In Chapter 4, Nancy Baym discusses what makes an online community different from an online group. Baym references five qualities – space, shared practice, shared resources and support, shared identities, and interpersonal relationships – as being necessary to the creation of a community. (Baym 75) While doing research for our second short paper, I came across what I would deem an online community and I think it has all five of the qualities Baym laid out. The subject of my paper was an anonymous person on Twitter who went by the handle AndreasBurnBook, and she took on the persona of the character of Andrea from The Walking Dead television show. AndreasBurnBook, or the ‘Fake’drea’ as I call her, is part of a larger group of people who participate in parody accounts of other core characters from the same show. Going through the last six months of her/his tweets, I discovered that there was a lot of interaction between this group. Tweets between the group evolved from being solely about the show to dealing with more personal issues. The group tweeted encouragement to each other when they needed support for things like bad days, lost jobs and even loneliness. Messages exchanged between them showed that they had some kind of relationship off of Twitter, with references to emails, phone calls and text messages.The fact that they do not share the same geographical space was not an issue for them. They all shared the same practice of live tweeting during the show, and they even participated in question and answer forums together off of Twitter. Even though they operated under anonymous identities online, they shared aspects of their true identities with each other. The strongest community tie that the group showcased, though, was their obvious support of one another. Although the accounts all typically post snarky or humorous Walking Dead references, the members of the group had a different relationship amongst each other. When one account was almost banned, the other members spearheaded a Twitter campaign to save it. When a member would tweet that they were having a bad day, the others would send them funny pictures or uplifting messages. It was obvious, after reading six months worth of Andrea’s tweets, that they had in fact formed interpersonal relationships with each other. Its possible that these relationships will eventually fall apart after the cancellation of the show or when one member decides they are no longer interested anymore. However, offline communities fall apart in much the same way, like friends that lose touch after graduation. The important thing is that they are very much a community. So, what is the difference between an online community and a random online group? An online community goes farther than just a shared set of interests or ideals. They show an obvious concern for each other, and they form actual interpersonal relationships that exist in the real world, even if they never meet in person.

The definition of an online community is described differently by many people. According to Howard Rheingold online communities are communities where people share the same interest and the authenticity of the relationships of the community. He tells BBC that more people are leaving the local communities to join online communities because they know that there are people online who share the same interest than thoes of the local community. Nancy Baym uses  a few qualities to describe online community.  One is ” space”, a common shared place the forms a community. Baym explains that most online communities allude to members creating fictional places such as buildings are parks. Another is Practice which she examples the use of lingo used only my members of the community. I think people join online communities for the reason Rheingold pointed which is to be part a more niche community. People now have the opportunity to find people with very specific common interest. I have not been a member of an online community other than Facebook which seems like it doesn’t count since  online communities seem to be created with one or a couple of interest.

            Although it is easy to think of online meetings as having no emotional value whatsoever, this is not always the case. There is a chance that a similar topic will start an online community, which mainly consists of people that get addicted to communicating with each other. The most important difference between these communities and random groups of people is that the people within the communities seem to actually care for each other. For example, in chapter 4 of this class’s textbook, people within these online communities have been known to give each other emotional support during relationship problems. Such was the case of “The Bronze”, a cyberspace community that formed multiple friendships until it shut down on July 10, 2001.

            It is easy for people to become members of these online communities, especially when all of the members share a common interest. After a while, the participants start to tell more about themselves until they form friendships with each other. This is why we should not always be so quick to judge real communities from fake ones, just as Mr. Rheingold stated in his BBC interview. While I have never been a member of an online community, I have seen examples of bloggers teaming up for a common interest, such as wanting to make sure a certain DLC that they would all enjoy gets into a videogame. Like Mr. Rheingold stated, these online communities offer a lot of business across otherwise difficult-to-cross borders. Online communities fit into our social lives by allowing us to communicate with potentially millions of people across the globe. In conclusion, I agree with what I think is Mr. Rheingold’s most noteworthy comment, that if we don’t learn to live together on the planet now, we’re never going to.

From the material this week a community is a place where people can leave and enter into a place of comfort where they can relate to other people and have genuine conversations. However, no one has been able to define an online community because it means something different for every person. The IRL Documents and the interview all agree that there is not a certain definition for community. All of the material this week goes into detail to provide passion and happiness within the speakers about the online community. Each person that was interviews on the documentary spoke with happiness and confident and their face lite up with joy or their tone of voice changed to express excitement. To many people online communities are like a child in a candy store.

I am not sure what the difference between a community and a random group of people. A community would be more like a family. Of course all families have their good and bad so everything will not be good within the community and it will obtain people that would stand out offer protection as discussed in the readings. People get involved within communities to escape the cares of the world and enter into a place where they are understood, have emotional support  as well as people that can relate to them as well as they can relate too. For example, in the IRL documentary the female talked about how the community helped her get over depression. Also Baym talks about how people gave money to the lady who lost her child.

I have never been involved in a community. I do not feel that I have time or maybe I do not spend much time online. I do not know anyone that is a member of a community. Therefore unless people reveal that they are part of a community we would never know because it would be a place of comfort so a person would tone out all of their surroundings and emerge themselves within the online community. For example, in the reading the lady tells her boyfriend good bye because she was going to the bronze as if she was leaving and going somewhere.

