As a society we have come to accept the physical community as real, and have difficulty understanding the concept of a virtual community. However, the concept of community has transcended the physical world into the virtual world. Both communities are similar in many ways. According to Baym, an online community includes “a sense of space, a shared practice, shared resources and support, shared identities, and interpersonal relationships”. According to Rheingold, an online community consists of “real people who became part of my life”. According to him, they act in ways that mirror that of an offline community. Rheingold explained that the online community he belong to “babysat for my daughter, I was at they’re weddings, I went to they’re funerals, I sat by their deathbeds”. There are many reasons people get involved with online communities. According to Rheingold, those reasons could include “they’re sick, or they’re in a scary part of town where they don’t want to leave their apartment at night. Or maybe they’re older and they don’t get around that much. Or like myself, and many others, I work at home.” Rheingold poses the question “where am I going to get my relationships?” There are numerous reasons that keep people from being able to find people in bars and coffee houses, and also, even if you find those people, it is not guaranteed that you will share the same interests. In online communities, you are coming together under shared interests so when there is face to face interaction, it’s easy to know where to start the conversation because you know you share a common interest.
I have not been a member of an online community. However, it is easy to see how online communities would fit into the rest of our lives by allowing us easy access to people who share our common interests. In addition, virtual communities allow us to connect with local people who share our interests. Virtual communities even allow us to connect with people all over the world which could lead to better connections and relationships within world nations.
The key according to Rheingold was the relationships being established. He made the argument that online relationships can be just as real as offline relationships. One of the negative connotations I noted in the IRL documentary, however, was that some people mentioned that the Bronze was an escape from reality. That sentiment doesn’t help the cause that online communities are just as real as physical communities.
I agree, and it doesn’t help that those willing to speak out on behalf of online communities (especially in this documentary) seem to be somewhat socially awkward. It reinforces the incorrect stereotype that having relationships online cause people to lose social interaction skills rather than the true nature of the situation, which is that those challenges are easier to overcome through a mediated medium like CMC.