Quiz 3
17th of April
Chapter 10
Virtual Communities
Traits of Communities
Theoretical Approaches to Communities
Types of Communities
Imagined Community
Subcultures
Audience Communities
Gaming communities
Communities of Practice
Fan Subcultures
different types of communities have formed from previous audience communities
social groups online
Emile Durkheim: feeling of collective identity as the hallmark for communities
acting as an entity leads to deindividuation
disadvantages: diffusion of responsibility and lack of accountability
form around common interest, common love or hate; all different kinds of interests
share particular identifiable social traits, common interests and develop over time
online media with synchronous or nearly synchronous communication create a sense of unity in experiencing and event
defined through voluntary, temporary and tactical affiliations
reaffirmed through common intellectual enterprises and emotional investments
held together through mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge
usually: one or two geographical communities (offline) but many communities online
entry and exist costs of online communities are lower but strong social bonds can still develop
Consciousness of kind
Shared rituals and traditions
Moral responsibility
sense of belonging and mutual recognition
language
individual identity might compete with group identity and mitigates the effect of deindividuation
ritual: action or series of actions performed collectively with a meaning for the group
Duty to other members of the community
collective effervescene (Durkheim)
suffused with rituals and traditions (e.g. live tweeting)
especially when trolling occurs
Norms within communities
Reciprocity
Generalised Reciprocity
Social Exchange Theory
taking something and giving something back
internally motivated rather than coerced with a sense of membership
contribution to the group without particular expectation of getting something back immediately but keeping in mind to use the group in the future or having used it in the past
an exchange of services or goods will in time lead to the development of social ties
understand the social bonds between people who live and work together
different types of communities
Type 1: related to an interest, hobby or professional activity
Type 2: related to health or emotional support
distinct in needs and motivations, overlap sometimes
Benedict Anderson 1991
a medium creates a sense of belonging to one nation or one community
identify as part of the group even though there are geographical distances or different circumstances
e.g. Twitter: shared through linguistic conventions, having a simultaneous experience
developed for one-to-many communications but SM enables many-to-many communication as well
expression of existing offline subcultures
smaller grouping within a culture that shares particular norms, values and practices that may run counter to a dominant culture
community online can reinforce offline interaction (e.g. Comi-con)
form around a particular media product e.g. movie, TV show etc
interpretive community to discuss text, share information etc.
also discuss wide-ranging issues of their lives and exchange social support
might dissolve over time because the narrative or group dynamics have changed
fan fiction: predates the internet; way for fans to use mass media to share information; not just consume but also produce
group is informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise
audience community and community of practice
Wikipedia
often a site for co-creation or collaborative production
share knowledge
interpret text but also work together to accomplish a task
rich subcultures where players form friendships, alliances, enemies etc.
cooperative and competitive elements heighten or make explicit community ties
Status and Health in Communities
social belonging: help during hardship or emotional well-being from sociability
Status: relative and socially constructed position of someone in a social grouping
different systems of formal recognition: contests, awards, titles
build through length of time of being active within the community
Newbies are suspect until proven trustworthy
Measures of health
reasons for participation
status
intrinsic satisfaction
ideological motivators
newbies: information
experienced members: social support
Roles in Online Communities
Social role: systemic pattern of behaviour in interaction with others
Lurkers
Newbies
Information Gatherers
Gatekeepers
Anonymity
Trolls
Sock puppets
Group boundaries
porous in online communities
belonging is indicated through longetivity but also through language and knowledge
maintained by a social consensus about what constitutes "legitimate" membership or setting expectations for knowledge, norms of behaviour or linguistic codes
right to promote something is gained through longetivity and participation
new members; often ignored or flamed; lowest status; reputation is important
relatively passive; rarely contribute; feel as part of community
communities have certain norms for communication unknown to Newbies
bring new specialised knowledge to the group
dominant behaviour is to respond to peoples questions = answer people
position in the network: tied to isolates; not many intense reciprocal ties
based on function
regulating spam and curating content of the community
synthesise information, provoke discussion
alias identities created to disguise
defend oneself, disseminate false information or disconnect from a reputable self
express problematic or adverse view points within the community
users who attempt to disrupt the community
anonymous
luring others into pointlessly long discussion
"do not feed trolls"
leads to antisocial behaviour
racist, sexist or virulent behaviour
use pseudonyms
less apparent in SM platforms where real name is used (e.g. FB)
numbers of messages posted
number of participants
member satisfaction
degree of reciprocity
percentage of on-topic messages
trust among community members