teamredblog

Fare Thee Well!

2005-05-25T17:13:00.000+08:00

Ah, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Having finished the assignments, the time has come for me to move back to Criminal Justice and I will not be taking any more NETs until SP1 next year.

Thank you, Team Red, for the friendship, support and fun. Thank you to Team Blue also for allowing me to post on their blog occasionally.

I wish everyone all the best well in your studies, employment and personal lives - perhaps I will see some of you next year but I suspect most of you will be finished by then.

Anyone who would like to keep in touch I am at greeneyes41048@yahoo.com.au

My regards
Liz MacClintock

Farewell

2005-05-25T10:43:00.001+08:00

This will be my last post for this blog and I'd like to jump in here to thank and congratulate those who have taken advantage of this 'experimental' format and kept the blog alive! I know that things have slowed down from time to time and that the persistance of a few has kept things going. Well done! noted. :-)
Next semester I'll be teaching in Net34 so I imagine I will catch up with some of you next week at the beginning of that class. I'm looking forward to this since I don't feel I have been able to engage as thoroughly as I'd like to with this unit due to personal circumstances.
If it seems that my contributions to the discussion on this blog have been a little lacking I can offer only this:

Hopefully that explains somewhat,

Thanks and have fun,

Stew

Communities at Play

2005-05-25T10:14:00.000+08:00

And finally, this should be the complete list of Communities at Play case Studies...

John McClaren

John's look at the MMORPG Project Entropia.

Thomas Larsen

Thomas chooses the First-Person shooter community of Medal of Honour: Allied Assault to ask the question Geek Factory or Virtual Community?

Mike Price

Mike takes us back to his experiences in the primordial ooze of Aardwolf MUD.

Shaun Choo

Shaun is one of a few people who chose to examine Blizzards highly successful MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Sharn Anderson

An examination, of the Anime themed role-playing game, Gaia.

Sam Field

Sam discusses the gaming nature of the Halfbakery, a community "which uses words to plays with ideas."

Gerald Sim

Gerald takes a broader look at the MMORPG phenomena, particularly at the way online actions spill into the real world.

Farhana

Farhana leaps into the virtually violent world of Counterstrike: Counter-Terrorism Action!

...and finally, two more World of Warcraft case studies from Steve Perriman and Bryce Wojtowicz.

There are a few studies missing from this list which don't appear to have gone online yet, but this is pretty much everything. On the whole the case studies have been a pleasure to read through, especially given the diverse topics!

have fun,
Stew

The Last of the Social Studies...

2005-05-23T10:38:00.000+08:00

OK folks - my apologies for being a little behind the ball over the last few weeks, I can only offer the cries of a demanding infant as my excuse. Here are the last of the social community online presentation along with (hopefully all) of the Communities at Play studies. I am sure that you are all busy with your final assignments but if you can comment please do - in many cases interesting reactions have already begun to appear on the blogs.

Social Communities

Elizabeth MacLintock

Liz immerses herself in the (slightly murky) waters of online introduction sites.

Kym Badger

"This research presents information on two general Community systems created by the Microsoft Network. MSN Groups and MSN Spaces."

Claudia Valenzuela

Claudia looks at the Couch Surfing Project, "a social network designed to assist travelers worldwide who are seeking inexpensive accommodation".

Shabana Aishath

Shabz has been hanging out at Habbo Hotel, a social/play community for young people built on the Macromedia (or should I say Adobe?) shockwave technology.

Mamiko Aiko

Mamiko evaluates Meetup.com, a software tool designed to facilitate offline community.

Ying Tan

Ying examines yet another portal site, Hi5, concluding that trust is still a critical issue.

Syahrani Rahim

Yahoo 360 appears to be Yahoo's answer to the 'personalised services war' that brought up the EPIC 2014 link. Will it knock the competitors for six? Syahrani thinks so.

Belinda Wilkinson

Belinda offers another perspective on tribe.net.

Trevor Allison

Trevor takes another peek at social network analysis via Friendster.

As far as I can tell, that's all of the Social Community studies. If I've missed yours please email me and I'll correct that error! Next post is Communities at Play...

How many mail list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb?

2005-05-17T06:50:00.000+08:00

Answer: 1,331

1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light bulb has been changed
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently
7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs
27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs
53 to flame the spell checkers
41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames
156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list
109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this email exchange to another list
203 to demand that cross posting to other lists about changing light bulbs be stopped
111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this mail list
3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list
306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty
27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs
14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post corrected URLs
33 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and footers, and then add "Me Too."
12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy
19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three."
4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ
48 to propose new change.lite.bulb newsgroup
47 to say there is already an alt.light.bulb newsgroup
143 to ask if anyone ever did change the lightbulb

EPIC 2014

2005-05-14T10:00:00.000+08:00

In the Year 2014, the New York Times has gone offline.

The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned.

What happened to the news?

And what is EPIC?

While discussing in last weeks tute the rise of social software and the ongoing merger of individualised tools and services on the web, this animation came up and I promised to post it to the blogs. It's a 'future history' of personalised services - not precisely relevant to VC's - but entertaining nonetheless. (Kudos to Syahrani Rahim for finding this earlier in the semester)

Meanwhile, I'll post on Monday with the last of the social community case studies...have a good weekend,

Stew

Runescape

2005-05-09T20:54:00.000+08:00

Has anyone checked out Runescape? I created myself a character today and finished the tutorial which was great! You can't progress to the game proper until you have completed it and think its a great idea. My husband was looking over my shoulder and said " I wouldn't mind getting into these!" I informed him that 'these' were called Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games and that I was only doing it for my course!!:) Don't think he was entirely convinced though! If you join up look out for my character 'Threece'.

Trev I think you were spot on when you made the point that in MMORPGs at least everyone knows that everyone else is a fictional character....there is no deception.

Nicki

Disillusionment

2005-05-08T19:41:00.000+08:00

Trev,

I feel exactly the same as you do in regard to the blog, and in particular, I feel sad that all the work you've put in has not been better utilised and appreciated by all. I award you many gold stars for you amazing efforts.

What stuns me is that about one third of our final grade is based on participation on the blog as it usually is in these units. If things run according to my past experiences with these units, there will be a flurry of activity in the last 10 days of the study period.

I cannot see how those who don't contribute on a regular basis as perhaps 3 or 4 of us have, can expect to receive a passing grade in this section. It would really p - - ses me off if those who suddenly become very active get a grade comparible to those who of use who have contributed all along.

We're all busy ... that is true ... and it is nearing the end of the study period so there are final assignments and exams etc ... but we are all in the same boat. It isn't all that hard to find 5 minutes to leave a comment, even if it is just a 'well done' or 'good job' etc.

I expect there maybe a few who will get their knickers in a twist over this post ... tough!

Cheers
Liz (who probably should not get on her high horse when she's had a glass of wine!) :-)))

Community in MMORPGs

2005-05-08T16:27:00.000+08:00

Hi all

Just a few thoughts on the differences between virtual communities and the specific community within MMORPGs. With other virtual communities, most of the case studies I've read so far comment on the fact that you never know who you are interacting with - whether the online identity is real; there's always the question, 'am I really chatting to a male who's 25 with huge biceps?'.

Within MMORPGs, there is no question of identity. In fact, you don't even think about it. You know that you're dealing with TOTALLY fictitious characters. You are not really chatting with a wizard, drawf, elven lord, pirate or fairy. I think virtual community within MMORPGs is a lot less complicated than other forms of virtual community. Chat tends to focus on topics only relevant to the game-world: chat about quests, missions, spells, potions, trade, skills etc. Other commmunity aspects such as economy, politics, organisations etc. all focussed largely on the gameworld. Even in a MMORPG such as Second Life which could be seen as a 'glorified chat room', you still are very aware that the created identities are just that - CREATED.

My rambling thoughts anyways....

Trev

Kym's Case Study

2005-05-07T01:25:00.000+08:00

Hi Everyone :-)

My apologies for being so quiet lately. There just aren't enough hours in the day for kids, their sports and practice sessions, study & sleep. I'm dying for a long soak in a warm bath....LOL.

I've finally completed my Case Study and have uploaded it to my personal webspace at http://kymmie.customer.netspace.net.au/

I welcome any comments or feedback, either here or by email. Hopefully you won't find it too boring...hehehe.

Bye for now, and hopefully I'll find the time to stick my head up more often soon....LOL.

Kym.

oh and for the link....

2005-05-06T04:37:00.000+08:00

well it would help if you had the link

...alias

Trev

my case study

2005-05-06T04:34:00.000+08:00

Hi all..

Just letting you know that my case study (the work in progress) is up. It's always been up but I've gone off on a tangent with it and it's related to both this unit and NET35 - still all to do with MMORPGs though. It changes on a daily basis, so check in now and then.

I thought our blog had died... it's good to see that it's come back to life.

Cheers all
Trev

Module 2.3 – Communities at Play

2005-05-04T19:44:00.000+08:00

People in a state of play are usually inquisitive, more naturally inclined to explore and are generally more accepting of the people they meet in the worlds they inhabit, real or otherwise. Using the knowledge gained during play, as people receive and assimilate information quickly while playing, allows players to synchronize better with the surrounding people and environment they inhabit at any moment in time.

Play also allows users of online games to be more open to having discussions, helping fellow players, form bonds and create a somewhat communal environment for such players to interact within.

