Gourt > Computers > Internet > Cyberspace > Online Communities (8)
A virtual community is a group of people primarily or initially communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically over the Internet, rather than in person. Virtual communities are also known as online communities or computer-mediated communities (CMC).
Overview
Today, virtual community or online community can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members, although Rheingold mentions in that virtual communities form "when people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships" *. An email distribution list may have hundreds of members and the communication which takes place may be merely informational (questions and answers are posted), but members may remain relative strangers and the membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.
The term virtual community is attributed to the book of the same title by Howard Rheingold, published in 1993. The book discussed his adventures on The WELL and onward into a range of computer-mediated communication and social groups. The technologies included Usenet, MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon) and their derivatives MUSHes and MOOs, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), chat rooms and electronic mailing lists; the World Wide Web as we know it today was not yet used by many people. Rheingold pointed out the potential benefits for personal psychological well-being, as well as for society at large, of belonging to such a group.
More on [ Virtual community ]
Online Communities :: People and Society
Community Building :: Activism
Non-profit & Non-governmental organizations
Personal Homepages :: People
Cyberrelationships :: Relationships
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Steve Gillmor Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:44:53 -0000
Tomorrow we celebrate July 4th, and a week later our long National Nightmare is over. On the 11th we deposit our 2G iPhones in the FriendFeed donation bins and officially hook ourselves up to the Enterprise iPhone. The ePhone will change how we work and play, and in the process free us from the tyranny [...]
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Jason Kincaid Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:40:00 -0000
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Jason Kincaid Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:45:41 -0000
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Peter Sauer Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:44:13 -0000
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Erick Schonfeld Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:12:30 -0000
The recent court order directing Google to hand over data to Viacom about every YouTube video ever watched strikes many people as an absurd overreach of the law into the privacy of anyone who has ever used YouTube (i.e., almost everyone on the Internet). Google should definitely keep fighting the ruling if it can. [...]
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Jason Kincaid Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:31:37 -0000
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AsianXO.com - Provides free news, profiles, e-mail, homepage, chat, and forums.
BusinessWeek: Internet Communities - Surfers are losing interest on website content and want now to settle in online communities.
ChatMania - Chat community and forum involving many different topics of discussion.
Meta Description: [ %if(,,chatmania.net is for sale!) ]
Communities.com - Provides chat rooms, communities, forums, instant messaging, detailed photo profiles, photo galleries, and photo ratings. Search members by age, sex, location, and interests.
Meta Description: [ 100% FREE online community with photo profiles, ratings, galleries, communities, forums, blogs, chat, messaging, and much more. Join now and start making new friends! ]
Dacity.com - Provides members a free message board on many subjects, free chat services, free homepages and free online games.
Everything In Moderation - Features links to articles on management strategies.
Facemeet: Meet Faces, Make Friends - Worldwide chatrooms, swap photos, rate and message each other - free signup and membership.
Meta Description: [ Friendship and personals website. Create your own profile and display your photos and journal to people. Free online chatrooms, voting, messaging and membership! ]
Flamingcube - Offer image gallery hosting, webmail, albums, polls, and forums.
Meta Description: [ BoshDirect - the new homepage for Josh Lyon. New sections include forums, blog, and content management system. Also the new homepage for flamingcube.com. ]
Flork - Worldwide community of interesting people. Find new friends easily by 'florking around.'
Forums for Everything - PC help, home repair, automotive and others.
Meta Description: [ Unexplained, Super natural, General Discussion Forums ]
500
Found Myself - Provides a forum for artwork, hobbies, and opinions. Has chat rooms, message boards, games, contests, an online drawing program, and image gallery.
Meta Description: [ Sell your art commission free. An online art community with free personal galleries! Post your artwork to the gallery, chat, and wander. Discover useful information and interesting people in our artist message board / art forum. ]
Freebies Website - Offers free internet online services like online chat, guestbook, forum, downloads, articles and calendar.
Meta Description: [ Welcome to the Freebies casino portal - games, news, tips and tricks. Best gaming awards and online casinos like Omni, Sun Poker and The Sands of the Caribbean by casino player magazine. ]
Kancof: Greatness Among Nations - From philosophy to world news to politics to religion to sports to fitness to weapons.
Meta Description: [ Greatness Among Nations ]
Laibcoms - Covers topics ranging from classical, historical, to the internet, cultural, modern, and futuristic. Has news, forums, and polls.
