To be a community or not to be?

After reading Amy Bruckman's definition of a "community" in her article on the impact of an online community and whether or not it exists, it will be interesting to discover in class who agrees and disagrees with her conclusion. I particularly enjoyed reading her article because of its simplicity and easy read.

Without unnecessary filler, Bruckman immediately begins by delving into the debate of whether an online community essential fulfills the requirements of being considered a "community." While online communities help each other by providing virtual support through niche groups, sociologists argue that people can only establish communities based on a geographic location. And as the internet has spanned every corner of the globe, the world wide web is no longer confined to a specific area.

Looking from a sociologist's perspective, I understand why they would want a concrete definition that clearly delineates what constitutes a community. And their solution? Physical borders. Although I do not entirely agree with this outlook, I do support the statement that vouches for both "weak and strong interpersonal ties" that exist over distance. According to these two statements, it seems to me that their statements are contradictory.

I highly value Bruckman's statements about communities because she states her claims, backs them up with warrants, and refrains from using extremes. She qualifies her opinion by stating that their are very different ways to understand this multi-faceted concept. The comparison of a community to a group "category" made logical sense when she provided an example of a bird. By comparing a "bird" to a sparrow vs. a penguin, one can differentiate between the more prominent member of the bird community. The empirical reaction tests to prove her claims also helped explain her take-away points.

Even with this theory in mind, there are definitely flaws with the "cut-offs" or as Bruckman defines it: boundaries. The example of colors as relative "facts" made me think of a story that happened a couple years ago. My friend was showing off some new shoes he had just purchased that weekend from the mall and kept saying that the green color was just so cool! Some of the people he told became confused and told him that he was crazy because they were clearly brown. And that's how he found out he was color blind.

The point of that story was to show how relative EVERYTHING can be. That's why anyone or anything can be part of a blurred category. In reality, whether an online group is considered a community or not will never become fact. I don't like using extremes, but I am confident that this question will only receive opinionated responses. I'm curious to hear what other people think on Monday.

From my perspective, I think a community involves: support, interaction, and two or more members. Therefore, I believe a community can establish itself online because anyone can meet, chat, and play an important role in each others' lives without ever meeting them in person. That may be rare, but with technology these days, the impossible definitely seems possible.