When the beginning MUDs were developed, the interaction at all levels was solely text based. Allowing for a greater control and personalization of the environment that the characters inhabited and of the characters themselves. Whereas with contemporary MMORPGs the considered mainstream method of interaction is becoming graphic-based with text-based communication. Such an approach to online gaming has lead to a more limited and oft times generic looking world that users are forced to inhabit.

Within a gaming context communities are generally formed out of necessity (requirement to advance game-play) or through individuals seeking out other individuals that wish to interact while gaming. Though according to Koivisto (2004) the main reason individuals seek others is for personal interaction, using the game just as a means to an end.

Though the fact that an individual within an online game has no obligation to stay logged on or even to interact with other individuals, the subsequent communities that form within an online game are built on a foundation of shifting sands. In contrast, people involved in purely social communities are usually felt to have an obligation to stay for an acceptable time and interact at an acceptable level.

Comparatively purely social communities are built of a more sturdy and generally more concrete foundation then the oft times fleeting interaction afforded within online gaming communities.

Danny Burke
13215813

References

Koivisto, E. (2004). Supporting Communities in Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Online Games by Games Design. Retrieved May 4, 2005, from http://www.cs.tut.fi/%7elina/docs/communities_mmorpg_emik.pdf.

Social Communities? More case studies...

2005-05-02T07:56:00.000+08:00

Greetings all!

For those on campus it's week 1 of our look at social communities, whilst for OUA students, it's already week two (fewer breaks!) So, I thought I'd let everyone know what is already out there:

Stanley Carter

Stan uses his blog to take a critical look at social networking tools. As always, comments welcome..

Mai Kato

Mai takes on Friendster, including some interesting background on the beginnings of social networking software.

Seik Kun Chia

'J' claims it is the individual perspective which determines whether MSN Messenger constitutes a genuine community.

Desloehal Djumrianti (yanti)

Yanti looks at tribe.net, an online ad-driven portal which seems to want to be everything to everybody.

Muhamad Akbar

Muhamad uses an interactive slideshow to discuss Kaskus.com, a localised Indonesian discussion board.

Also, a couple of 'community of interest' projects that didn't make the last post:

Igor Palmer

Igor looks at AOK, (The Association of Knowledgework)

and...

Michael Bennet

Michael discusses the emotional investment that music brings to a community on his WebCT student homepage - Net 24 students won't be able to view this :-(

Finally, for those still working on thier 'communities at play' project, Trevor has started up a blog that looks at online gaming (with a clear explanation of what all those gaming acronyms mean)

Please take the time to comment on these projects as it is this feedback which drives the learning in this course. Also, keep an eye on the other blogs to see new projects as they are published...they are coming thick and fast!

This guy walks into a bar - Ouch!

my case study

2005-04-26T13:27:00.000+08:00

Hi all

no... my case study isn't finished.... but it's a work in progress. It's up for the world to see, so thought I'd tell you all about it too. It's just a blog, but in the end, it will also be my 'presentation'.

Wildstar Wallaby reporting....

Trev

ASSIGNMENT 3

2005-04-24T07:32:00.000+08:00

In trying to sort out the last part of this unit, I am a little confused regarding the final assignment.

It says group participation and self reflection/analysis or something like that.

Do we have to write something to submit at the end of the semester or is it only the ongoing participation on the blog that is taken into consideration?

Thanks
Liz

Liz MacClintock's Case Study

2005-04-23T11:04:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone,

My case study is now online and ready for comment. It can be found at the following URL. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to answering any questions.

http://www.blogigo.co.uk/greeneyes48

Thanks
Liz

Michelle Tepper article

2005-04-22T22:12:00.000+08:00

It was with some difficulty that I managed to locate the Michelle Tepper article "The Rise of Social Software" in the Gecko database. I have uploaded it to our Teamred Sharepoint.

Nicki

Social Software

2005-04-22T15:16:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

I found this link to Many-2-Many, "a group weblog on social software" which may be of interest:

http://www.corante.com/many/

A number of established writers contribute to the blog which has links to their own weblogs on all things internet and community. Looks like plenty of material to be found for our assignments!

Nicki

Team Red Sharepoint

2005-04-20T15:45:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

Just wanted to let you know that Sharepoint will be down for a day or so (hopefully at the most!!).... I've just changed service providers and upgraded my ADSL to 1500/256 connection so maybe it'll be a bit faster for uploads etc. Anyway if you can't log on, don't stress, it'll be back soon!

Cheers
Trev

2.2 Reading - Elizabeth Reid

2005-04-20T09:15:00.000+08:00

I couldn't get the WebCT link for Elizabeth Reid's article to work - something about forbidden! I did find her thesis at the following URL

http://eserver.org/cyber/reid.txt

2.2 Reading

2005-04-20T09:09:00.000+08:00

Have just posted a synopsis of the Joanna Glasner reading on Team Red's Sharepoint page.

Communities of Interest - Case Studies

2005-04-18T11:33:00.000+08:00

As the first two weeks of case studies are (mostly) published, I just though I'd share all the relevant links so you can have a look at the enormous variety of studies that are online and awaiting comments. I've taken the liberty if mixing internal and external Curtin students with those studying through Open learning Australia so you can all benefit from each others work and contributions. The following studies have been up all this previous week:

Chai Yen Lin
Taking the position that for some making friends is an interest, Lin examines Freindster, Fakester and trust issues within social software. Lin's blog is open for comments.

Cho Chun Neng
Does aggressive and abusive argument constitute Rhiengold's 'sufficient human feeling'? A closer look at a newsgroup discussing English football team, Manchester United. Chun Neng is calling for feedback at Team Ochre's blog

Samantha O Hare
Samantha examines the individuals perspective of community at the rec.arts.theatre.musicals newsgroup. She is taking comments on the site and conducting a survey of responses to be published on Team Ochre's Blog.

The following case studies are now up for this week and are all awaiting comments.

Danny Burke
Danny Burke undertakes a debate with himself about the merits of newsgroup communities focusing on the use of the Macromedia animation tool Flash. This is in the form of a blog, so you can comment directly.

Nurhidayaty (Ida)
Ida looks at a bulletin board community focused on babies and parenting. You can comment on her presentation on the Team Scarlet blog here

Lynne Harding
Find out about the 'Great Spelling Wars' which led to the emergence of a community on the Cybermind discussion list. Lynne is open for comments.

Marius Johannessen
A study of the web-based community deviantArt, "a central location for artists to display their creations for feedback and public exposure. " There's even a flash summary Comments here at the team Aqua blog.

Shan-Chun Bella Chou (Bella)
Bella looks at The Thing! Comments on the Team Aqua Blog.

Roshan Weddikkara
Roshan explains and analyses Metafilter - a fascinating example of community blogging. Comments on the site.

Nicola Wright
Nicola has taken the unique approach of building a discussion forum about discussion forums. You can contribute just about anywhere in her presentation!

Elizabeth Spiegel
A broader look at communities of practice with an invite to mail any comments to Elizabeth.

Mohammed Chowdhury (Arif)
Again with a broader approach, Arif looks at the elements which go to make up communities of interest. Comments can be submitted to the Team Blue blog

Whoah! With a few more to be posted, there are already a huge variety of studies in only the first two weeks. I have to say that so far I'm very impressed with the academic and technical effort that has gone into the presentations. Thanks folks, the variety has made this assignment a pleasure to be assessing. I'd encourage everyone to explore these varied links over the next week and contribute wherever you can.

Have fun,

Stew

Presentation: Communities of practice

2005-04-17T14:33:00.000+08:00

Hi all

You can view my presentation at http://members.iinet.net.au/~cspiegel/net24/

Comments please.

Elizabeth

A Closer Look at Forums

2005-04-16T16:35:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

My online presentation on web forums is now ready for you to look at. The link is:

http://www.1-2-free-forums.com/mf/?mforum=net24

I encourage you all to post comments so that we can more fully experience the web forum environment. You do not need to register to post. Each topic covered has its own forum and navigating the site is fairly intuitive.

Thanks,
Nicki

Earth Calling Team Red.....

2005-04-14T20:06:00.000+08:00

Wow...its been three days since anyone posted anything on our Team Red Sharepoint and I think only three of us have even been there! It just goes to show that the creation of any sort of virtual community requires more than software and a supposed shared interest or goal. I would have thought, seeing as were are studying virtual communities, that more effort would have been made to participate in active discussion!!

Maybe this is the object of the team blogs....to illustrate that it takes a lot of hard work from 'leaders' to make a community - it doesn't just happen. Trev you have been doing a stirling job of commenting on most posts and initiating the sharepoint, but it takes more than one, two or three of us posting for any meaningful discussions to take place. We don't have to post essays, just a couple of sentences! If we all made the effort to make some input every second day or something, it would get a bit more interesting.

Danny, I would love to discuss your last post with you further, but I think I need to get through module 2.2 readings first and I'm afraid I'm still on module 2.1 at the moment. I've been getting my assignment on web forums together this week, which will be available on Monday by the way.

Hopefully chat soon,
Nicki

Module 2.2 - Social Communities

2005-04-14T12:56:00.000+08:00

Individual expression via the use of Blogs, has resulted in a very de-structured way of creating so called ‘online communities’. As the primary purpose of a Blog is to allow Internet users to gain a ‘voice’ and considering that the initiator of the Blog makes all posts, the idea of any community forming is upon first thought, rather far-fetched.

Yet when all main aspects of a contemporary Blog are considered; comments, Blog Roll, email, and Blog to Blog post conversation. Allowing for a somewhat haphazard array of thoughts to be projected, the beginnings of an unstructured community start to emerge.