In reading chapter 4, ” articles and books on digital community often begin by noting that no one has ever been able to agree what exactly “community” means” (Byam. 74). People join communities for different reasons, shared interests, or the need to talk to other people. Communities can make people who share a common interest have a place or space where they feel comfortable to share. I found the interview very informational, especially the part that people join to share their feelings or vent that really intrigued me. I could really understand why people would want to join a community where they felt like they were being heard. Some people might feel like no body ever listens to what they have to say. They might have a tough day, and feel the need to share their day with someone but no one is there. With an online community they have fast easy access to many readily listening ears.

I have not been involved in an online community personally, but with reading this chapter I understand why people would be part of a community. It might be the only place for some people to interact and share things they might not be able to share in their offline life. For some people these online communities are so tight that they feel like they are part of a family.

As Baym discusses in Chapter 4, people hugely disagree about what an online community is defined as. Some people think a community is solely based on geography, and that online communities cannot really exist. Others believe that a group can only be a community if the members share resources and help each other. This can take place in a variety of ways; one example Baym posed was when a “mommy blogger” received over $20,000 in donations after her 17-month-old daughter unexpectedly passed away (p. 83-84). People can also form groups based upon what they have in common (ethnicity, fandom, etc.). However, as Howard Rheingold (who coined the phrase “virtual community”) pointed out, these online communities share such a strong bond that although people may have never met before, their relationships are very real.

The IRL documentary was very interesting, and it showed me how vitally important online communities can be to people. One man spoke about how he was able to get online and vent to people when no one would listen to him in real life. A woman said that the community helped her get back on track when she broke up with her boyfriend and became depressed. In fact, one woman said that describing the community as simply a group about Buffy barely scratched the surface, and that it was really a “family.” They would travel across the country for PBPs (Posting Board Parties), jump into cars with community members they had never met before to drive to Disney World, and go to members’ weddings. In fact, when the community died, the members were very sad and said they experienced a “loss.”

I have never been in an online community. I would always meet up online with people whom I already knew in real life. However, I can see that people can get a great deal of friendship and community from these online worlds. Especially when they are dealing with tragedy or a feeling of not belonging in their real life, people can use online communities to reinvent themselves and feel like someone cares.

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.

Baym mentioned in Chapter 4 that there are many different definitions of the term “community”, and that there is not a consensus universal description. After listening to the interview with Rheingold and watching the IRL documentary about the Bronze, it certainly seems that group members know when they are a part of a community. Baym said on pg. 72 that “many online groups develop a strong sense of group membership.” In my opinion, this seems to be a good starting point for defining community.

Baym noted five qualities group members share that typically arise in an online community. These five qualities included a sense of space, shared practice, shared resources and support, shared identities and interpersonal relationships. As a member of MemphisTigers.org, an online forum devoted primarily to University of Memphis athletics (namely basketball and football), I can easily identify all of these qualities.

Just as we saw with the Bronze message board, MemphisTigers.org is metaphorically based on space. When posting in the forum, members use the word “place” all the time to refer to the domain. Another salient part of a community is shared practices. Although there are tons on MemphisTigers.org, one of interest is using the term “pope” to respond to an original post that has duplicated information from another thread. This practice started a few years ago when a former pope had died, and multiple threads appeared to discuss it.

Another quality that showed up on the IRL documentary and in Chapter 2 of the Rheignold study was the emotional support that happens online. As dysfunctional as MemphisTigers.org can be, there are a core group of users who, from time to time, will post on the board asking for prayers during difficult situations. There requests are always answered by other members with encouraging words.

I noticed in our readings that interpersonal relationships often transcended the online community. Members would gather offline and meet up to get to know one another. I’ve never met up with anyone from MemphisTigers.org (that I didn’t’ already know), but a core group of members (usually the ones who post the most), have arranged meetings at games and other events. They usually post online about their experiences, thus making it known to everyone else that they did actually meet.

Rheingold said it best when answering a question about critiques of online communities when he noted that the relationships that developed were just as real as any offline relationships. These relationships define the community.

In Huffaker and Calverts study, I found many points of focus between male and female identity online. They found that men would more openly use language that is aggressive or offensive to other online users or on blog sites. One interesting point is that women discuss more personal, intimate topics and usually include emoticons to express their mood or idea. Men, however use emoticons as well but usually to other females, not Maithili conversations to other men. I feel that these online gender based roles are ver appropriate ideas that correlate well to the real life presentation of a person.

One personal thought I had discussing gender and blogging in particular is that from following a few girlfriends blogs, and my blog analysis, is that women usually share as much positive information on their blog as possible. Making many followers see all of the “pretty” parts of their life. I get it, they don’t want to share their dirt or complain publicly on a blog site, but, c’mon your life isn’t that perfect, right?

As far as gender throughout this class or other online classes I have been a part of, I can definitely tell between a few of the race.  Just life Huffaker and Calvert mentioned, it’s the personal stories shared. Men seem to be a little more reserved with sharing these life details.

According to Huffaker and Calvert, 40% of blogs are written by males and the other 36% by females. Huffaker and Calvert also say that blogs are based on the authors age, demographic and gender. Also, most of the time the author’s of blogs provide all of this real information on the home page of their blogs. Witmer and Katzman did a study that  says that emoticons are used more often by females to express emotion than males are. Males tend to deny their feelings even if they are feelings of sadness. The study also showed that males also would not use emoticons when in conversation with other males, but would use emoticons when in conversations with females. It found that females use emoticons equally if they are in conversation with either males or females. Deborah Tannen believes that males have a more direct style when it comes to communicating online and that females have a more intimate and indirect style of communicating. As far as our class goes, we can tell which class members are males or females by their names most of the time or by reading their blog posts because males and females do speak in different tones online and I think that’s the whole point of the gender roles.