Shafi states that communities: a. have a common interest or b. are a segment of society. Is (b) not the same as (a)? The common interest is the segment or location. 'Virtual' brings down the geographical limitations to the community. The opportunity to collaborate or communicate with others is increased. While their are some limitations the internet has made the ability to stay in touch much more feasible - cost and time.
Also, the degree to which people participate can vary. Some may lurk, not really saying much but observing others, without any pressure to participate unless they choose to. Others may be active to various extremes via discussion and other participatory activities (games, wikis). In real communities to participate you generally must physically attend, but it's a little trickier to stay in the background and you have no choice but to be seen.
Where a community might have been based around geographical limitations, a community online uses geographic identity to create a community. That is, where someone is from a particular place, they might seek out others from that same place but don't live there either, online. Facebook has plenty of these in their school groups. Past students join a common group based on where they went to school. Within those they seek out people who were 'located' in their year or knew people who were.
In the Slater article he mentions the virtual and I suspect that the virtual is usually associated with the internet. However, in relation to spatiality pre-internet meeting via phone could be considered a virtual.
In the Slater article he mentions the virtual and I suspect that the virtual is usually associated with the internet. However, in relation to spatiality pre-internet meeting via phone could be considered a virtual.
Identity
In online communities using a real name may not mean much other than a way of letting people know it's you. Usernames can be more creative and can change from community to community; they may also reflect more about the person - humour, personality. Nicknames in the realworld are usually picked by friends, whereas user names (is this the online nickname) are picked by the user themselves.
Key terms:
CMC - computer-mediated communities (Shafi, 2005)
Online: ecosystem of subcultures (Rheingold, 1993, cited in Slater, 2002)
Shafi, Can a Virtual Community be any different from the experience of a Real Community? Incoherent Thoughts, December 13, 2005. http://shafisaid.wordpress.com/2005/12/13/can-a-virtual-community-be-any-different-from-the-experience-of-a-real-community/
Don Slater. (2002). Social Relationships and Identity Online and
Offline. In Leah A. Lievrouw, Sonia M. Livingstone & Sonia M.
Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of New Media (pp. 533-546).
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