Much of the contemporary software available to facilitate the creation and existence of online communities is pandering to the surface level of interaction that members believe will make for interesting conversations. (i.e. webcam, live voice chat, instant messaging with advanced emoticons, dual player game compatibility, drawing boards, etc).

Although this level of interaction may be useful for recreational discussions, it does not facilitate any depth of thoughts to be portrayed or discussed. Thus to continue to follow such a path will lead to online interaction being considered nothing more then comic relief though random inanities.

Thankyou for your time,

Danny Burke
13215813

Notes:

BlogRoll - list of Blogs that the creator of a particular Blog follows, or finds noteworthy.

reading synopsis

2005-04-11T09:59:00.000+08:00

Hey all

Are we still doing these? If so, I posted a new one to Sharepoint for anyone to see. If anyone wants to use share point as a 'place' for discussion to do with their presentation, feel free to email me and I'll set you up a specific discussion board.

Cheers
Trev

Congratulations

2005-04-10T20:07:00.000+08:00

Is there insider trading when it comes to a baby tipping competition?

Congratulations to John from "Up The Blues" on being spot on!

Your prize is a virtual, all expenses virtually paid to the virtual destination of your virtual dreams ....

CONGRATULATIONS JOHN!

Case Study Start

2005-04-10T13:37:00.000+08:00

To Update,

My case study presentation will commence on Monday, April 10, 2005. (Tomorrow)

To view and/or add comments goto:

http://commstudy.blogspot.com

All the relevent information has been posted and will be updated during the commencing week. Feel free to add any input that comes to mind.

Thankyou for your time,

Danny Burke
13215813

Sharepoint again

2005-04-10T13:04:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

Got the official ok from Stewart regarding this 'evolving' space. I hope I have improved the speed issues a bit. It's so quiet... is everyone on holidays for the Easter break? I know Qld. have had their school holidays already. My guess is you are all busy with your presentations. I've put mine on hold for a bit while I do an assignment for NET35.

Penny and Anne - are you still with us?

If there is anyone who wants a log in to Team Red Sharepoint just let me know either here or via email.

Cheers!
Trev

And the winner is...

2005-04-08T13:32:00.000+08:00

Just writing this quickly as I fly through the house to head back to the hospital.

Julia Merrick Woods was born on Wednesday afternoon, clocking in at 7lb 8oz.

Mum and baby are both very well (Dad is kinda blissed out too!)

all things being equal, I probably won't get a chance to answer any work queries until Sunday as my current address (A bed at woodside maternity hospital) lacks a Net connection!

I appreciate your patience and will attend to all board/blog/email queries etc on the weekend.

have fun (I am) :-)

Stew

Sharepoint

2005-04-07T13:19:00.000+08:00

Just to let you know, our trial is up and happening. If you don't yet have a user name and password, just send me an email. I posted a synopsis of the "Email Forums and Women's Studies" reading there for all to see and comment on...

Hope it all works for you. By the way, you can create an email alert for any additions to the discussion board, to be sent either daily or weekly... making it a bit easier to see if there have been any additions... Just go to the alerts section of the discussion board.

Trev

It's very quiet????

2005-04-07T12:48:00.000+08:00

We are a quiet little lot aren't we? Is everyone OK?

I wonder if Stew's silence is due to the pitter-patter of tiny feet.

I've been over and checked out Trev's work and I think it is great. I encourage TeamRed to go visit and experiment. I uploaded a document into the library and it didn't take long - "Simpsons in cyberspace" is there for anyone who wants to download it.

Regards
Liz

virtual pets??

2005-04-07T08:39:00.000+08:00

Hi guys....

I conducted an experiment with my 2 girls over the recent Easter break. Thought I'd share the results. I signed them both up (ages 9 and 7years) with NeoPets. They spent ages creating their respective 'pets', naming them and finding their way around the neopet world. I took great interest in the ToS (Terms of Service) and didn't enable the chat or email features of the site. Other than that, I felt they were quite safe. Over the holidays they built up their 'neopet' inventories by playing games, solving puzzles etc and thus collected points which they were able to 'spend' on items in the neopet shop. They were responsible for feeding the neopet and when they went away for a few days, they booked their pet into the 'kennel' where it was looked after for a fee (in neopet points)....

Anyway, to cut a long story short, last night they challenged each other to a neobattle (big mistake!!) My youngest daughter lost and her neopet was injured and most of her points went to her sister. I tell you, they both cried themselves to sleep thinkiing about their pet being hurt and they have to wait until they gathered 5000 points to have the pet blessed and healed! My children spend more time looking after this pet than they do with the real life pets. THey are just as much emotionally attached, if not more, to these pets than their real life pets!!

Trev
(PS this is the sort of interesting info, I think we should use our blog for..... also be creative and argumentative - make things exciting!)

Our Blog!!

2005-04-06T18:04:00.000+08:00

In response to recent comments made by many of us regarding our blog... I thought maybe we could experiment a little. Who would be willing to try this:

(a) we use the blog for posting anything interesting we come across in the course of our readings and research, our thoughts on the virtual - basically anything more of a personal sort of nature. Keep in mind that comments would be minimal on the blog...

(b) maybe we could use this Teamred Sharepoint for all our reading discussions, other discussions, uploading all our webct readings to (as an easy way of downloading them) and other creative uses. All discussions are threaded here - like the webct. In fact, this is a bit like the webct (which we probably could use if we got Stewart to set it up for us, but I thought we might try to wing it ourselves!

BEFORE DOING THIS though, you would all need to log in and see if the speed was an issue. I have an ADSL 512/128 Mbps connection, so you guys would be viewing it at a 128Mbps speed (at the most). I have set up the discussion board really briefly as a trial and uploaded one document to the 'shared documents' folder.

REMEMBER - this is just an idea! We certainly don't have to use it, but worth an experiment... :)

LOGGING IN: http://www.classit.com.au/teamred/

If you are interested in doing this, email me at trevor@classit.com.au and I will give you the user name and password. You won't (or shouldn't!) be able to log on without these, but I didn't want to post them here for the whole world to see and have my server hacked into! PS... teamblue people welcome :)

Cheers
Trev

Communites of Practice

2005-04-05T13:43:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I have just read the Johnson article on Communites of Practice so I will have a go at answering those questions:

According to Johnson, a community of practice emerges from existing communities that have been designed. A virtual community is one form of designed community utilising network technology and a community of practice may or may emerge from it. I think this distinction is valid in so much as the definitions make sense, however not everyone would have the same ideas in mind when they talk about VCs and COPs. The very term virtual community is a fluid one that means different things to different people (one man's COP is another man's VC).

Two definitions given in the article of a COP are: "individuals united in action" (Liedka, 1999) and "groups of professionals with similar task responsibilites" (Wenger, 1998). Given the latter definition, could we team red bloggers be described as a community of practice? We have been given the structure (directions to form a blog; the virtual community), but whether or not we have used this structure to allow a COP to emerge is another question. Perhaps we have become prey to "politeness syndrome" (Borthick and Jones, 2000) and are too positive and nice to each other but not "constructive or honest". I think we may all be a bit guilty of "fading back" and "being absent" to be truly classified as a community of practice.

Does anyone agree...come on.. be honest!

Nicki

A Few questions...

2005-04-05T12:20:00.000+08:00

Conversation starters from the intro to Module 2 readings:

Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online - Catherine M. Ridings & David Gefen

In this reading, Ridings & Gefen claim that 'information exchange' is the No. 1 reason people join virtual communities:

What does this suggest about the place of community in the 'information economy'?

Do you think this reason is a primary factor in the formation of 'real' communities?

A survey of current research on online communities of practice – C. M. Johnson

What is a community of practice?

How do you think it differs from what we have termed 'virtual communities'?

"Virtual communities are defined as designed communities using current networked technology, whereas communities of practice emerge within the designed community via the ways their participants use the designed community."

Do you think this distinction is a valid one?

What examples can you think of that demonstrate emergent practices in the formation of community?

Bridging Temporal and Spatial "Gaps": The role of information and communication technologies in defining communities – Paul Baker & Andrew Ward

"While we may join a virtual community because of an interest we have, unless that interest affects us in our daily lives, in our lives as physically instantiated and geographically centred individuals andcitizens, there is no good reason to believe that we will long continue an active membership in the virtual community."

What are your thoughts on Baker & Wards' conclusion?

Which communities do you think have 'physically instantiated' effects?

Which do not?

Gamer slays rival after online dispute

2005-04-05T11:56:00.000+08:00

Hey all...

Check this out.... China Daily. A gamer from Shanghai creates a virtual sword within a game, lends it to a friend who sells it for US$800. The gamer then tries to report the theft to police who won't have a bar of it, then he stabs the guy to death. Talk about the virtual becoming enmeshed with the real...... certainly what occurs in your virtual world has very real consequences in the actual as well.

Cheers
Trev

VIRTUAL TIPPING COMPETITION :-)))

2005-04-01T15:45:00.000+08:00

I propose a tipping competition on the sex of Stew and Ms Stew's impending addition.

As the baby is now overdue I think we'd best get our tips in ASAP.

The winner will be the one closest to being correct and you've gotta pick the sex and the weight, ok!

So step right up ... put in your guess ... otherwise you won't win the virtual prize!!!

My tip is for a boy weighing 6lb 11ozes

Liz

Module 2.1 - Communities of Interest

2005-03-31T14:25:00.000+08:00

The indiscriminant interest surrounding mainstream Internet communications, is generally focused around the discussions of whether or not communities can or indeed do exist in a virtual space.

