My Final Posting for the Semester

This semester has been very educational for me. I learned a lot about virtual communities, blogging, and a lot of other little things that I did not even know were a big part of the internet. As you can see in my first blog post, the word "blog" was greek to me. But, I soon found out that blog is just a shortened version of web log. A little thing, I know. But regardless, I am glad that I know that now.

I also thoroughly enjoyed joining a few online communities and seeing what they had to offer. The two communities I joined at the beginning were writing.com and friendster.com. I initially enjoyed writing.com, but after awhile, it got to be something that I wasn't as interested in, and I didn't click with friendster from the start. I have since checked out a few more. Myspace.com, which is a very well done friendster type community. Some friends of mine encouraged me to sign on and check it out, and it's actually a nice community. The one I had the most fun with was there.com. When I free up some time, that is something that I could easily have a good time with, and get hooked on.

So, anyway, it was a good time, and I think I am going to be more apt to become an active member of a virtual community in the near future. . . . Waldron OUT

Community Concept Paper

For my community concept paper, I will be proposing a community that would benefit script writers and members in the industry looking for talented script writers. The community would be open to any member who would like to submit a piece of their work to be read by other members of the community. Those pieces of work would then be reviewed by these members and rated with feedback given. The feedback would be mainly for the writers themselves, with the ratings (1-10 or something of that nature) being a way for members in the film industry who are also members of the community to find the highest rated, top scripts very easily.

As far as membership requirements, I think it could go a couple of different ways. I think there could be three different types of membership. One being a free membership where members log on and can read and review scripts and share their opinions. Another membership would be a monthly pay membership. This would allow you to post your own work on the site for review. It would be a very low monthy fee, like 2.95/month or something, nothing too crazy. A third membership would also be a free membership where people in the film industry or people looking for talent writers for film or tv could log in and review the top rated pieces. This membership could even be included with the first one.

To keep reviews going, a requirement to post your own work would be that you would have to read and review two scripts / month to keep your membership, or you would not be able to post any of your own work or have access to your reviews. I think this would ensure that everyone's work is getting looked at, and people are reviewing and not just posting with nothing happening.

The main reason I believe this would be a good community is because I feel that there are many people out there aspiring to get their work out there to be read, but just don't have the contacts. I feel this would help those people and at the same time help in finding new talent. I don't have a name for it yet or anything like that, but I do know that if something like this was out there, I would join immediately. Some aspects may change as I get further into the paper, but this is a general idea.

There.COM

So, I had fun with a three day trial membership on there.com. It actually was a pretty good time, and on top of that, it was very addicting. The first night I tried it, I ended up being on there for a good five hours. I looked at the clock and realized it was almost 3 am, and that was my cue to call it a night. I think it made it a lot easier that the first few people I met were more than willing to lend me some items to have fun with (ie. a motor bike, a buggy, a hoverboard, and a flying boat looking thing). Any new member is given the standard "newbie" outfit, which consists of khaki shorts and an orange shirt. My first order of business was to get rid of those clothes, so people wouldn't automatically recognize as a new guy. The first person I met was nice enough to give me a ride to the nearest clothes shop. They also taught me how to wave, smile, dance, and a bunch of other stuff. There is a "What's Happening" link on the screen which you can click on and see what kind of fun is going on that you might be able to join in on. I found it interesting because it seemed just like a list of chat rooms you would find in any chat program on the web, but the fact that when you clicked on it, and joined in, you were transported to an actual virtual room where people were hanging out and talking. I chose to go to one room in particular that sounded like it was some sort of dance club. When I got there, it seriously looked like an actual club. Music was playing, a bar on the side, a dance floor where many people were dancing. Some were in big groups, others sitting by themselves, some having one on one conversations. It was a scene that you could easily see at a regular bar. One thing that I found really interesting was that most everything I saw in this world was created by it's members. I walked into some houses there were not occupied at the time, but I could tell that someone had spent a long time creating this little virtual home of theirs.

As with any virtual community, a big part of one's experience depends on the people you encounter. I luckily encountered some people who were very helpful. Once I figured out what I was doing, I met some people. I offered people rides in my fun vehicles, which weren't even mine, but of course, I passed them off like they were. All and all, I liked there.com a lot. At points it felt like more of a game than a community. At a 4.95/year membership fee, it's pretty affordable also. The only problems I ran into was that my video card couldn't handle processing everything very quickly and I would get stuck for a minute or so where I couldn't move, and then out of nowhere, a building would show up that Ihad run into. I think there.com brings new meaning to the term "virtual community", and I had fun with it.

my community experiences thus far

I havent posted in a couple of weeks, so i just wanted to post an update on how things are going in the online communities that I have joined. First off, I have returned to Friendster a couple of times in the past few weeks but it has yet to spark my interest, so my time on the site usually ranges between 5 and 10 minutes. Writing.com on the other hand has turned out to be all right so far. Once I figured out how to use the site (which took some time), things got a little easier. I have had one person read my script and received some very good feedback. I have browsed some work by a few other individuals and commented on those also. Once I have some free time over the summer I plan to use the site more frequently, as well as begin writing more myself. After reading an entry from another classmate, I have decided to try out there.com's application. It sounds different, but it might be fun. So, I will update in the next day or so about how the there.com experience goes.

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.