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A virtual community is a group of people primarily or initially communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically over the Internet, rather than in person. Virtual communities are also known as online communities or computer-mediated communities (CMC).

Overview


Today, virtual community or online community can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members, although Rheingold mentions in that virtual communities form "when people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships" *. An email distribution list may have hundreds of members and the communication which takes place may be merely informational (questions and answers are posted), but members may remain relative strangers and the membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.

The term virtual community is attributed to the book of the same title by Howard Rheingold, published in 1993. The book discussed his adventures on The WELL and onward into a range of computer-mediated communication and social groups. The technologies included Usenet, MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon) and their derivatives MUSHes and MOOs, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), chat rooms and electronic mailing lists; the World Wide Web as we know it today was not yet used by many people. Rheingold pointed out the potential benefits for personal psychological well-being, as well as for society at large, of belonging to such a group.

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RT @drewconway: Excellent and thought provoking piece by @ubiwar on the value of radical online communities http://bit.ly/7NBg3f
myndara (Elais Jackson) Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:53:06 -0000
RT @drewconway: Excellent and thought provoking piece by @ubiwar on the value of radical online communities http://bit.ly/7NBg3f
@bramdonkers Thx for RT "Online communities reageren geïrriteerd", schrijf je; ik bied de Majesteit oplossing op http://www.workpatchblog.nl
tonb (Ton Bil) Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:30:33 -0000
@bramdonkers Thx for RT "Online communities reageren geïrriteerd", schrijf je; ik bied de Majesteit oplossing op http://www.workpatchblog.nl
RT @drewconway: Excellent and thought
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