Many believe that for an online community to exist, one defining factor is the use of real names when communications occur. This use of real names is meant to counteract the alienation of communicators. The use of a real name in conjunction with a real position held by a participant, allows for further definition of that participant. Thus fostering a greater understanding between members of an online group.

When participants reveal background information about themselves, the differences and diversities of the group become apparent. As such, disputes will inevitably arise between members. These disputes are generally well handled by the members of the group, usually by coming together and through discussion amongst themselves, finding an amicable solution to any dilemma that subsequently arises.

Danny Burke
13215813

References

James, Steven. (1997). Virtual Culture, Identity and Communication in Cyberspace. London Sage Publications.

Howard, T. (1997). Electronic discussion groups or electronic communities? Publication unknown.

Relief

2005-03-31T12:52:00.000+08:00

Are you tired of the dry 'assigned' readings? Is Rheingold getting you down? Does your case study need that spark of inspired insight?

Try here for 77 pages of fully-searchable up-to-date community focused articles, from blogs to well, a lot of other cool stuff.

Have fun,

Stew

(Yes, we are now officially overdue!)

Easter ramblings

2005-03-30T15:20:00.000+08:00

Hi Nicki and all

No, I didn't have a great Easter - on Good Friday morning I slipped on wet lino, put my hand out to break my fall, and instead broke my wrist (fortunately my left wrist, as I'm right-handed). Spent the rest of the day in hospital getting it xrayed and set. This put a serious crimp in my plans to get lots of study and maybe some gardening done over the break! It has also severely slowed down my typing - aargh!!!

[Q: are multiple exclamation marks really a sign of a deranged mind?* HaHaHa!!!!!!!!!!]

Are we a team? Management literature tends to define teams in terms of both common goals and interdependence, so given the marking structure of this course I guess we'd better make like a team!

I'm finding it harder with the blog than the discussion boards to interact, because I can't see any obvious way to work out whether there have been any comments/ new comments against an existing post.

Must get back to the reading - I've been doing a bit of bashing my head against cold fusion so I guess it's about time to get back to the communities.

Hope everone else had a better easter than mine!

*see Terry Pratchett: Masquerade

e-business..and 'are we a team'?

2005-03-29T20:27:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a great Easter break.

I have just finished reading the First Monday article by Chris Werry and I was struck by the cynicism of the Net commerce industry. Most amazing was the attitude displayed by Canter and Siegel (1994) in their book "How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway" They had a complete disregard for the 'natives', netiquette and the idea of communities existing in cyberspace. Interestingly as time wore on and their visions of 'cybermalls' became a failure, net commerce began to acknowledge firstly the usefulness and then the centrality of virtual communities to online business - to get customers coming back and exposing them to customized advertising.

Anyway I'm just thinking out loud really just to get it straight in my head....hopefully somebody will have some thoughts to add. I actually nearly deleted this post because I thought it was pointless and 'drivelly'. Then I realised that that is actually the point of this blog is it not? To 'think out loud' so to speak and get some discussion happening. I think that as things stand we are hardly a 'team' let alone a virtual community:)!!

By the way, are you still with us Penny and Kym?

Porter's " A Typology of virtual communities"

2005-03-27T12:09:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

still enjoying myself camping at the beach. If you have to work, it's a nice place to do it :)

Anyway, I'll post a summary of Constance Porter's article, "A typology of virtual communities".

For a start, it's a recent article, unlike many of the other's I've read lately and on the first page, Porter adequately defines what is meant by the term virtual community.... an aggregation of individuals or business partners who interact around a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols or norms. (1)

Porter then outlines the different types of virtual communities, ways in which business organisations can benefit from developing virtual communities, with supporting references from many researchers. Porter contends that the definition and categorisation of virtual communities remains vague and this leads to Porter's main aim - to develop a classification system for virtual communities. She uses three main points in support of this objective.

1. Definition of virtual community: Porter's definition of virtual community is different in that it recognizes that communities bring together individuals and/or business partners (in most prior definitions, commercial partners are a forgotten entity).

She acknowledges that virtual communities could be completely virtual or only partially so.... allows for fluidity of relationship

Porter also acknowledges that virtual communities have roles, protocols, policies and/or norms, as do RL communities (3).

2. Typology of virtual communities: Porter contends that the typology of virtual communities has also been poorly defined in the past. She proposes that an effective typology would include both member-initiated communities and organisation-sponsored communities (3). Virtual communities would then be organized based on the general relationship orientation of the community, eg. social, government etc.

3. Strength of typology
Porter then rambles on about how to recognise whether your definition of a community is a good one. (pp.8++)

IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTE:
One thing that I picked up from this reading was that virtual communities co-exist and overlap with RL communities: now this is something that Eugene Thacker has written about in referring to 'networks, swarms and multitudes'. (for all those doing NET35) Not only do virtual communities co-exist alongside other virtual communities, but they often overlap with each other and with RL communities.

Not a bad article on the whole: puts forward one of the best definitions of virtual communities that I have yet come across in my readings and one the most well sourced. It would be good to look into the author's key references at some point further.

Trev

Will the real body please stand up?

2005-03-25T06:12:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

look I know I haven't posted my synopsis' yet... not that I haven't been reading but does anyone truly want to hear my drivel.... this is an article titled "Will the real body please stand up?" I'm not sure if Stewart every mentioned this as one to read, but anyway I had it sitting in my readings from another NET subject last year and thought it worth a re-visit.

Sandy Stone article

The hub of the article relates to identity in cyberspace. I know the article is dated - 1991, but still a good read.

Stone relates four epochs in history, each signaled by a marked change in the character of human communication.
(a) mid 1600s: texts
(b) 1900+: electronic communication and entertainment media
(c) 1960+: information technology
(d) 1984+: virtual reality and cyberspace

During the period when Neuromancer (William Gibson) was published, "virtual reality" acquired a new name and a suddenly prominent social identity as 'cyberspace'. The critical importance of Gibson's book was partly due to the way that it triggered a conceptual revolution among the scattered workers who had been doing reality research for years. It enabled these researchers to recognize and organize themselves as a community (p.13).

Now I know this is probably off the topic, but I found it interesting the way Stone uses the analogy between virtual communication in cyberspace and phone sex workers (p.16). Phone sex is the process of provoking, satisfying, constructing desire through a single mode of communication (the telephone). In the process, participants draw on a repertoire of cultural codes to construct a scenario that compresses large amounts of information into a very small space. The worker verbally codes for gesture, appearance and proclivity.... the client uncompresses the tokens and constructs a dense, complex interactional image.

.... when we create an avatar in cyberspace, we are using similar coding to 'embody' our appearance, our character etc. Also, the primary form of communication through cyberspace is still via the medium of text....

an interesting idea anyway!!

Cheers
Trev

pitter patter of little feet?

2005-03-25T06:07:00.000+08:00

Hi all...

haven't heard from Stewart lately.... wonder if this means anything?

Trev

Mod 1.2 readings - Kolko & Donath

2005-03-23T12:30:00.000+08:00

Hi all

Has anyone found a copy of Kolko Building a world with words . . .? I found Donath Identity and deception . . . at http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Elizabeth

Communites of Interest

2005-03-21T19:40:00.000+08:00

In support of Elizabeth's observations that virtual communities of interest may lead to the idea that 'everyone' shares a single viewpoint, the following is an excerpt from an article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune:

"The blogosphere, no less than Usenet, not only permits but encourages an ongoing partitioning of the public space where the market in ideas exists, if it does at all. People of the left read leftish blogs, those of the right read the rightish ones. One wonders how many make the effort to read anything that does not merely applaud and reinforce their own views, and how many are willing to subject themselves and their ideas to the scrutiny of other minds. On the evidence, one is obliged to conclude that the reality, in the main, is yet another proliferation of constricted, like-minded virtual "communities" (invariably so called, despite the fact that they lack nearly all of the characteristics of true community), in each of which a few simple repeated slogans echo up and down the network."

McHenry, R. (2005, March 20). Knowledge in the US: I know I'm right and you're wrong. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2005 from:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0503200191mar20,1,26199.story?coll=chi-techtopheds-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Nicki

Thoughts on readings for 1.1

2005-03-21T08:54:00.000+08:00

One of the things I have found interesting in these readings is that the word "community" has warm, fuzzy, positive connotations.

The definitions in the Macquarie dictionary refer to people who share a common locality, interests, cultural/historical heritage; joint possessions (community of property); similar character/agreement/identity. Notice that there's no reference to mutual obligation or reciprocity. In some ways, virtual communities have most in common with the Macquarie's definition of an ecclesiastical community: a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule (my emphasis). Any (?) virtual community operates according to rules, which may or may not be explicit - breaching them can get you thrown out.

Rheingold (1993) includes 'communion' as an essential element, while Fernback and Thompson (1995) warn that virtual communities might lead people 'to forget what it means to form a true community'. They seem to suggest that off-line communities are closer, more committed, and provide greater reciprocity than any on-line association can provide. Rheingold also raises the importance of a physical meeting - the online relationship alone is not enough. Wellmann and Gulia (1997) suggest that the warm, supportive village with which virtual communities are contrasted do not exist in the modern Western world, and quite possibly never did.

London (1997) points out the importance of reciprocity through the exchange of support, but describes virtual communities as 'pseudocommunities' in particular because they lack the 'unplanned encounter - the chance meetings . . . the confrontation with people whose lifestyles and values differ from yours'. He cites Winner's argument that 'community requires public dialogue and deliberation': I would suggest that while dialogue may be a key feature of virtual communities, deliberation is under threat. At work, email seems to increase the pressure to given instant responses, when more consideration might leader to a better quality decision. Tight time frames are the norm.

