Communities are at once unique and common. The familiarity inherent in each unique community has a lot to do with their shared characteristics. Some of the characteristics common across divides are marketing similar values in different ways, specialization, and participation. This segmentation per specialization is one force compelling online communities to differentiate themselves from the standard definition. In addition, some of their unique qualities are a lack of physical location in time and space, the hierarchical structure or layout of websites, and the mode of participation itself per PCs. Supplementing the involvement of online communities are various brands of PCs, PDAs, and even cell phones. However while the shift from communities online transforms into online communities, the spotlight will eventually return to the authentic prototype for definition.
Some online communities are EBay.com
, Yahoo.com
, and Writing.com
. Specifically Writing.com is a chance for the exploration of would-be writers of all genres. Such literary members can write their own individual pieces, read other member's pieces, critique the pieces themselves, and even publish their work if desired. Yet online communities such as this one require the typical registration of personal information to participate, unlike most conservative township communities. Further, online communities seem to be taking over the Web with little restriction and an overkill per free access. However communities with physical locales do not usually supersede other communities, and more regulations apply by the means of their respective SOPs.
Yet traditional communities are the model for online communities to emulate. Therefore it is fit to describe some characteristics of living communities like rural. First, traditional communities believe in the value of all citizens each pulling his own weight, although sometimes the concept of manager absenteeism does rear its ugly head. In addition, most members of an active community follow specific rules that don't necessarily have to be stated. Everyone in the community has some universal conviction or goal. Yet online communities aren't necessarily defined by the same standards, given the current relativity of expertise.
However unlike Geimenschaft communities, online communities possess many peripheries dictated per the community itself. Some memberships require interactive gaming, bidding for material possessions, paying a sum of money, and even compromising one's integrity per the depth of personal information solicited. Others require little but exploration and curiosity. Another attribute of online communities is the ranking system similar to the military. With that in mind, the depth of one's allegiance can promote another chevron with the addition of clout. Evidently, climbing the company ladder takes on a somewhat different meaning given the choice of online communities. Besides gaming and shopping, hobby communities don't compel one to experience the automation of a robot per the daily grind.
Yet as popularity intensifies per the proliferation of online communities, the agent is no longer the vehicle perpetuating the action typical of traditional communities. Instead, the action is being replaced by its ephemeral ideology. Tasks and activities assumed to be mundane like paperwork, paying bills, and monitoring bank accounts, for example, are now achieved with less presence of mind. Work smarter, not harder, right? Alas, going through the motions of the everyday gradually becomes obsolete with the middleman slowly but surely evaporating. Less time and money will also be wasted if your fingers “do the walking.” The present question is now how do we define ourselves without the typical actions of progress, and is this still necessary?
Whether online or not, structure is also a defining attribute of communities. Speaking of, communities online are more defined by their lives outside the bounds of the Information Superhighway than within. Local communities are also more linear across the gulf of humanity as everyone prefers a place to sleep, a hot meal, and some company. Case in point are the lives of the local community members within cities and neighborhoods that are going online with their contributions broadening their local community. On the other hand, Writing.com is not such a community as the electronic input itself is the foundation instead of the individual lives taking place in the real world. In short, online communities may appear more personal given specialization, yet the decreasing quantity of human contact makes them impersonal indeed.
Although Writing.com has the nested hierarchies typical of online communities, the information itself is varied and random in the scope of the all-encompassing Internet. One instance of information proliferation includes the infinite choices on Writing.com as to writing genres, reading, and even publishing. It is a place to spotlight one's unique talents in contrast to the daily grind. Yet there is always a catch. One stipulation of Writing.com in ensuring one loyalties is reward points as they increase the incentive of purchasing an item in their online store. One might think that the focus isn't the craft of writing, but profit. Be that as it may, when rural communities began to take shape in the Industrial Age, profit was nice but not a requisite for survival. And it appears survival of traditional communities is snowballing with the pervasiveness of online communities. Yet if it wasn't for the genuine authenticity of the rural community, the other respective communities wouldn't persist in redefining the parameters of one to begin with.
The universal qualities of Internet communities such as Writing.com are tenfold, even among the uniqueness of each individual website. Similar are communities in general as each wants to survive amongst the wave of continual updates. Current or not are also the respective characteristics of each community, even though the parameters for definition may change with time. If rural communities did not exist in the forefront, the Internet would have very little structure to go on. Alas, online communities are hardly a substitute for structure itself.
Therefore online communities will soon be just as universal with more local communities going online to broaden themselves. Still, the more inertia that branches from traditional communities surfing the Internet can debilitate a culture from choosing its own lifestyle. In short as more and more people surf the Information Superhighway, less attention is paid to other relevant goings-on that can and do affect our lives like government or the absence of it. Although this may eventually be a plus for ensuring the conservative nature of the traditional community, this can potentially snowball into conservatism online, as this may shape future parameters of websites as well. Therefore, the prototype of the traditionally authentic community is just as valid, if not more so.
