Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities

Either search online for a community which interest you or choose one of the provided online communities to investigate. Make sure your selected a community that comprises some form of online forum, discussion page or chat room. You may also wish to see if your community has a Wikipedia entry.

Provide the web address and the name of the community you are investigating http://www.thelowdown.co.nz/ The Low Down

What is the brief or focus of this community The focus of this site is to give people with depression an online forum through which they can talk to others who are trained to help or talk to people who have had like experiences with their mental health. It is aimed to make the users feel comfortable as they are anonymous and to make them feel that they are not alone in their battle with depression.

What services are provided? How interactive is this site? How can people contribute? The services provided by the site are: Send the Low Down team a text or email Chat to other members of the community online (this is monitored) View stories on the site, recorded by well known New Zealanders like Scribe See the different types of help available that aren't necessarily on the site The site is very interactive and you can work your way round it quite easily. If you look at the site using Adobe it is formatted in an interesting way, in the form of a room, so that as you go to each page it is like another wall of the room. If you don't have Adobe you can look at the html version and it is still all there.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on why people choose to contribute to this community. What is it they are seeking? When people join an online community they often find that they get more back, the more they put in. There is a sense of community that members get when they communicate with other members and often these people can be empathetic or have as much enthusiasm for the subject (depending on what the online community is about) as they do. Also members like to get a sense of being a specialist in the field that they have a interest in, whether they are a specialist or not. Often receiving comments back from other members and getting a positive reinforcement from others gives them a confidence boost.

Cut and paste an example of the type of topics being discussed (you may have to provide a context to your excerpt). The community I have chosen to have is from Bebo, a site where people have their own page which is about themselves, what they get up to and has photos, quizzes etc. This particular page is a group I am part of. It is a site which one of my fellow Moyles Supervalue employees set up and it is dedicated to our workplace. Here are some examples of things people post on the site: "...someone should upload xmas party fotos ...i wana c them lol" "Hey I got some photos of moyles, its just random s*** of the produce, the aisles, and the checkout oh and the bread. I'll upload them some time, yuss!" "(Person) you random!!! What are you doing here!!! Moyles represent... jealous are we???"

Considering material presented during the course and make comment on the potential ethical issues that may arise in this community e.g. lack of identity and accountability. The most major ethical issue surrounding this site is the use of the "Supervalue" logo which, as far as I know, the person who designed the site did not ask permission to use this on the site. If a figure of authority felt that this was not good enough they could probably have the site shut down.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on the benefits this community holds over traditional notions of community e.g. communities reliant on geographic proximity This online community is not limited to members all coming from the same geographical place. However it is predominantly people from one area who are a part of it. Other people from different Supervalues around New Zealand could join if they wanted but many probably haven't searched it as a group. It does have community spirit, as people who are a part of it mostly know each other from work and enjoy sharing photos from Christmas parties etc. There are also people on the site who are family members of some staff or friends of others. The thing about this online community that makes it more beneficial to be a part of than a traditional community is the fact that it is open for discussion at times that suit the member, you can write comments when it suits you rather than having to actually meet the people. I have found that it is a good way to keep in touch with people that used to work at the supermarket, or people that I ordinarily wouldn't talk to out of work time.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment what this community lacks or can not provide which traditional communities can. It is not as personal as going out for a coffee with someone, and even though it is more convenient, because people can go on it when it suits them, there is a loss of that person to person contact. People don't have to put as much effort in, or give up their time. The other problem I have with online communities as well as other technological devices (such as cellphones) is that people are often much more brave in what they will say to someone, compared to what they would say in person. This is negative in my mind because people lose that diplomatic way of saying something and often things can be misinterpreted.