I have to agree with Fernback and Thompson that virtual communities, as communities of interest have the potential to reduce the exposure of their members to differing viewpoints: they may encourage the belief that everyone (or everyone who is fully informed/ all real Australians/ everyone whose opinion matters) shares a single viewpoint.

At the same time, the people who make up virtual communities are the same people who make up 'real-life' communities: there is no obvious reason why being on-line should make them more virtuous, or indeed more vicious. It may well be true that 'on the Internet, no-one knows you're a dog' but the same is true, to a lesser degree, in real life: paedophiles and con-men do not go around with identifiers tattooed on their foreheads.

Elizabeth

Module 1.3 - Professional Communities At Work

2005-03-20T12:55:00.000+08:00

There are many mysteries surrounding the modern Internet, ranging from fears of global destruction to the end of privacy, as we know it. All the applications that comprise the Internet are being thoroughly examined, criticized and re-examined. Not least of which is the ongoing confusion surrounding the concept of virtual communities.

Some hail virtual communities as the meta-physical embodiment of the saviour of democratic society. Where few dispute this idea, many are wondering at the possible pitfalls of such technology.

Howard Rhiengold foresees of three main threats to virtual community. Rhiengold professes that privacy, commodification and the possibility of hyper-reality are the most prevalent matters in the fight to save virtual communities. (Rhiengold, 1994, chap 10.)

The opportunity for corporate interests to acquire and profit from the manipulation of private information, is now becoming a reality rather then a possibility. This gathering of private information is now a major industry unto itself. It is increasing clear that the securing of information is no longer enough to stop the information hungry corporate powers to be.

An individual’s private information is just too valuable to remain private. Although some continue to spend large sums of money in an attempt to secure their privacy, others are (in return for a subsidy) freely giving up their right to personal privacy.

While other technologies have succumbed to the commercialist push for advertising to be synonymous with the release of new media, commodification has not yet completely infiltrated virtual communities. Though the commodification of virtual communities is becoming more paramount all the time.

Rhiengolds’ most endearing prophecy of danger is that of virtual communities succumbing to hyper-reality. With the advent of more ‘reality-mimicking’ technology, people are taking an increasingly different approach to the concept of hiding reality, preferring more to lean towards the concept of hiding the absence of reality. As corporations learn to better utilize virtual communities as an advertising medium, this hiding the absence of reality is a distinct possibility.

With these concepts in mind, one must question whether virtual communities develop through a seemingly natural series of events or whether they are tailor made and specifically designed to suite commercialist interests?

Danny Burke

13215813

References

Rheingold, H. (1994). The Virtual Community: Finding Connection in a Computerized World, London: Secker & Warburg.

Header Problem Solved ?

2005-03-20T08:48:00.000+08:00

hey

Ok everybody - I think i have found the problem: (in blue)

I have decided to self code all of my posts from now on, so that this wont happen again. I discovered that the problem arises when I use a Netscape browser to post (using the provided WYSIWYG).

Thankyou for pointing out the problem to me and I am sorry that it wasnt fixed sooner.

Danny Burke
13215813

NB. Please comment if the problem has been fixed, or if thier is still a problem.
Thankyou.

Stew's questions for 1.2

2005-03-19T21:30:00.000+08:00

What stories do you tell yourself about virtual communities?
Virtual communities have opened up a whole new world for many people. For example, the housebound quadriplegic has a whole world available and a chance to interact with more people than was previously possible.

How do we judge whether interactions are authentic?
Gut instinct to a certain degree, clues from within posts, clues from the domain in the address although this may not be terribly accurate.

Does communication necessarily mean 'community'?
I don’t believe it does because a community may not communicate effectively or may be bound by rules not to communicate as in a strict religious order for example.

What ideas about technology does the notion of virtual community serve?
I think it is possible that those unfamiliar with the computer world may find the idea of virtual community totally off the planet. It may even be a scary idea to them and not an idea to be trusted.

Cyberville and the Spirit of Community

2005-03-19T15:04:00.000+08:00

I have to say that I really liked this article! It is easy to read and set out in a logical manner with sub-headings (kind of like how my mind operates). I suppose it helps that I tend to agree with his ideas. :) I recommend all to have a read.

Scime sets out to compare the requirements of a community according to contemporary (the article was written in 1994) communitarians, in particular Amitai Etzioni, with the claims made by Howard Rheingold about what exists in 'cyberspace'.

The requirements of a community according to Etzioni are:

*shared interest (Etzioni acknowledges that this can occur 'non-geographically')
*shared values
*caring and nurturing
*discourse
*moral voice

According to Scime, 'cyberspace' (as described by HR) fulfils all the above criteria, however his lingering concerns are:

*does the human condition require face to face interaction?
*insidiousness of 'blind worship' of technology

Evan Schwartz is quoted as saying "for many people the choice seems to be between a very good simulation of community and no community at all; that choice makes virtual community look very attractive indeed."

Scime concludes that whilst virtual community is better than no community at all, "we should resist the temptation to accept this new vision of community uncritically."

References:
Scime, R. (1994). Cyberville and the Spirit of Community: Howard Rheingold - Meet Amitai Etzioni. Retrieved March 16, 2005 from:
http://www.imagination.org/cyberville/cyberville.html

Danny's Posts

2005-03-19T12:48:00.000+08:00

That's very strange Danny. I operate IE on a Windows XP platform and instead of your headings I see this:

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this???

I have looked at your posts in the editing section and this comment tag is visible in the compose section. Also your code (viewed in the edit html section) seems very complex. Are you writing in code or are you using the WYSIWYG editor (compose)? If you use the compose section, you can format headings using the tool bar in much the same way you would in Word. Then you can tweak your post in the edit html bit without having to go to the bother of writing out code yourself.

When I did Intro to Internet Design, one of the most important things we learnt was to create web pages (and I guess this applies to posts in a webpage) in such a way as to be readable to 99% of people browsing the web. In other words if someone using windows XP and IE cannot read your page properly then you should rethink how you are presenting your content.

Blogger has made this simple with its WYSIWYG editor and there would seem to be no good reason not to use it. On the other hand if you ARE using it to create your posts then I have absolutely no idea why it is displaying this way on my PC!!

Nicki

Flaw In My Theory

2005-03-19T09:24:00.000+08:00

Thank you Trev for pointing out the flaw in my theory, decided to think it over and this is what I came up with:

When interactions between people existing in this virtual space occur, disrespecting the length of the individual, singular interactions that occur, so long as these interactions continue to occur on a regular basis. Results in the creation of what is loosely defined as “Virtual Community”.

Please feel free to criticize whatever I post, as the information conveyed will undoubtedly be useful to my own critical thinking process and also allows for a conversation to develop.

Thankyou for your time,

Danny Burke

13215813

Nicki: I have checked the ‘redbloggers’ page on 8 different computers (laptops wirelessly connected, destops broadband / dial-up / wireless), at 4 different locations, in 5 different browsers (Netscape, IE, Mozilla, MSN Explorer and Firefox), on 5 different platforms (95, 98, NT, XP home and Pro) all of which display the correct headings for my posts.

So I unfortunately can do no more, except request that you send me the code that you use when you contribute a post, so I can reference it against my own and hopefully find the differences. This would be much appreciated.

Are you using a Mac platform? (It may be a problem with the Mac browser that your using, if of course, you have a Mac) : )

Identity and deception in the virtual community

2005-03-19T06:20:00.000+08:00

Donath uses the virtual community of USENET groups as the basis of her study. She examines at a variety of methods of distinguishing identity in virtual worlds where there are no tangible indications. She states that the source of identity, be it real or virtual, is important and the reputation of a community’s members are what makes a community.

Identity can be exposed delicately. For example, the domain may give some indication – it could be from an .edu address or from Hotmail. Individuals have individual styles and regular participants come to recognise a contributor’s ‘voice’ by the writing style. Occasionally this ‘voice’ is so identifiable that co-inhabitants of the virtual community are capable of recognising despite what the ‘From’ line might say.

According to Donath, any communication process is a bi-signal system. Assessment signals actually necessitate a sender to possess a trait to send a signal – someone spending money could reliably indicate wealth. The author states that for conventional signals, the sender need not possess the trait to send a signal – a man wearing a shirt saying ‘Filthy rich’. Donath states that the probability of deception is much higher with conventional signals but they are likely to be less harmful to both sender and receiver. Other indicators to identity can be surmised from signatures at the end of messages – nerdy, famous quotation, a disclaimer of some kind.

The author noted that USENET is full of trolls that simulate genuine members of a group but actually want to spoil discussions among other members. Trolls are injurious not only because they make challenging comments and give bad advice, but because they eventually heavily adulterate the level of trust in a group.

USENET and blogs are dissimilar in essential practices --- blogs have a clear separation between ‘message’ (the blog post) and ‘discussion’ (the comments), and are generally much less chaotic and free-wheeling than newsgroups.

Further points raised by Donath are –
* The single most defining characteristic of a blog is its voice
* Newsgroups tend to be an open round table
* A blog is a speaker at a dais, even in group blogs
* Trolls parallel comment spam (either outright insulting comments or unrelated, marketing comments)

Cheers
Liz

Virtual Rape

2005-03-18T21:36:00.000+08:00

Hi Liz,

Yes indeed, it does seem a rather ridiculous concept doesn't it? I got the idea though that in this case Mr. Bungle was running a program that prevented the characters from doing anything at all. I suppose they could have just turned off their computers, but it seems as though within MUDs and MOOs "...only with time and the acquisition of a fixed character do players tend to make the critical passage from anonymity to pseudonymity, developing concern for their character's reputation..." Let's face it some of these dudes spend a lot time and invest a lot of themselves in creating these 'characters' that could be seen as another version of themselves. If they are being controlled against their will to perform 'acts' in front of their on-line buddies, simply turning off the computer does not save their character from having been violated.

