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The concept of "online community" or "virtual community" is one that has been discussed in many forums in recent years. The term was first coined by Howard Rheingold in his book The Virtual Community and since then has been used in many different contexts each with its own interpretation. Rheingold's definition is:
“Virtual Communities are social aggregations that emerge from the 'Net when enough people carry on public discussions (using CMC technology) long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.”
- Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community
The term implies a sense of belonging, a variety of people with different expertises, shared purpose, collaboration, mutual support and organised access to services. Sometimes the term is used to refer to a particular email discussion list but the technology (the software that is behind the online network) is irrelevant. It is the nature of the resultant human activity that determines the existence of a community.
In their article "Definitions of the Net that Teachers Experience," Michelle Williams and Lindy McKeown state:
Additional insights come from Dale Spender:“The Internet is a place that contains communities of people and these communities often build information archives.
The talk on the streets and the relationships between the people represent the soul of the community.”
- Williams and McKeown, 1996
“Cyberspace has the potential to be egalitarian, to bring everyone into a network arrangement. It has the capacity to create community; to provide untold opportunities for communication, exchange and keeping in touch.”In the context of this work the term "online community" has been used rather than "virtual community " to reflect the activity that creates the sense of community and to avoid the implication that this is not a "real' community.
- Spender, Dale (1995) Nattering on the Net:women, power and cyberspace.Spinifex: Melbourne., (p 229) ISBN 1 875559 09 4
A sense of community is gained from personal experiences in the space and from observing the interactions of others online.
Collective Wisdom of an Online Community
The collective wisdom that emerges from an online community forms a set of lenses and filters that value add to the information found on the Internet.
Web sites can be used to record the collective wisdom of the community. The web of a community is the filter through which outsiders can view it. This contrasts sharply to the common experience of the Internet where webs usually only transmit knowledge and facts with people restricted to the role of receiver.
Web sites for and about online communities are used to support and record the online activity and ideally they are built as a collective effort. They tend to contain a mixture of original content generated by the community as well as links to other relevant information sources which have undergone peer review. They may contain records of online conversations. They highlight the tips of the trade, the key players and the 'happening things'.
Webs by themselves do not create community. It is difficult to appreciate what an online community is like without experiencing it. Looking at a web site does not help you experience it. It is only the human experience of interaction though communication with others that helps you understand the community from the inside. Webs built for community members and about community members and their work are powerful and can support people as they connect with others.
A community that hosts events and conducts projects is a vibrant one. This activity gives some people the opportunity to give to their peers and opportunity for others to participate. Online activities can act as a way to nurture newcomers and extend experiences for existing members. People who do things together, can build relationships which contribute to their lives.
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