VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

Overview

Virtual Communities

A virtual community is a group of people communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically the Internet, rather than in person. Virtual communities are also known as online communities or computer-mediated communities (CMC).

Today, virtual community or online community can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. Different virtual communities have different levels of interaction and participation among their members. This ranges from adding comments or tags to a blog or message board post to competing against other people in online video games. The ability to interact with likeminded individuals instantaneously from anywhere on the globe has considerable benefits, but virtual communities have bred some fear and criticism. Virtual communities can serve as dangerous hunting grounds for online criminals, such as thieves or stalkers.

So what makes an effective community online?

Contents

• 1 Overview
• 2 Benchmark virtual communities
• 3 Additional virtual community listings
  • 3.1 Discussion boards
  • 3.2 Social networks
  • 3.3 Art communities
  • 3.4 MUD, MUSH, MOO
  • 3.5 Other types
• 4 Virtual community pioneers and experts
• 5 See also
• 6 References and external links

VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES I HAVE KNOWN.
WHAT ARE THE KEY QUALITIES OF A GOOD ONLINE COMMUNITY?

ED 4134 is a community of adult learners who are currently working toward obtaining specific qualifications required to teach in N.S.W. Most of the participants are already teaching in schools and have been given 7 years since November 2003 to comply to N.S.W teachings standards.
The first component of the course has involved an introduction to the contemporary IT scene especially in relation to teaching/education. This unit culminated in an assessment task which was was to create a blog to act as a repository and sounding board for discussion around significant educational theorists and their contribution to constuctivism in education. Digital media and its use in education was a dominant theme in many blogs, as was Rudolf Steiner's education philosophy, as most of us teach in schools that espouse this philosophy as our feature tennant.
In time we have been able to view and contribute to each others sites, and I am sure given more time these transactions have the potential to become richer and more integrated. The fact that we all feel connected through our philisophical and vocation orientation, and the nature of this task, has created a significant bonding. Overall the experience has been timely, fun and has definitely engendered a sense a discovery.
I encourage you to to check out these blogs sites and make your own discoveries!

NORTE DAME EDU 4134 ONLINE COMMUNITY.
ADAM
AKASH
ATHLETICSCOLARSHIPUSA
BRIGID
CAMBIA-TODO-CAMBIA
CHIRASTORY
COLOUR
DANAMUSINGS
DAWNSOMNE -MELMADRUGA
DEEP-PONDERING
EAGLE EYE ON EDUCATION
EDUCAREEDUCARE
EDUCATION TOMORROW
ELIOT
EMBERS 12
FROG HOLLOW
GABE
GEOFF
HAS-THE-WORLD-GONE-MAD
JACINTA
JANE
JOSH
JOSH S.J
JEWELS
JU JU PIGEON HOLE
KYPERZONE
LASKA47
LAURATROSES
LOFTYS
MARTINAS REMIX
MAREE
NORMS VIEW
MY-KEYS
PADMA
PECEPTIONREMIX
ROBYNREFLECTIONS
ROSE
TT-EDUCATION
TONY
VICKI
ZULEIKASWORD

It has been said that the strongest and quickest way to build a community of any kind is to apply the following model:
THINK> TALK>ACT>PLAN





Applied to education, virtual communities have the potential to establish professional groups online, fostering creative distributed learning environments. Effective online communities virtually leap off the screen to invite you in, using text, graphics, links and ease of flow/access.
MySpace is a social networking website based in California offering an interactive network of blogs, user profiles, groups, photos, and an internal e-mail system. MySpace has gradually gained more popularity than similar sites such as Bebo, Friendster, MyYearbook, Classmates.com and LiveJournal to get the highest hit count of all English-language social networking websites. It has become an increasingly influential part of contemporary teenage culture. MySpace has 250 employees and projects a 2006 revenue of $US200m

www.myspace.com/


More on ‘hanging out’ on MySpace

Published by Seb Chan
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/index.php/2006/05/08/more-on-hanging-out-on-myspace/