In the article Dibbell says that other gamers suggested that the victims simply use a gag command so that the abuser's comments are blocked from their screens. Dibbell likens this approach to a passed-out woman being fondled by strangers at a party in front of everyone. Just because they don't know its happening doesn't mean its not. I suppose just doing a 'runner' and turning off your computer would seem like a similar response to full-on MUD and MOO participants.

Just my thoughts....

Oh yeah - by the way your post had a time of 11.25pm while its still 9.32pm here in Perth. I think for our posts to show up chronologically, we have to stick to the one time-zone so I took the liberty of editing your posting time.

Nicki

Reference:
Dibbell, J. (1998). A Rape in Cyberspace. Retrieved March 11, 2005 from:
http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html

Our teamredblog community

2005-03-18T21:02:00.000+08:00

Well I just learnt a lesson. I had this fantastic post written up then when I got to publishing stage the 'puter hung and I lost it all :(

Now as I was saying...well done Trev. You have woken us from our stupor!! I think we were more of a community at the start of our blog when we were introducing ourselves, helping each other out and posting our happy snaps!

I have to say that I also disagree with you Danny when you say that a virtual community is formed through minimal on-line interaction. It would seem that the term virtual community is bandied about quite freely these days. I have a Google news alert for the terms 'virtual community' or 'virtual communties' and I receive an alert each day without fail. For the most part the news items describe commercial entities announcing that they are launching a virtual community by simply setting up a user forum!

Even Rheingold acknowledges that for the WELL to be a successful community it required real life contact. The question then is: is a virtual community possible consisting of purely on-line interaction? Personally, and based on experience, I would have to assert that it is indeed possible and depends on the attitudes of the participants.

Also in the spirit of community: Danny do you realise that your posts have a coding error and are appearing without their headings?

Nicki

Dibbell's 'A Rape in Cyberspace' - a query

2005-03-18T20:55:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone.

This article, while interesting, contains material I can't quite grasp - perhaps someone can enlighten me.

About half way through he writes "regarding the general problem, emmeline, who identified herself as a survivor of both virtual rape (many times over) ". I cannot grasp the concept of virtual rape.

If someone is attempting to perpetrate a rape, what is wrong with using the 'x' button and shutting the window down?
If the person choses not to exercise this option then is this giving virtual consent and therefore negating rape?

Cheers
Liz

Virtual community or not?

2005-03-18T17:55:00.000+08:00

When interactions between people existing in this virtual space occur, irrespective of how brief or prolonged the contact is. Disregarding how regularly or irregularly the contact takes place, creation of what is loosely defined as “Virtual Community” is the result.

Danny appears to be saying that a momentary 'interaction' in cyberspace, such as receiving or sending an email, means that you are part of a virtual community...

What is meant in this case by 'interaction' and 'contact'?

My understanding of a virtual community is more along the lines of Danny's earlier post, where he quotes Rheingold "when enough people interact for long enough with sufficient feeling to form a web of personal relations in cyberspace.” (Rheingold 1994:5). At this point I believe that the virtual communities established in cyberspace are formed on the same principles as RL communties.

If anyome responds to this 'comment' and we begin a meaningful dialogue, then it is possible that we too could become part of this virtual community that is teamred. So far, we have all be great at posting our own little bits of information, but there is very little interaction going on - so I ask the question - is this blog a virtual community? If we simply post our little essays, how is this different to pinning them up on a university noticeboard for everyone to look at? No one would argue that in doing this, you form a community.... or would they?

Cheers
Trev

Module 1.2 – Social Communities And The Early Internet

2005-03-18T14:35:00.000+08:00

Upon entry into the virtually confine less universe of cyberspace, one is presented with endless options in respect to traversing this uniquely indefinable space. During exploration of this virtual world, encounters with myriads of other people are inevitable and for the most part enjoyable.

These virtual communities can conceivably consist of millions of participants, each uniquely defined or undefined in their respective occurrence. The initial and continued existence of the community can simply be due to the fact that the participants are technologically connected in a space somewhat devoid of time or substance.

Whereas when communities form in the real world, it is generally in response to a common interest or physical proximity. The understanding of community, at least in generalized terms, can be that of a non-segmented undetermined number of people interacting in an undefined way. Considered in a proposed reality, community is wholly ambiguous and thus an agreed upon definition remains illusive.

Though when the abstract is considered a substitute for reality, as must be the case with cyberspace and disregarding physical boundaries, then the concept of a virtual community is synonymous with that of a real world community.

Danny Burke
13215813

References

Rheingold, H. (1994). The Virtual Community: Finding Connection in a Computerized World, London: Secker & Warburg.

Hafner, K. (1994-2003). The Epic Saga of The WELL, Wired Digital.

Dibbell, J. (1998). A Rape In Cyberspace, Retrieved March 15 2005, from http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html.

Thoughts on Module 1.2

2005-03-17T13:52:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone,

I thought I would post some of my thoughts on module 1.2 particularly from the perspective of Stew's questions for discussion.

What stories do you tell yourself about virtual communities?
On a personal level it goes something like this: CMC has allowed groups of like-minded people to form strong networks of support that overcome boundaries of location, gender, socio-economics and race/ethnicity. People can communicate and be in the world (and study!) from the comfort of their own home.

How do we judge whether interactions are authentic?
I believe that on-line we can judge authenticity much the same way as we do in RL. There is the very real risk of being deceived, however I think that is all part of human interaction. We can be 'authentically human' in our interactions even if they are dependent on a form of technology (telegram, telephone, internet).

Does communication necessarily mean 'community'?
No. Not at all. Community requires more that just exchange of information - it is 'beyond' communication. There needs to be an awareness and a concern for the 'other' and a willingness to 'open up' and share with others on an emotional level. Rheingold asserts that a community will create a 'folklore' of shared knowledge and talks of a virtual community as being a 'gift economy' ie. freely sharing your knowledge and expertise with others will inevitably lead to others sharing with you. A community also has a shared sense of 'place'. In Hafner's article the actions of some people on the WELL were likened to 'small town' behaviour.

What ideas about technology does the notion of virtual community serve?
The utopian view on CMC is served most by the idea of the virtual community, particularly the pessimistic cyberlibertarian point of view that bemoans the decline of the traditional community and people's desire to recreate this in cyberspace. Other ideas are the inclusivity and accessibility of the internet and the negating of difference (race, gender etc).

Further Readings
I volunteer to read Roger Scimes' article " Cyberville and the Spirit of Community: Howard Rheingold - Meet Amitai Etzioni" from the further exploration readings and will post a summary shortly.

Cheers,
Nicki

References:
Hafner, K. (1997). The Epic Saga of the Well. Wired Magazine, Issue 5.05.
Retrieved March 11, 2005 from:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_well_pr.html

Kelemen, M., & Smith, W. (2001). Community and its 'Virtual' Promises: a Critique of Cyberlibertarian Promises. Information, Communication & Society 4:3, 370-387.
Retrieved March 3, 2005 from Taylor & Francis database.

Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. [Electronic Version]. Retrieved March 11, 2005 from:
http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/2.html

Stew: Revealed!

2005-03-16T12:28:00.000+08:00

Since we're posting images of our 'meat bodies' to the virtual realm, this is me:

Family photos

2005-03-16T11:43:00.000+08:00

Hi all

Here's me with the family: usually I'm the one behind the camera!

and here are the other members of the household: Harley and Davidson:

Elizabeth

Copyright in virtual communities?

2005-03-16T11:40:00.000+08:00

Hi all....

What are the implications in online games and other areas of the virtual community of copyright restrictions? Do they exist? Are they enforceable and by whom?

In my research on MMORPGs such as Second Life, Entropia and a few others, you (or your 'avatar') have the ability to create detailed items such as shoes, cars, artwork etc. In Second Life, you can then use your artwork (which in many cases is not original) and start up a Second Life shop in which other avatars come in and purchase the item in question. Now this may be anything from a pair of levi jeans, nike shoes (all complete with logos), contemporary popular paintings, a moran loungechair etc.

So you have real people profiting (in virtual dollars which may then be converted to 'real' dollars) from other people's work. Most of these game sites only have passing (and hard to find) references to copyright legislation and in some cases, no reference at all.

Then, there is the reverse scenario - you go to great lengths to create an original, only to have anyone else 'steal' it and use it elsewhere on the web or even in 'real life'.

Trev

Virtual Community Humor!

2005-03-13T10:18:00.000+08:00

Hi folks...a little humorous reading which actually sheds a fair bit of light on the difficulties of mailing lists and usenet communities:

How many list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb

Enjoy
Stew

Joined a virtual community - so did the cat! :-)))

2005-03-13T09:50:00.000+08:00

Hello Everyone,

It seems to me that to understand virtual communities, joining one would be a good idea. After a lot of 'googling' I came up with Playdo Community - http://www.playdo.com - 'where you create your own citizen and take up residence in a city of friendly people and fun things to do'. It didn't take me very long to design myself as the choices are quite limited - that is fine as I am one busy lady and do not have much spare time. Anyway I am now a citizen of Playdo and will shortly investigate my new surroundings ... lol!

