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Week 7- An overiew of online cultures.

This has been the concluding week to online cultures with a few (I was relatively busy with the ethnography) links to other studies (here and here) conducted with online cultures. Some of these studies were based on quantitative techniques and done a while ago but they still shed light on the interest in online communities generated by the Web 2.0 technologies boom. Most of these studies reveal multiple opportunities for people to come together for a number of reasons and  ‘that, rather than being socially-impoverished and ‘lean’, there were detailed and personally enriching social worlds being constructed by online groups.’ (Kozinets 2010).

Many people have I believe often experienced the feeling aptly described by Rheingold (2005) of ‘ Finding the WELL was like discovering a cosy little world that had been flourishing without me…’ at the first experiences of joining an online culture. Joining my MOOC slightly later I did get a feel of this ‘becoming part of something already there’. The first post might be a bit intimidating at first but it only takes the first reply or the first post to feel your presence has been felt.

I often wonder what it would feel like to meet members of an online community, or perhaps other people on this course in person one day, somewhere, perhaps a pub, a village square or a university hall. Will it be the feeling of meeting old friends, or of experiencing new relationships? Mobile technologies and fast internet speeds have allowed us to be online all the time making us a continuos presence in online communities and we worry when the community is quiet or has not posted in some time.

The study of my MOOC online community over these past few weeks has been interesting not only in the study of the MOOC itself which is all on the micro-ethnography but also in the first days of online communities when I was bounding from one of three MOOCs until I found the one I wanted to study. Each of these three MOOCs had their own specific community with members that made the community unique.

References:

Kozinets, R. V. (2010) Chapter 2 ‘Understanding Culture Online’, Netnography: doing ethnographic research online. London: Sage. pp. 21-40.

Rheingold, H. (2000). The Virtual Community. Available at:http://www.caracci.net/dispense_enna/The%20Virtual%20Community%20by%20Howard%20Rheingold_%20Table%20of%20Contents.pdf. Accessed (1st March 2020).

 

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Gender, Representation and OnlineParticipation:A Quantitative Study

The study found in the link below provides some insight into the way different groups, especially women are represented (or not) on the internet.

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While working on my micro-ethnography, I considered the issue of gender at an early point in my study. My study of participation by different genders was very basic and I determined it by using the name supplied by the participants. There was not much difference in the number of participants between women and men but there were more women than men in the thread I chose to study.

The study by Bogdan Vasilescu, Andrea Capiluppi and Alexander Serebrenik conducted 8 years ago may perhaps be a bit outdated by now but reading through the conclusions I could start to understand how anonymity could be more common on certain platforms than others. Anonymity could act in the same way a pseudonym did years ago, to comment without prejudice.

 

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Identity in Online Communities: Social Networking Sites and Language Learning Identity in Online Communities: Social Networking Sites and Language Learning

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This is a study of a community made up of foreign language learners which focuses on the creation of new relationships.

Of particular interest is the section on Mediation (pg119) which describes how mediation has no particular rules and regulations but is fluid and ‘arbitrary’ and the concept of ‘impression’. The idea of trying to find someone, one can relate to in an online community can be a very interesting concept to study. Do members of an online community decide to like or reply to another member on the basis of what is being posted or because they somehow feel that they can associate with that persona?