“Hello World” - Social Interaction through a Networked Society

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Recommended: Defining community

“Hello world!” is a common, tongue-in-cheek phrase employed by computer programmers when first learning a programming language, but in the landscape of progressively developing information and communication technologies, (ICT’s) online communities are bringing individuals, who are oceans apart, into arenas of creation and discussion in which individuals can truly say ‘hello’ to the world. Although the idea of a ‘community’ is not a new concept, the modern day notion of community differs immensely from even the use of the term a decade earlier. Community for decades has been described as the geographical position of individuals who typically share a common characteristic such as family or values(Powell, 1072). While there are a number of inherent problems associated with ICT’s and the community phenomenon, the concept of the community plays a large role in shaping social norms online and I believe society can utilize then for the spread of communication, knowledge and entertainment. To gain an understanding of communities, I will look to understand the following three question: What defines a community?, what are their limits? and what are the advantageous and disadvantages of these types of communities?

The Foundation of a Community

Communities will contain a certain set of values and norms which govern the members of a group. In an online community these ‘rules’ can often be explicit (written) or they can also be implicit and learned through observation and interaction with other members. E-dating exemplified this well as a user is forced to do “a ‘feeling around’ for new guidelines about how to merge digital and non-digital aspects of everyday life” (Hardey, 1113). Aspects of community are evident in Powell’s writings on the ...

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...ion, Communication & Society, 11: 8, 1111 -1131

Halavais, A. (2009) ‘Do Dugg Diggers Digg Diligently?’, Information, Communication & Society, 12: 3, 444-459

Konoeczny, P. (2009) ‘ Governance, Organization, and Democracy on the Internet: The Iron Law and the Evolution of Wikipedia’, Sociological Forum, 24: 1, 162-192

Powell, A. (2008) 'WIFI Publics: producing community and technology', Information, Communication & Society, 11: 8, 1068 – 1088

Andrews, P. (2005) ‘Flickr Fans to Yahoo Flick Off!’ Wired News, http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2005/08/68654

Fitzgerald, M. (2009) ‘How Facebook and Twitter Are Changing Data Privacy Rules’ COMPUTERWORLD. http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=D14C9B49-1A64-6A71-CEBB8DE087527FB6

Lewis, J. and West, A. (2009) ‘”Friending”: London-based undergraduates’ experience of Facebook’, New Media & Society, Vol. 11(7): 1209-1229

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