I also experienced the complexities of Avatars and how addictive it can be to design one to represent yourself. I have Yahoo Messenger and by accident I discovered that avatars are available there - I spent an hour this morning and am only halfway satisfied.

On a lighter note, my cat has also taken up residence in a virtual community! Is there no end it all this? lol You can check him out at - http://www.catster.com/?127183 - and leaving him a treat (the button with the fish skeleton on it) will be highly regarded by Dennis!

New to Virtual Communities?

2005-03-13T06:39:00.000+08:00

I am very new to virtual communities and find myself floundering a little.

I stumbled across this website and found it to be very helpful to me. Perhaps other "newbies" like me will benefit as well - and the experienced may too! :-)

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/Gallery/martin/cmcpage5.htm

Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?

2005-03-13T06:33:00.000+08:00

Fernback and Thompson’s article firstly explores the importance of community in peoples’ lives. They note the significance of such things as social fabric and communication, the advent of global tensions, tribalism and the influence of Western influences into remote societies. They remark on Richard Sennett’s view of the decay in ‘res publica’ and America’s heightened ‘vulnerability in regard to social intercourse in terms of personal feelings rather than in rational or objective terms’ (Sennett, 1977).

Fernback and Thompson quote scholars such as T”Innies’ distinction between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, Durkheim’s concept of social division of labour, Cooke’s belief that ‘community is a residual consequence of moderinity’, the abrogation of space and time according to McLuhan, Luke and Meyrowitzt’s opposing positions that there has been a new class of information-elite created by the expansion of technology. Reference is made to Rheingold’s analogy of virtual communities as ‘colonies of micro-organisms that grow in Petri dishes’ and his experience with the WELL community, along with many others, are also used.

In conclusion Fernback and Thompson assert our ‘need for a sense of place, whether it be bounded territorially or in the “placeless” realm of cyberspace’. They observe that participants in the realm of CMC are bounded simply by ‘the topic of interest’ rather than ‘preconceptions bases on appearance’. They suggest that the term virtual community ‘is more indicative of an assemblage of people being “virtually” a community than being a real community in the nostalgic sense that advocates of CMC would seem to be endorsing’. Their concern ‘is that the public is more likely to forget what it means to form a “real” community’ but on the other hand they observe that ‘virtual communities can lead to action that may be the basis for the formation of real and lasting communities of interest’.

According to Electric Minds -
The conclusion of "Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" is that though it has advantages, virtual community cannot adequately replace community of the physical realm. Though this may be the intuition of most of us who hang out in cyberspace, it is nevertheless interesting to follow Fernback and Thompson's walk through the sociological literature that describes community and social connection to see how they reached their conclusion.

"Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure" struggles to take on notably large questions (example: "Do communities within cyberspace have the capability of serving as a series of new public spheres in contemporary Western nations?"). But when the authors focus their attention on more discrete matters, like unpacking the traditional definition of community and comparing what seems to be present online, their work here is quite valuable. For those attempting to think rationally and critically about the virtual community phenomenon, this work is definitely worth a perusal.

References
Electric Minds retrieved on Saturday 12th March from
http://www.abbedon.com/electricminds/html/vcc_fund_2530.html

Fernback, J. & Thompson, B., 1995. Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?

'Avatars R Us?'

2005-03-11T22:33:00.000+08:00

The crux of McIlvenny's article is basically whether or not the interaction in on-line communities actually transcends real life problems associated with inter-cultural communication as is sometimes claimed. The author looks at a particular example where two virtual gamers are discussing their real-life ethnicity. One gamer asked the other whether or not he is black, presumable because his avatar is a 'dredd' ; they eventually determine that they are both white with one player claiming to be '100% Irish'. McIlvenny claims that 'the two participants...do invoke and communicate cultural distinctions that anchor their indentities in processes of ethnification.' He asserts that the participants pursue confirmation of their sameness before engaging in 'safe' virtual communication.

McIlvenny claims that in the on-line 'anonymous' environment we can search for and find 'sameness' too easily and that we try to avoid the 'voices of others who...do not belong to our culture'. It would seem, according to him, that problems with inter-cultural communication experienced IRL are not necessarily solved or transcended in the virtual environment.

Reference:
McIlvenny, P. (1999, August). Avatars R Us? Discourses of Community and Embodiment in Intercultural Cyberspace. Intercultural Communication, 1. Retrieved March 3, 2005 from: http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr1/mcilvenny.htm

what is a virtual community?

2005-03-09T16:18:00.000+08:00

..."It only took two hours of bidding for David Storey to secure his dream property - an island measuring five kilometres square. The online auction involved no actual land, but rather a few million pixels" David Emberton. 'Sim Tycoon' APC magazine April 2005

David Storey bought the first player-owned piece of virtual land in a multi-player game, Project Entropia. It cost him a whopping US$26,500 for the title deed - this is real money! Now a quick look at their website Project Entropia shows that currently there are 226510 people 'living' in the virtual world. David spends 10hours a day living in his virtual world, trading goods and answering questions from visitors. There are community blogs, chats, forums and resource centers all associated with the entropia community.

Players use 'real' money and convert it into PED dollars which are then used for buying, trading, building, hunting, etc. You develop your avatar and interact with the others in the community. The other website I posted, Secondlife.com is similar and I find it mind-blowing that the reality has become so enmeshed with the virtual that people are actually using 'real-life' funds to buy real-estate that DOESN'T EXIST!!!

Kelemen proposes to view virtual communites as one of the many 'neo-tribes' to which we all belong, but which do not have a complete and total hold over us. However, the lines between the virtual and the real, and which has the greater hold are rapidly becomming very blurred....

PS. I think I'm going to change topics for the assignment - this fascinates me!!

Trev

Module 1.1 – Theorizing Community

2005-03-09T13:00:00.000+08:00

There is no universal definition of the word “Community”, as it can be interpreted in various ways depending upon the discourse used. The word “Community” is derived from Citizenry (Old French) and Common, Fellowship (Latin), thus one could accept in generalized terms that Community can be considered as “A common fellowship of the citizenry”. Therefore a clear definition of Community could be “A group of people working towards a common goal”.

To this end, with a definition of Real Life (RL) community, discussions relating to Virtual Communities become more defined. Though there is debate over the definition of a Virtual Community, one commonly referred to definition is “when enough people interact for long enough with sufficient feeling too form a web of personal relations in cyberspace.” (Rheingold 1994:5)

When discussing something that cannot be felt or necessarily experienced, like the Virtual realm, metaphors are used to help with the understanding process. By metaphorically referring to RL community to describe Virtual community, they become easier to understand. Taking this reasoning process into consideration, even online groups / practices can be understood and defined.

Danny Burke
13215813

Bibliography

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. (2000). Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rheingold, H. (1994). The Virtual Community: Finding Connection in a Computerized World, London: Secker & Warburg.

Check this out!

2005-03-09T10:00:00.000+08:00

Hey guys

Check out this site: http://secondlife.com/islands.php

I read about this in the news sometime last week and thought I'd have a look. Talk about virtual communities!! This is going a bit far...

Trev

Possessing Barbie...

2005-03-09T08:09:00.000+08:00

Hey folks,

Good to see the blogs coming along. Just found this interesting piece which was listed in the Guardians top 10 pieces of 'new' game journalism here

The piece is about identity in games but I think it might make for a provocative read for all - examining identity and where 'play' and 'reality' merge. It's called 'Possessing Barbie'

Thoughts?

Stewart's questions for 1.1

2005-03-08T20:32:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Stewart for the lecture notes! Whoo-hoo! :-)
As I cannot sleep, I have considered the questions he posed for discussions on our blogs. Here goes!

What constitutes a community: can it be a society, group, association, nation, club, global?
I think a community is sometimes all of these things. One example that comes to mind is the Christian community which I believe has all these aspects. Then a community such as the AFL is not global so does not encompass all the facets mentioned in the question.

Is it the types of relations between members that defines/identifies a community?
No, I don’t believe the types of relations have much to do with it at all. I think it is more the interests, the outlook, some common denominator that defines a particular community.

Is community linked to place or religion, common interests or shared practices, or other commonalities?
I think it depends on the community. I do believe that all communities need things like commitment, boundaries and a purpose to exist to be successful.

Can it be experienced and understood entirely through communication or do there also need to be concrete practices that take place – reciprocity, shared processes etc.?
Not entirely – there needs to be a purpose and self determination from the existing members who act with consensus on issues.

Does a community need continuity/history or is it simply momentary?
Possibly the more successful communities do have a history and a continuity.

Cheers
Liz

Assignment One

2005-03-08T12:40:00.000+08:00

Thanks Trev,

You have cast some light on the subject for me! What I'm wondering now is can everyone opt to cover topic 2.1 and if so would we all have to present in week ?. Or do we have to work out amongst ourselves when to present so as to spread the presentations out evenly over weeks 7 - 12?

Stewart, could you cast some light on this for us please??

Extra readings

2005-03-08T08:44:00.000+08:00

Good morning everyone.

I'll tackle the reading "Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" and post a synopsis/important points for everyone's benefit.

Cheers
Liz

Assignment ONe

2005-03-08T08:05:00.000+08:00

Hi Guys

I've looked at this assignment and have basically figured out this:

We are being asked to look at an aspect of virtual communities from either module 2.1, 2.2 or 2.3.
Now depending on what aspect you choose will depend on when this assignment is due.

