Electronic meeting place. (Virtual Communities).When pundits speak of "community" on the Net, they re referring to the unique power of that medium to bring people together across incredible physical boundaries. This "togetherness" may show up as a Web-based discussion forum, an e-mail discussion list, a collection of user-created Websites, a thriving chat room, or any number of alternatives to or combinations of these things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. . People use these spaces to interact in a number of ways, based on topical interests, similar lifestyles, shared activities, alternatives to real-life meetings, and so on. Howard Rheingold Howard Rheingold (born July 7, 1947) is a critic and writer; his specialties are on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a term he is credited with inventing). is the person credited with starting the virtual community movement. Writing in the online magazine Feed, Mr. Rheingold described some of his online experiences: "I've partaken in profound social communion through virtual communities. I've attended three weddings of friends who met online, and most of the participants at each of these weddings knew each other from the virtual community where the couple met. I've attended three funerals of people I knew mostly online. I stood up and spoke at two of those funerals. Again, most of the people attending those funerals were people who had known the deceased mostly online. I am one of many people who has quietly passed the hat and contributed to the thousands of dollars that went to an online friend whose son has been battling leukemia leukemia (l  kē`mēə), cancerous disorder of the blood-forming tissues (bone marrow, lymphatics, liver, spleen) characterized by excessive production of immature or mature , to another online friend who has been recovering
from cancer surgery, to another friend whose physical illness made it
difficult for her to work or to move out of her unhealthy apartment. It
wasn't just money, either. People delivered meals. Cooked and
cleaned. Helped pack and move.
"I remember KJ on the WELL, who was an argumentative Controversial; subject to argument. Pleading in which a point relied upon is not set out, but merely implied, is often labeled argumentative. Pleading that contains arguments that should be saved for trial, in addition to allegations establishing a Cause of Action or character online-some went further than that and referred to her as "obnoxious." When she announced online that she was dying, a couple dozen people self-organized and took turns sitting with her, reading to her, talking with her. She didn't die alone. "I remember Blaine, a teenager who I corresponded with a few years ago. Blaine has severe cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. and moves and speaks With great difficulty. When I talked with his mother and she told me that cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. is the only world without barriers, the only place where her son could have a rich social life, it brought tears to my eyes. "I offer these brief descriptions not as an anecdotal case for virtual communities as real communities in every respect, but as evidence that many of the most profoundly human aspects of communities - active and material support in times of illness, bereavement Bereavement Definition Bereavement refers to the period of mourning and grief following the death of a beloved person or animal. The English word bereavement , financial crisis - do take place through online groups. I know from all the stories people have told me at public appearances and via e-mail that these instances aren't confined to my own experience." Virtual communities come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. Many of them are commercial operations, intended to make money: hardly any of them do make money. In the summer of 2001, onlinecommunityreport.com gave a rundown of what's hot among commercial virtual communities: [] "Search Communities: Classmates.com CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Michael Schutzler reported a current revenue rate of $30 million annually. Dating community Match.com also measures annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars. Jobs community site Monster.com measures annual revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars. What do these communities have in common? All three are search sites: users visit not simply to chat, but to find something (classmate, soul mate, workmate). Users are willing to pay for the search; [] "Trading Communities: A close relative of the search communities are the trading communities, led by eBay ($600 million in revenue). In addition to successful auction sites, there are numerous news services and information-based trading communities such as exp exp abbr. 1. exponent 2. exponential . com and keen.com that show promising revenue growth; [] "Education Communities: Online education is booming. Industry leaders such as SmartForce have revenues measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Successful online universities, such as the University of Phoenix, measure annual revenues at over a hundred million dollars. Consumers understand the concept of e-learning, and are clearly willing to pay; [] "Scheduled Events Communities: Corporations increasingly are holding gatherings online: conferences, annual meetings, analyst calls, and working meetings. In doing so, they save travel and venue costs, transferring these budget allocations to service companies providing online hosting. Online events firm Webex boasts revenue of over $50 million; many additional groups compete in this space as it continues to swell; [] "Subscriber-based Communities: While most online communities have struggled mightily might·i·ly adv. 1. In a mighty manner; powerfully. 