Online Communities - Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards
To those who have never experienced an online community they may seem pointless, a waste of time or simply childish. However, for those that have expanded beyond the traditional means of communication such as, talking on the telephone or conversing face-to-face, online communities offer a new and exciting means of communication. They offer a chance to meet others, gain advice, voice an opinion, defend an argument, or to simply relax and have a little fun. Acknowledging both points of view, I decided to explore the world of online communities for myself.
For my online community I decided to enter a Yahoo, country music, chat room. Through Yahoo, there were many different chat rooms you could enter ranging from sports, to current events. However, I choose to enter the country music room because I have listened to country music all my life and I thought who I would best relate to those that would be in a country music room. Within the country music topic there were fourteen different rooms; I choose room four because it contained the most people: 44 active members. Therefore, I assumed that it would be the most active.
Inside the chat room I was surprised at what I found. The first thing that I noticed was the names of the chatters. Each had some sort of country name such as, “rodeocowgirl” or “bullridingcowboy.” While looking through the conversations that were occurring I noticed that no one was discussing country music. In fact, the entire time I was in the chat room the topic rarely even appeared. I tried writing a post that said, “Does anyone know who sang the song ‘Thunder Rolls’?” About five minutes later, I received a response that said “Garth ...
... middle of paper ...
...meone could become obsessed. Everyone seemed to know each other so well and it seemed as if chatting through this chat room was their way of socializing. Granted these individuals were not gaining an educational aspect from the chat room, however, they were gaining a sense of being part of something. They could express feeling, express viewpoints, vent anger or simply socialize with out being judged. No matter what was said within the chat room participants returned the next day eager to socialize. Chatting online is a huge part of these people’s lives; online communities are their source of interaction. Some people value face-to-face communication and some turn to more recent forms of technology. In my opinion your communication selection should fit your own personal needs. You should use whatever source you find most convenient, efficient, and comfortable.
Patel introduces the concept of a “faith line” and its importance by describing two cases of young people’s education relating to religion. In the first, a young man was taught religious totalitarianism, a destructive and hateful
Eisner, Lotte H. The Haunted Screen. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. 1965
Mandatory sentencing refers to the practice of parliament setting a fixed penalty for the commission of a criminal offence. Mandatory sentencing was mainly introduced in Australia to: prevent crime, to incapacitate the offenders, to deter offenders so they don’t offend again, to create a stronger retribution and to eliminate inconsistency. There is a firm belief that the imposition of Mandatory sentencing for an offence will have a deterrent effect on the individual and will send a forcible message to the offenders. Those in favour argue that it will bring consistency in sentencing and conciliate public concern about crime and punishment.
What’s more, with Robbins melding insights gained from work both past and present, could the insights gained from cognitive science, provide additional understanding into the ways in which totalistic groups are capable of “brainwashing” their adherents? If the frames or schemas are constructed and informed through social conditioning, it seems that they may be subject to re-shaping, and re-definition by a group or a society. While sociorhetorical interpretation’s scope seems to be extremely broad, it may be the approach needed to successfully engage and explain such phenomena.
Peralta, Stacy. Stecyk, Craig. Dog-town and Z-boys. Documentary. 3 January, 2001. 28 February, 2014. Movie.
For many decades, the cult phenomenon has fascinated the masses. A cult is an organization with deviant beliefs and practices, and is characterized by the apparent life-time membership of its participants. It seems to be very popular among troubled teenagers and adults. The psychology behind why some people are more susceptible to the charms and the lure of being in a cult is not very widely researched or understood. Many people are concerned with cultist behavior and the effect that they have on the individuals involved, believing that they have been “brainwashed” into this lifestyle. This paper deals with cult mentality and how people become involved in certain religious and secular cults. It will explore the personality traits of current and ex-cult members as well as look at case studies of members of particular cults. The format of this paper will first look at some preexisting dispositions, the psychological effects while in the cult, and any short term or long term effects upon leaving the cult, as well as some treatment options.
Bugliosi, Vincent, with Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders. New York and London: Norton, 1994.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
There are several types of punishment that can be inflicted upon an offender including, fines, community sanctions and imprisonment (The Judicial Conference of Australia, 2007). Punishment is described as a sanction which inflicts a certain amount of pain and loss on the offender, used for payback and deter (The Judicial Conference of Australia, 2007; Carlsmith, Darley, & Robinson, 2002). There are three ways society justifies punishing offenders, through the
Feinburg (1994, cited in: Easton, 2012: 4) says that punishment is “a symbolic way of getting back at the criminal, of expressing a kind of vindictive resentment”. When punishing an offender there are two key principles that determine the kind of punishment. These are the Retributivism response and the Reductivist response. The first principle, Retributivism, focuses on punishing the offence using 'denunciation' where they denounce the crime that has been committed so society knows they have done wrong, and it also uses 'just deserts' where the equity 'eye for an eye' is the main idea. The second principle, Reductivism, believes that deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation is the best strategy to use to punish, its aim is to reduce crime and use punishment to serve a purpose. This essay will look closer and outline the purpose of just deserts and deterrence as punishment in society, although these punishments are used widely across most crimes, this essay will look specifically at prolific offenders.
Individuals should understand that the use or nonuse of social media has negative and positive effects on their lives whether they recognize them or not. Students who excessively use social networking applications can be negatively affected because they are spending too much time on these applications rather than paying attention in class, completing homework, studying, s...
As technology advances and people are conducting college online, the use of proper netiquette is becoming a must. One must follow certain rules when sending out email or when posting in an online classroom forum. There is not one person that likes to be flamed or embarrassed in an email or online forum. The positive and negative effects that one experiences in an online forum can have great impact on how that person responds to future discussions or emails. By following the proper core netiquette rules outlined by Virginia Shea, one can avoid such things as flaming and have a pleasant online experience.
I aimlessly wondered the Internet trying to find a community suitable for me. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I have many interests, but I really don’t have a strong passion for something. So I decided to join a community in which I could express myself as a teen and talk about general issues. I joined the mtv.com community. There I expressed my thoughts on everything, ranging from music to daily events that shape our world. There I had a chance to share my opinions and beliefs, as others posted their thoughts and perspectives on certain subjects. Online communities are rather congruent to offline ones. They are both appealing yet displeasing at the same time.
Previously, it was just the blackboard boring classroom environment where the students have nothing interesting except listening to the lectures of the teachers. Now a days, they have lot many things to do as the classroom activity. There is no constrain of space or place, these learning process can be adopted anywhere and anytime. The classrooms are converting into the chat-rooms where the student can remain in touch with teachers always and anywhere. Th...
According to David Garland, punishment is a legal process where violators of the criminal law are condemned and sanctioned with specified legal categories and procedures (Garland, 1990). There are different forms and types of punishment administered for various reasons and can either be a temporary or lifelong type of punishment. Punishment can be originated as a cause from parents or teachers with misbehaving children, in the workplace or from the judicial system in which crimes are committed against the law. The main aim of punishment is to demonstrate to the public, the victim and the offender that justice is to be done, to reduce criminal activities and to deter people from wanting to commit any form of crime against the law. In other words it is a tool used to eliminate the bad in society or to deter people from committing criminal activities.