For instance, I am choosing to look at virtual communities and blogs (something I know a little bit about already). That means that as this is a topic covered in Module 2.1, my assigment and presentation are due in week 7 :(

If I had chosen virtual games however, my presentations and assignment wouldn't have been due until week 12!

.... choose carefully!!!

Now as far as the actual presentation goes, I am not sure on this. What I am thinking though is that it should relate to the topic you are choosing. So, in my case, I should maybe look at presenting in a blog format. If you were looking at chat communities, you might choose to conduct your presentation in a 'chat room' with links off to your actual written work.

Does anyone else have any ideas on this? I need ideas quickly because mine is due in week 7 and I won't have the benefit of seeing everyone else's before I do mine!

Cheers
Trev

Readings..

2005-03-08T08:01:00.000+08:00

I will 'volunteer' to do the civic networks reading by Scott London. It will tie in nicely with the other unit I'm studying this SP - NET35 Network Culture..

Chhers
Trev

Module 1.1 Readings

2005-03-07T21:10:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone!

I though I would get the ball rolling as far discussion of our course readings goes. I have listed some of my impressions of the module 1.1 readings and look forward to hearing your thoughts:

Rheingold, 1993
Rheingold acknowledges that community is defined differently by different disciplines, however he sees community as essentially groups of people bound together by their ‘collective goods’ being:

Social network capital: the existence of established social groups
Knowledge capital: the combined experiences of many
Communion: emotional interaction between people.

To Rheingold this communion is important and leads him to suggest that ‘community is a matter of emotions.’ (p 12).

Willson, 1997
Some of the criteria for a community outlined in this article are:

Communities (traditional and virtual) require normative guidelines (rules)
The fundamental parent /child relationship (mostly lacking in virtual communities)
A physical commitment (not present in virtual communities)
Difficulties and limitations which make community meaningful to participants
Community cannot be artificially constructed [Jean-Luc Nancy] (however virtual communities are)
A community requires a concern for the ‘other’ often not present in virtual communities.

I liked this article because it brought to my attention the point that although we seem to interact more freely and openly on the internet we do not make that physical commitment to the groups we are a part of. We can simply ‘unsubscribe’ – something that I have done in that past!

Wilbur, 1997
It seems as though Wilbur is focusing on the linguistic origins of the term ‘virtual community’ and gives us some useful background on the original meanings of these words. He offers a range of definitions of virtual community which serve to illustrate the difficulty in defining virtual community at all.

Kelemen & Smith, 2001
I liked the idea presented in the this article of virtual communities being just one of many ‘neo-tribes’ to which we may belong at some stage in our lives [Maffesoli].

The two ‘cyberlibertarian’ views of virtual communities see them as either likeminded radicals working together to replace everything we have lost to the decline of traditional communities; or virtual communities liberating people from the constraints of ‘embodiment’ and where interacting with others only takes place to fulfill the individual’s own needs. Neither of these viewpoints, according this article are true of the day-to-day activities that take place in virtual communities.

Further Readings
I thought I would start reading the McIlvanny article ‘Avatars R Us?’ (picked purely at random!)

Thanks everyone J

PS. Does anyone have a clue what assignment 1 is asking us to do???????????

Finally...

2005-03-06T14:30:00.000+08:00

I am in action. Only a week late, but you know...

I liked the idea someone posted (forget who) suggesting we should each read one of the Deeper Exploration Readings and post a summary.

Cheers
Penny

In answer to Trev

2005-03-04T12:51:00.000+08:00

Hi Trevor,

The Kelermen article was a bit hard to find but eventually I did. When you are in Gecko go into the metasearch tool. Then select full-text databases from the left-hand side drop-down menu. All the databases will then be listed (if you type in Taylor and Francis it doesn't come up because I guess it must need the full database name). Scroll down to Taylor and Francis On-line Journals. This link will take you to their database and you can then do an author search for Kelermen - a few will come up. The article we need is the second one listed I think from memory.

Good luck

Kelemen article

2005-03-04T12:02:00.000+08:00

I can't seem to get hold of this article:

Mihaela Kelemen & Warren Smith, Community and its 'virtual' promises: a critique of cyberlibertarian rhetoric. Information, Communication & Society Volume 4, Number 3/October 1, 2001

Has anyone else got it and if so, could you upload it? It's meant to be in the online database, but I can't find it!

Trev

thanks

2005-03-04T06:53:00.000+08:00

just a short message of thanks for all the guidance. this has certainly been a fascinating learning curve for me. am so aware that CMC for me has all been about my professional life and not a personal expression. I will come to terms with that as we go along.

all the best
Anne

2005-03-04T01:24:00.000+08:00

This is me last July

2005-03-03T15:35:00.000+08:00

Hello (Me Driving Safely!!!),

This picture was taken about 3mths ago, on my 18th B'day. I was driving home, in my first car, taking the scenic route home. As you can see - I drive safely when traveling at high speeds!!! :)

(actually it took a few tries before we got it to work right)

Thankyou for your time,

Danny Burke
13215813

Yay!

2005-03-03T14:52:00.000+08:00

Liz is here! Now we await your photos Liz, Anne, Danny.........

Only joking photos are optional!!

Well I think its about time I got into the readings. I had this idea that we could all choose to read different articles from the 'further readings' section and share the 'essence' or main points with the rest of the group. How does that sound.

I suppose the required readings need to be dealt with first! I am midway through the Wilson reading and it struck me how much easier is seems to read academic papers than when I first started this course. I recognise some of the academics she acknowledges and their ideas. It would seem that I am finally entering the discourse of academic socio-technological analysis of the internet. Did that sound impressive! :)

Epic struggle!

2005-03-03T12:06:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone,

Nicki, you deserve a gold medal for your efforts in getting me on board! Thank you so very much for all your help - I really appreciate it. Of the 4 invitations you sent me this morning, the one that finally worked was ... are you ready for this!!!!! I used my grand daughter's Excite account from my husband's computer. Isn't that so weird? But here I am, logged in on my own machine using my own identity! And hopefully I might even show up on the list of contributors before the day is out!

Cheers to everyone
Liz

Posting to the blog

2005-03-03T09:29:00.000+08:00

Anne

I had to find out how to post to the blog without just replying to comments also. Basically you go to www.blogger.com and login using your details. Then a page should come up with your blogs on it. Just click the post button (+) next to teamredblog and away you go!

Cheers
Trev

Invite problems

2005-03-02T21:06:00.000+08:00

It seems as though Elizabeth is having problems accepting her invitation to the blog. We have tried her with two email addresses and she gets an error message after clicking on the link. I looked in the HELP sections and posted their suggestions, namely get another invite, cut and paste the link into the browser directly and trying another email address; all to no avail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

is this better?

2005-03-02T18:05:00.000+08:00

Well now you can all see my ugly mug!

Since I am usually the man behind the camera, I actually don't have many photos with me in them - a small loss from my point of view! They all seem to have at least one of the kids in there as well - seems I'm not the main attraction :)

Trev

2005-03-01T17:59:00.000+08:00

My "spawns" and I. Taken late December, 2004.

Another photo!

2005-03-01T17:09:00.000+08:00

Me and my mischievous 2 year old son on holidays over Christmas!

Cheers
Trev

2005-03-01T13:32:00.000+08:00

Me and my pride and joy.....

Nicki

Team blogging info

2005-03-01T13:08:00.000+08:00

I found this link about team blogging that may be helpful :)

http://help.blogger.com/bin/topic.py?topic=20

2005-03-01T12:57:00.000+08:00

Test post!! Welcome to 'redbloggers'!!

teamredblog

Fare Thee Well!

Farewell

Communities at Play

The Last of the Social Studies...

How many mail list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb?

EPIC 2014

Runescape

Disillusionment

Community in MMORPGs

Kym's Case Study

oh and for the link....

my case study

Module 2.3 – Communities at Play

Social Communities? More case studies...

my case study

ASSIGNMENT 3

Liz MacClintock's Case Study

Michelle Tepper article

Social Software

Team Red Sharepoint

2.2 Reading - Elizabeth Reid

2.2 Reading

Communities of Interest - Case Studies

Presentation: Communities of practice

A Closer Look at Forums

Earth Calling Team Red.....

Module 2.2 - Social Communities

reading synopsis

Congratulations

Case Study Start

Sharepoint again

And the winner is...

Sharepoint

It's very quiet????

virtual pets??

Our Blog!!

Communites of Practice

A Few questions...

Gamer slays rival after online dispute

VIRTUAL TIPPING COMPETITION :-)))

Module 2.1 - Communities of Interest

Relief

Easter ramblings

e-business..and 'are we a team'?

Porter's " A Typology of virtual communities"

Will the real body please stand up?

pitter patter of little feet?

Mod 1.2 readings - Kolko & Donath

Communites of Interest

Thoughts on readings for 1.1

Module 1.3 - Professional Communities At Work

Header Problem Solved ?

Stew's questions for 1.2

Cyberville and the Spirit of Community

Danny's Posts

Flaw In My Theory

Identity and deception in the virtual community

Further Readings

Virtual Rape

Our teamredblog community

Dibbell's 'A Rape in Cyberspace' - a query

Virtual community or not?

Module 1.2 – Social Communities And The Early Internet

Thoughts on Module 1.2

Stew: Revealed!

More to read and think about...

Family photos

Copyright in virtual communities?

Virtual Community Humor!

Joined a virtual community - so did the cat! :-)))

New to Virtual Communities?

Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?

'Avatars R Us?'

what is a virtual community?

Module 1.1 – Theorizing Community

Check this out!

Possessing Barbie...

Stewart's questions for 1.1

Assignment One