Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities

Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities


Provide the web address and the name of the community you are investigating
www.facebook.com


What is the brief or focus of this community
Facebook is a online social networking website. On the site you can selest ton join one or more participating networks such as a high school, occupation etc.


What services are provided? How interactive is this site? How can people contribute?
Free to join- you create a profile that can contain photos, personal interests, you can exchange messages with friends and join groups of friends. You are able to view your friends profiles and photos.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on why people choose to contribute to this community. What is it they are seeking?
This site gives the users a sense of community where they can communicate with friends and people who share the same interests.

Cut and paste an example of the type of topics being discussed (you may have to provide a context to your excerpt).
"Riani is going to be spending alot more time on facebook, now that exams are coming up!"

Considering material presented during the course and make comment on the potential ethical issues that may arise in this community e.g. lack of identity and accountability.
Pivacy concerns regarding data on profiles being copied and pasted into another source and used with out permission from the owner.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on the benefits this community holds over traditional notions of community e.g. communities reliant on geographic proximity
facebook can connect users from all around the world and make it easier for them to keep in contact with each other. It is an convenient way to share photos and connect with people with similar interests.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment what this community lacks or can not provide which traditional communities can.
Facebook lacks the personal contact you would get from meeting or talking directly to someone. Communication on facebook can be simple and lack any real emotion and therefore may be may be taken out of context.