2. To a great degree; greatly. Adv. 1. mightily - powerfully or vigorously; "he strove mightily to achieve a better position in life" 2. with generating subscriber income, a few very large sites are showing some encouraging signs: ezboard is probably the largest freestanding online community site (10 million unique users / 500 million monthly page views). Its subscriber fees are in the six figures per month and growing; [] "E-mail-based Communities: e-mail continues to be the killer application Killer Application Killer application or "killer app" is a buzzword that describes a software application that surpasses all of its competitors. Notes: The term is sometimes used to describe a type of software. . Despite this, few community sites have yet exploited the power of e-mail. The clear exception is Yahoo Groups with its tens of millions of users and billions of e-mail messages each month. Yahoo will certainly figure out how to wring wring v. wrung , wring·ing, wrings v.tr. 1. To twist, squeeze, or compress, especially so as to extract liquid. Often used with out. 2. more revenue out of groups this year, and others will jump onto the e-mail community bandwagon because of its sheer effectiveness; [] "Advocacy Communities: Many online communities don't seek to be profitable. They have other goals in mind: advocacy, education, politics. Advocacy communities are growing quickly in sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. , thanks in part to new, powerful tools designed specifically for their needs. There are literally tens of thousands of virtual communities in cyberspace. Many are linked to mega-communities, Websites that host literally thousands of online communities. The OneList mega-community boasts 280,000 online communities and e-mail lists while Six Degrees boasts over three million members. Other mega-communities hosting thousands of online communities include Yahoo clubs, Microsoft communities, Excite's community boards Community Boards is a community based mediation program, established in 1976, in San Francisco, California, USA. The program utilizes volunteers from from the neighbourhoods of the city, who work with people involved in disagreements toward the end of resolving the dispute, , Lycos clubs, and Talk City. FACT FILE In August 2001, a wired park bench was installed in the town of Bury St. Edmunds Bury St. Edmunds (bĕr' sənt ĕd`məndz), town (1991 pop. 30,563), Suffolk, E central England. It is the market and processing center for the surrounding rich farm region. , England. The bench has jacks to accommodate anybody with a notebook computer A laptop computer that weighs in a range from five to seven pounds. The term originated when laptops were routinely more than 10 pounds, and those that became lighter were placed in a special "notebook" category. In practice, notebook computer and laptop computer are synonymous. who wants to log in to their Internet Service Provider Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. , free of charge. Psychiatrists tell us that 65% of communication is non-verbal. Websites Monster list of virtual community resources - http://www.insead.fr/CALT/ Encyclopedia/ComputerSciences/ Groupware/VirtualCommunities/ OneList - http://www.onelist.com/ The Resource Center for Cyberculture cy·ber·cul·ture n. The culture arising from the use of computer networks, as for communication, entertainment, work, and business. Noun 1. Studies - http://www.com.washington. edu/rccs/ Six Degrees - http://www.sixdegrees. com/invite.asp The Well - http://www.well.com RELATED ARTICLE: The third place. SOCIOLOGIST RAY Oldenburg Ray Oldenburg is an urban sociologist from Florida who writes about the importance of informal public gathering places for a functioning civil society, democracy, and civic engagement. believes that the sense of community is in decline in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. because of the way we have built our cities. There are three places that are important to humans who are social animals -- the workplace, the home, and the "third place." In this third place, we meet members of our community on neutral ground, leaving possible divisions such as class or industrial rank at the door. Third places can be churches, pubs, coffee shops and they are where people build ties and a sense of belonging. But most North Americans live in suburbs that sprawl over vast areas. Meeting places are very few and very far between, hence the well-documented increase in feelings of isolation and alienation in many of our communities. As Richard Goodwin complained in an article in New Yorker, in the suburbs "there is virtually no place where neighbours can anticipate unplanned meetings - no pub, or corner store, or park." Ray Oldenburg and others see the Internet as the vehicle for satisfying our need for a sense of community and belonging. He points out that the Internet provides virtual third places for people to meet and interact. Howard Rheingold agrees that the development of virtual communities is "in part a response to the hunger for community that has followed the disintegration of traditional communities around the world." |
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