"Online communities are a group of people who come together online to participate, debate and share information"(Dibben, 2007). The purpose of online communities is to serve information about the community and how to participate, hosting of the tools of communication and conferencing, and providing ways to organise relevant information contributed by the community and history of the community.
"Online communities are formed to communicate, learn and share, provide support structure for mentoring, provide records and archives, online training or professional development, access to expertise, and to extend communication between networks" (Dibben, 2007).
Online communities involve some critical factors in order to be successful and effective. Firstly, focus on topics is important to the community and essential in creating a online community. Following on, finding a well respected community memeber to coordinate the community, and making sure each member has the encouragement to do their best. Finally, by using all the key thoughts that each member provides is essential in creating a successful and effective online community. It is also important to make sure each community member has the certain skills that are required, and they are focused on the same values and interests.
"Most people initially join online communities believing that they will receive some benefit. For an online community to generate useful content and an ongoing sense of community the proactive participation of a critical mass of members is required" (Dibben, 2007). Being an effective contributing member of an online community usually means having a combination of skills, an understanding of the culture of the community, solving logistical problems so that regular access is convenient, and ultimately an attitude of wanting to participate and contribute.
"Online communities are formed to communicate, learn and share, provide support structure for mentoring, provide records and archives, online training or professional development, access to expertise, and to extend communication between networks" (Dibben, 2007).
Online communities involve some critical factors in order to be successful and effective. Firstly, focus on topics is important to the community and essential in creating a online community. Following on, finding a well respected community memeber to coordinate the community, and making sure each member has the encouragement to do their best. Finally, by using all the key thoughts that each member provides is essential in creating a successful and effective online community. It is also important to make sure each community member has the certain skills that are required, and they are focused on the same values and interests.
"Most people initially join online communities believing that they will receive some benefit. For an online community to generate useful content and an ongoing sense of community the proactive participation of a critical mass of members is required" (Dibben, 2007). Being an effective contributing member of an online community usually means having a combination of skills, an understanding of the culture of the community, solving logistical problems so that regular access is convenient, and ultimately an attitude of wanting to participate and contribute.
3 comments:
I still disagreee that your picture doesnt represent at its full potential of "online community"
Honestly thats a Credit!!!
another few things i have come up with as to why people join and contribute to online communities is
increased recognition: people wish to build a "reputation" online. By contributing regularly and showing their expertise community members seek to achieve a sense of status
also people will contribute so they have a sense of fulfillment. basically they wish to have had a postive impact on the particular environment/community they are members of.
I found this blog entry very informative about online communities in general. The general overview is effective in describing the processes and motive for structuring an online community: "Online communities are formed to communicate, learn and share, provide support structure for mentoring, provide records and archives, online training or professional development, access to expertise, and to extend communication between networks" (Dibben, 2007). You have structured it quite well, discussing how communities have guidelines to start the community as well as guidelines to keep the communities running smoothly, once again revolving around motive and initiation to continue the connection. While the description is good, if you had the chance or time (god knows we all need more time during the day!) you could have explored the pros and cons of how communities organise themselves, identifying some communities in particular to visualize the processes. I found during my research that Friendsters’ community ‘leader’ would not treat its users with respect, thus turning people away from the site which supports the points in your blog entry. There is also the suggestion that you could have investigated other downsides about the procedure involved in maintaining or converging on online communities so that both sides of the argument can be shown. In conclusion, I felt that you have done a good blog entry. I understand completely how much work is involved in this assignment :)
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