Virtual community: no ‘killer implication’

Virtual community: no ‘killer implication’
ANDREW FEENBERG & MARIA BAKARDJIEVA
new media & society Vol6(1):37–43 2004

"Online sociability is a fact of everyday life. According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project report (2001), 84 percent of all American internet users contacted an online group at least once and 79 percent of these users remained in regular contact with at least one group.

Benedict Anderson’s notion of imagined community: ‘All communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined’. Anderson argues that
communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined.... recently, the internet has exploded with imagined communities that are based on the swift interactive exchange of electronic text."

Types of online community studies

• Online forums - found to be often instrumental or inconsequential. "They give rise to specialized relationships, not all embracing solidarities. They are driven by fleeting interests, not unconditional commitments."
• Local communities online - studies which examine the ways in which existing local communities employ the internet to discuss relevant local issues and to build stronger bonds among citizens and neighbours
• Online communities as a business prospect - business organisations who want to use online community to stimulate team work and productivity,or to make money in other wasy (eg online gaming communities)

The article concludes that "civic life and political involvement in most Western societies have not experienced quite as significant a boost as some optimistic forecasters expected. So far the
internet has not had the large-scale democratizing consequences that was envisioned. On the other hand, the atomizing and isolating effects that were feared by pessimistic observers appear greatly exaggerated. Most of us know people who regularly frequent a professional or hobbyist virtual group, deriving ample benefit and pleasure from participation without shutting themselves off from face-to-face meetings, parties and occasional drinks in good company"

Two findings:

• studies of the origin and functions of online groups demonstrate the remarkable power of the medium to enable new forms of sociability.
• studies that enquire into the motives for joining and contributing to these groups demonstrate consistently that online participation offers unique opportunities for actively and interactively pursuing identity-related projects that used to be impossible, and even inconceivable.

The online world have found new ways for people to express situated personal experiences, needs and problems. This in turn undermines the distinction between ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ life

"Online groups are indeed a qualitatively new medium. It is time for researchers to realize that they must position themselves as participants in the process of development by placing their results at the disposal of the online communities that they study."