Communities

"Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location" - Wikipedia.

This sentence to me, seems like the original definition of the term, but as the technological age advances, and humans become more and more diverse, this term becomes distorted, and loosely thrown around, with more meanings than ever.

One such community that would be more associated in this digital age, is an online or virtual community. Whether you like it or not, we are all part of an online community, even using the internet is considered being part of a community. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, these social networking sites are communities. Then music communities, Soundcloud, Mixcloud etc, are specific for music fans, where people post content for others to view, use, alter, etc. Like a traditional community, people are in the same general or local area (in this case a website). This occurs in a virtual world and from people all over the world, hence Marshall McLuhan's term "Global Village", this has never been so true. As the world diversifies, people have less and less time for face to face interactivity for most of all the people in their life. Even in business, some of the things we do now, would not be possible without access to the internet and help from virtual communities. People regularly talk with others over the internet, but who interact and communicate with each other on a day to day basis, friends, family, relatives. This is something I have experienced personally.

With tradition communities, virtual communities are quite similar, but in different settings, you have people who are new to a community, (in a town and on a website). and you also have people who are regulars in the community (local/well known people in a town and moderators/Admins on a website). virtual communities are contrived from traditional communites but are familiar in setting and function. Someone has to be classed a member, to be considered part of a community. But these virtual communities know no bounds as the the geographical boundaries are eliminated and anybody can talk to anybody and share common interests, insights and idea's. New friendships can be formed, creativity can flow, new movements, groups and associations can form, both locally and internationally. Through online communities, you can find things that you never knew existed, or had any information about, I personally, have had a good experience through joining online communities. A few years ago, I wanted to join an American football club in Ireland, but knew nothing about it, so our good friend Google help me, and with a little search of "Irish American Football", my world was transformed. I had access to new information and was all of a sudden I was chatting to people about the sport in Ireland, what teams there were, how I could join a team, where they were based. This was ALL thanks to the Irish American Football Community, which I found virtually. They do exist, and you will find people with the same passion and commitment for things online like when you do in reality. The possibilities are endless with virtual communities. There is a whole world to explore.