Many2Many Social Networking - Meet new people, read/write articles and chat to other like-minded members. Visit communities of interest and join in discussions.
Meefo.com - Meefo is a place where anyone is accepted. Features news, reviews, gallery, chat and random banter.
MyNeti.com: Next Online Community - Personals, forums, chat, and shopping. Has message boards listed by subject.
Meta Description: [ The Next Online Community! 100% FREE Personals, Chat, Forums, & More! ]
NowTalking - Read and write diaries, send mail to other members, and exchange messages in guestbooks.
Meta Description: [ NowTalking, your friendly online community! Confess yourself anonymously, keep your picture gallery, read and write diarys and more! ]
Online Node - A community aiming for multiculturalism by providing members with webpages, guestbooks, journals, chatrooms, message boards, private messaging and games.
Meta Description: [ A community that provides members with the opportunity to interact with other members. The community provides members with webpages, guestbooks, journals, chatrooms, message boards, private messaging, games, and many more features. ]
OpenGaia - Browse through profiles, personals, shared interests, experiences and ideas, polls, creations, job search. Participate, share, meet people.
Meta Description: [ OpenGaia is a place of exchange, expression, intelligence and respect allowing everyone to introduce friends, share ideas, experiences, interests, journeys, creations,social networking... ]
Rogues Tavern Online Community - Online community of international rogues, scoundrels and rascals. Offering chat, message board, graffiti and a scrapbook.
Sciforums - Forum discussions cover world events, science, religion, philosophy, and technology.
Meta Description: [ Intelligent community discussion of science, religion, philosophy and technology. ]
Spammers Paradise - General discussion. Has forum, store, calendar, and member directory.
500
StargazerNET - Nonprofit offering knowledge base and portal hosting for organizations and individuals. Includes information on services and access to public resources. Provides conference rooms, message boards, surveys, library, and voluntarium.
Talk City - Participate in discussions about relationships, hobbies, business, technology, health and other topics. Socialize with friends, or start your own chat group.
Meta Description: [ Talk City is a network of member-owned chat rooms dealing with a wide range of topics and interests. Participage for free, or sign up for advanced features or room ownership with one of our subscription plans. ]
TalkTrix - Described as a fun place where you can meet other people and talk about anything you want.
Meta Description: [ Free speech forums. Talk about anything from sports to politics to technology! ]
The Cult - A worldwide organization of mostly high school and college students - a unique collection of ideas and services.
The Internet ClubHouse - Community that features picture rating, message forums, user profiles, buddy list, live chat, email and user-contributed articles.
Meta Description: [ Golf Equipment, Clubs, Bags, PGA Pro Golfers, Golf Lessons, and Golf Courses ]
The Lost Diner - Focused on the abandoned, forgotten, mysterious, and unexplained. Has forums, chat rooms, and message board. Share stories, photos, maps, conversation, links, and ideas.
Meta Description: [ Step into the Lost Diner... interactive forum community of like-minded wanderers and weirdos... intrigued by the abandoned, haunted, lost, forgotten, historic and strange? Then this is the place for you... ]
The Pork - Members can access chat rooms, discussion boards, personals, and instant messaging.
Meta Description: [ The Pork is an online chat community. They have Adult, Teen, Spiritual, Role Playing and gaming chat rooms. A discussion board with forums such as Poetry, Politics, Philosophy, Writing and more! ]
The Spoke - Microsoft's digital lifestyle club for students from around the world, with message boards, hubs, blogs and 10 MB of upload space for members.
Wanderlist - User-contributed, user-evaluated lists of notes including lots of links.
Meta Description: [ w a n d e r l i s t - First you start with a list of lists, which leads to a list of something else. If you can't find it, list it, at wanderlist.com ]
Whyville - A virtual 3-D world for curious minds where you can own land, build your own house, play simulation games, win prizes, chat, and help the community grow.
Meta Description: [ A virtual 3-D world for curious minds where you can own a piece of land, build your own home, play simulation games, win prizes, chat, and help the community grow. ]
WireClub - Personal and group blogs tied in with many other social networking features. Geared to meeting people through shared interests. Free site.
Meta Description: [ Join free online chat rooms and chat with friends, meet new people and more. Choose from hundreds of rooms, create your own or message people directly and chat with instant messages ]
YouThink.com - Ask questions, and discuss jokes, movies and trivia.
Meta Description: [ Make quizzes and personality tests, ask and answer questions, create profiles, journals, forums and more in this online community. ]
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