Week 1

1. What is a community (How is it defined)? What is a virtual/online community? What brings people together and what motivate them to stay together as members of a community? Cite examples from the recent issues of the Time magazine and/or from your personal experience with a real or virtual community you belong to and discuss the concept of a community.

According to Bruckman & Jensen (2002) a community is defined as a "group of people interacting with one another in some fashion" and "is successful to the extent that it meets the needs of its members." In a virtual community, Grossman (2006) states that millions of people have the ability to connect from all over the world to help one another based on common interest. Various things are designed, remodeled, experienced all through the capabilities of technology removing the need to be face-to-face. In a virtual community, an individuals imagination can be the only limiting factor of the success of an experience (Renninger & Shumar, 2002). Communities bring people with the same values and interest together. But you may also find communities where values and interest differ but individual needs are fulfilled within that location; therefore, the individual remains stationary in the community. Individuals find themselves staying in various virtual communities due to opportunities for learning (Renniner, 2002). The interaction between the members of a community trigger the desire to stay connected to the community (Grossman, 2006).

Examples of various virtual communities are MediaMoo, The Math Forum, MySpace, and YouTube. Media Moo allowed individuals with the interest of writing and research to connect to learn from each other within these fields (Bruckman & Jensen, 2002). The Math Forum first set out to connect mathematicians from around the world to collaborate and discuss math topics, then it's site extended to reach math teachers, K-12 schools, parents, students. The Math Forum allows for questions among members, among user and site officials. Problems are displayed to prompt regular critical thinking and so much more (Renninger & Shumar, 2002). MySpace is designed more as a social virtual network. You can meet people for the first time or search to reconnect with people from your past. MySpace allows for individuals to display photos, blog personal thoughts, creatively design the personal site, and share interest with the readers. As a user, MySpace will allow you to limit who sees your site, who tries to enter your site or even who tries to place comments on your site. Cloud (2006) states that YouTube was initially designed to allow users to post and view videos. The videos played quickly and easily. But YouTube now not only plays video snippets from all over the world, it has seen users access it as a personal video blogger mechanism. Within each type of virtual community, the users share an interest. The site is provide some sort of support or benefit to the user therefore they return to the site.

Personally, YouTube is a time to laugh. There are so many videos to view that I find myself accessing those that require no thought on my part and that make me laugh. But professionally I have utilized the videos for assembly presentations, faculty meetings, and class discussions prompts.

2. How are the real community and the virtual community similar and different at the same time? How do the emerging technologies, specifically the Internet, "alter our sense of boundaries, participation, and identity" of a community (p.14, Shumar & Renninger)?

Both communities experience groups of people coming together, whether it is for assistance, interest, or proximity. People are interacting. (Shumar & Renninger, 2002). A virtual community could be viewed as an extension of a physical/real community. In a real community individuals will "share concerns, resources, quality of life, and help" (Shumar & Renninger,2002). But in a virtual world, it is less personal, fewer forms of communication, spatially and temporally dislocated.

According to Shumar and Renninger, the boundary between real and virtual communities is permeable. They are overlapping each other. Participation within a virtual community allows for synchronous and asynchronous interaction. There has become a dislocation of time and space in order to interact and communicate due to virtual communities. Individuals are defining themselves due to the experiences they have benefited from during interactions in virtual communities. "It allows for the recasting of both self and community, meaning that through the Internet a person or group can revise his or her sense of possibilities" as stated by Shumar & Renninger (p. 14, 2002).

3. From your own experience of a virtual community, do you think people learn and construct knowledge by participating in the community? If so, what are the implications of a virtual community for learning and change?

People do learn and construct knowledge through participation in a virtual community. They learn from each other, at their on pace and time. Individuals are able to ask questions, read blogs, review videos, etc. Individuals are only limited by their interaction. Even past interactions/discussion sessions can be viewed due to archived information (Grossman, 2006). The more involved they become, the more knowledge they may gain inside the virtual community. Virtual communities basically have no limitations on time and space. Modes of communication do produce limitations but through video cameras, the face-to-face contact is making its way into virtual communities. But through virtual communities, you can learn from anyone, at anytime, located at any place (either you or them).