Online communities can also be known as a ‘virtual community’. They are groups of people that “...communicate on the internet and share a common interest, whether it is work, voluntary activity or play” (Abercrombie & Longhurst, 2007; 358). Each person in this community has similar interests which enable them to discuss particular areas and view opinions based around this. This can imply that the internet can be empowering as it allows groups of people to be confident and talk impartially about a particular topic/subject.
Personally I think that online communities can be both empowering and disempowering. It can be empowering in the sense that you can have your own personal profile with details about yourself. You also have things such as usernames and passwords which only you can use. In addition to this you have the ability to create your own profile and a representation of yourself which may be true or as mentioned in last week’s blogs be a ‘false identity’. These methods enable the user to have an element of power or authority over what is on their person page.
However the idea of disempowerment also has to be addressed when looking at online communities. It can be argued that online communities can expose various details of yourself such as your date of birth, address, telephone number etc. These can be easily accessed by other people in virtual communities which implies the idea of online communities being disempowering. The idea of things being perceived differently can be considered to be disempowering as people can interpret comments/opinions wrongly which is often out of the users control. It is quite easily for you to write something down jokingly in an IM conversation but the user who is receiving the comment could quite easily take it the wrong way as there isn’t some kind of ‘tone of voice’ to help imply what is being expressed. The idea of members of your online community not talking to you can be a little disheartening which could also apply an element of disempowerment.
Abercrombie N & Longhurst B.(2007) ‘Dictionary of Media Studies’, London, Penguin Books Ltd
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I do agree with you that there are security issues with online communities; however, it can still be argued whether people actually put their real details online?
ReplyDeleteAlso, you raise a good point about perceptions over the internet; it can be hard to know how someone is saying something, and how you’re supposed to perceive a certain point someone is supposed to make. In that sense there is a good advantage of real life communities, and it highlights the importance of ‘meatspace’ interaction.
Aren't personal details only divulged to the website managers -and kept secure by encryption?
ReplyDeleteWhat you divulge to others is up to you isn't it? Hence, if you are complained about by others on the site, the web managers check your account details against your declared info and then if necessary, follow that up by checking upon your account details (via e-mail accounts and IP address details etc.)