The True Online Community Essay -- Internet Blogs Experience Essays

The True Online Community What makes a true online community? There are many different types of online communities. There are those that focus on role playing and living a secret life, and there are others that are there to provide a place to vent emotions and to provide helpful information. I tried to join an online classroom that was similar to blackboard in some ways, but it turned out that I could only read articles and not respond to them. The web site was http://cyberdash.net/online1102/. The setup of the site consists of links to online articles, posts written by students, and responses to both articles and posts. There are also several links to personal â€Å"BLOGS† or web logs, which are personal pages similar to a journal where you can post any sort of information you like. One student, Drew Rosener created a BLOG for his ENC1102 class, which is a writing class at Florida State University, in one of his articles he says that this site is â€Å"going to contain things that, you guess it, are interesting to me and uninteresting to you†. This is one of the things that I found appealing about this site. He directly states that not everyone’s views are or will be the same, but in this community students have the chance to put their own opinion into writing. I think that this illustrates why online communities are beneficial. In â€Å"real life† communities it is often hard to express what you think because many fear ridicule. In an online community you can freely post your opinions without worrying about a face to face conflict. Because it is a class there are several policies that the students must abide by, just like any other class there is an attendance policy. You must spend a certain amount of time on the site to meet the att... ...f Topic, 6 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=90. MahiMahi, â€Å"New Anti-Marijuana and SUV ads: Going to far?†, Off Topic, 12 Jan. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32. Mdunn09, â€Å"Writing made Simple†, Writing, 18 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=106. Pav02, â€Å"Surprisingly, Proof-Reading is Helpful†, Writing, 12 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=98. Jayjay, â€Å"Tyson fight staged?†, Off Topic, 23 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=116. Rheingold, Howard, â€Å"The Virtual Community†, The Wired Society, Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1999.