry

After reading what Rheingold has written about virtual communities, I now have a much better understanding of what is meant by the term. Up until now, all I have really known was chat rooms, and communicating to people via AOL Instant Messenger. Before reading Rheingold, if I would've answered the question of what an online community is, my response would've been my buddy list on instant messenger. But, an online community is much more than that. An online community is a place where people with similar interests can meet and discuss these various topics as often as they like. The real beauty of these online communities is that it is very easy to meet people with similar interests, and create a community. A real world example would be a small town that surprisingly is full of only soccer enthusiasts, and only soccer enthusiasts. IF you're a big fan of bass fishing and hate soccer, you would not be found in this town. This is a far fetched example, and one that could never happen. That seems to me to be the beauty of these online communities. It makes things like this possible. You can be a part of a community full of many people with a similar interest.

As far as my personal experiences to date with online communities, I have none. I have never joined or been a part of an online community. Why? I don't really know. I really have just never had a real urge to participate in one, and another reason might be that I don't really know how they really work or what topics are out there. It is something that I have never really explored. I am seeing that there are some very interesting communities out there, and it may change. I don't know. I think I need to find out for myself whether or not online communities are for me. Either way, after reading Rheingold, I can definitely see the benefits of being a member of an online community.

I think I would be comfortable being a member of an online community, but it would have to be something that really interests me, or I would lose interest very quickly. I normally do prefer one on one conversations in person, but I have noticed that many people have a lot more to say when they are facing a computer screen, and not face to face with someone else. I think that is one of the bests aspects of online communities. The fact that a shy person who normally doesn't have much to say can have the loudest voice in an online community. I'm going to try a few online communities as the semester progresses, and I will find out if it is someting for me or not. Either way, it is a fascinating form of communication.