Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities

The online community that I am investigating is Facebook (www.facebook.com). The focus of the facebook community is to be able to connect and share information with all the people in your life.
facebook has many services within it such as social networking groups (workplace, school or collage). There is also a chat option where you can chat to friends and family online. You post content on your own and others profiles. People contribute by using these tools.
People who use facebook may be seeking a number of things such as Anticipated reciprocity, increased recognition, sense of efficacy, sense of community.
An example of a topic being discussed is the welly wood page:

Basic Info
Name:

Hey, let's NOT have a "WELLYWOOD" sign in Wellington.
Category:
Organizations - General
Description:
Wellington Airport are actually building a "WELLYWOOD" sign on the hill near the airport. Apparently it'll be finished by June.

"The Hollywood-style sign will stand 3.5-metres tall and stretch 28m along the hillside next to the Miramar cutting."

Read this and be horrified:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/3421114/A-sign-of-success-for-Wellywood-hills
Privacy Type:
Open: All content is public.

Contact Info

Location:
Wellington, New Zealand

Recent News

News:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/3421114/A-sign-of-success-for-Wellywood-hills

an interesting article:
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwpubafs/2003/masseynews/july/july14/stories/wellywood.html
There are some ethical issues that may arise from using facebook. If your profile isn't private then anyone on facebook who is not your friend will be able to look at your photos, discussions and photos. It is best if you keep your profile private to avoid this. An advantage of this online community is that you are able to share information and connect with your community from basically anywhere where you have internet access as facebook is not reliant on a geographical location. A disadvantage is that you don't get the face to face communication.

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