Discovering Communities on the Internet :: Computers Technology Papers

"Discovering Communities on the Internet" Section I Online Communities Online communities seem to be very popular these days. I feel there is two different types of online communities. One type is where people converse during real time, meaning an individual could typically ask a question and will receive an immediate response from someone else. The immediate responses result in a dialogue between two or more people. Bulletin Boards are also popular because they are similar to an online community. The bulletin boards allow people to share ideas. To my understanding, the main difference between the two is that someone posts an idea on the board, and another person responds to the inquiry or statement by posting his response. Both of these places allow people to have discussions of all kinds and for a variety of reasons. Some people may think that an online community is where they met their significant others. Other people think an online community allows them to find the house or car of his dream. Also, people will ask for advice or ideas about something that is going on in life. There are advantages and disadvantages in chatting with communities. Some of the advantages are as follows: people are connected with the world and the diversity of people; people are able to find out other people's interests and ideas; people can learn about a different person's perspective. Some disadvantages in chatting with communities are as follows: people can learn how scary and different people really are; people can lie to you with out you even knowing the truth. I have had personal experience with chat communities and I have found great success. I have used chat communities for educational purposes. When I have chatted with communities I felt at ease. For example instead of having a class discussion I chatted with my classmates online. This way of discussing ideas was neat, because at first I did not know who I was talking to, then eventually I did figure out who I was chatting with. Another reason why I have enjoyed chat room discussions versus in class discussions is because people had the opportunity to speak their minds over the computer and they were not hesitant or shy. People did not have to face humiliation from the teacher or other classmates by their vocal answer. Chat rooms allow everyone to be able to participate and get involved in the class.